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Death and resurrection of Jesus
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- This is a sub-article of Crucifixion of Jesus.
The vision hypothesis is a term used to cover a range of theories that question the physical resurrection of Jesus, and suggest that sightings of a risen Jesus were visionary experiences. As the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus is a cornerstone of Christian belief, the vision hypothesis is controversial. It is not accepted by many Christians. Christian apologist scholars Gary Habermas and William Lane Craig question the vision explanations for the resurrection.[1] [2][3] However, for example, it is accepted by the Jesus Seminar.
[edit] Visionary experiences in the New Testament
According to Mark 16:9, Jesus "first appeared to Mary Magdalene". However, the earliest versions of the Gospel of Mark end at 16:8, see Mark 16. According to Luke 24:22-24, Mary, and the other women, saw "a vision of angels who said that He was alive". According to Mark 16:5-7 they saw a young man in a white robe who told them Jesus had risen and they would see him in Galilee. According to Matthew 28:1-8 "a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow." According to John 20:11-18, Mary saw "two angels in white", "she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus ... Supposing Him to be the gardener", but when Jesus said "Mary!", she called him Rabboni.
According to Acts 10:9-16, Saint Peter "became hungry ... fell into a trance" and saw "an object like a great sheet" from Heaven that contained "all kinds of four-footed animals ... crawling creatures ... and birds ... A voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat!"" Peter replied that he'd never eaten anything impure, presumably nothing not kosher, as he was a Jewish Christian. The voice said "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." This repeated three times and then the sheet was gone. Acts 11:5-10 repeats the story. In Acts 12:5-11 an "angel of the Lord" helped Peter escape from prison, he "thought he was seeing a vision".
The primary vision of Paul of Tarsus is in his Road to Damascus conversion experience. In addition, Acts 16:6-10 records his vision of "a man of Macedonia" and in Acts 18:9-10 the Lord spoke to Paul "by a vision" and in Acts 22:17-18 Jesus spoke to Paul when he "fell into a trance". In 1 Cor 15:1-9 Paul wrote that Jesus was "raised on the third day", that "He appeared to Cephas", then to the Twelve Apostles, then to "more than five hundred brethren at one time", then to James the Just, then to the rest of the apostles, and last of all, to Paul.
[edit] Apocryphal Gospels
In several passages of the Christian Bible (e.g. Mark 16:1), Mary Magdalene is reported to be amongst the first women to see the risen Jesus. The early Christian Gospel of Mary Magdalene, describes Mary as having a divine vision
- "(Mary) said, ‘I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, ‘Lord, I saw you today in a vision.’ He answered and said to me: “Blessed are you, that you did not waver at the sight of me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure.’ I said to him, ‘So now, Lord, does a person who sees a vision see it <through> the soul <or> through the spirit?'":
However, its dating to the mid-2nd century makes it questionable as a resource for what the first Christian believers considered their encounters. The Gospel of Peter, while also dated to the 2nd century, may contain the Cross Gospel. Providing an early visionary account of the resurrection
- "35. But in the night in which the Lord's day dawned...there was a loud voice in heaven; 36. and they saw that the heavens were opened and that two males who had much radiance had come down from there... 37. the sepulcher opened, and both the young men entered. 38. And so those soldiers, having seen, awakened the centurion and the elders... 39. And while they were relating what they had seen, again they see three males who have come out from they sepulcher, with the two supporting the other one, and a cross following them, 40. and the head of the two reaching unto heaven, but that of the one being led out by a hand by them going beyond the heavens. 41. And they were hearing a voice from the heavens saying, 'Have you made proclamation to the fallen-asleep?' 42. And an obeisance was heard from the cross, 'Yes.'":
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Gerd Lüdemann, The Resurrection of Jesus, trans. John Bowden (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994)
- Alf Ozen and Gerd Lüdemann, What Really Happened to Jesus? A Historical Approach to the Resurrection', trans. John Bowden (Louisville, Kent.: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1995) ISBN 0-664-25647-3
