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The Christian writers [[Irenaeus]] and [[Justin Martyr]], in the [[Christianity in the 2nd century|2nd Century]], wrote against the idea that only the [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] survived. Martyr<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/txv/martyr7.htm |title=Justin Martyr on the Resurrection |publisher=Mb-soft.com |date= |accessdate=2013-03-26}}</ref> insists that a man is both soul and body and Christ has promised to raise both, just as his own body was raised. He wrote: "Seeing as ... the Saviour in the whole Gospel shows that there is salvation for the flesh, why do we any longer endure those unbelieving and dangerous arguments, and fail to see that we are retrograding when we listen to such an argument as this: that the soul is immortal, but the body mortal, and incapable of being revived? For this we used to hear from [[Pythagoras]] and [[Plato]], even before we learned the truth. If then the Saviour said this, and proclaimed salvation to the soul alone, what new thing, beyond what we heard from Pythagoras and Plato and all their band, did He bring us? But now He has come proclaiming the glad tidings of a new and strange hope to men."
The Christian writers [[Irenaeus]] and [[Justin Martyr]], in the [[Christianity in the 2nd century|2nd Century]], wrote against the idea that only the [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] survived. Martyr<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/txv/martyr7.htm |title=Justin Martyr on the Resurrection |publisher=Mb-soft.com |date= |accessdate=2013-03-26}}</ref> insists that a man is both soul and body and Christ has promised to raise both, just as his own body was raised. He wrote: "Seeing as ... the Saviour in the whole Gospel shows that there is salvation for the flesh, why do we any longer endure those unbelieving and dangerous arguments, and fail to see that we are retrograding when we listen to such an argument as this: that the soul is immortal, but the body mortal, and incapable of being revived? For this we used to hear from [[Pythagoras]] and [[Plato]], even before we learned the truth. If then the Saviour said this, and proclaimed salvation to the soul alone, what new thing, beyond what we heard from Pythagoras and Plato and all their band, did He bring us? But now He has come proclaiming the glad tidings of a new and strange hope to men."


[[Paul]] insisted that the resurrection did not involve “flesh and blood” ({{Bibleref2|1 Corinthians|15:50}}, cf. {{Bibleref2|1 Corinthians|1:29}}, {{Bibleref2|Colossians|2:11}}, arguing that we instead will be resurrected with a spiritual or ''pneumatic'' body ({{Bibleref2|1 Corinthians|15:44}}). As a number of scholars has pointed out, according to Paul, flesh is simply to play no part as we are made immortal.<ref>[[Archibald Robertson]] & [[Alfred Plummer]]. ''A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians.'' Edinburgh 1914:375–76; [[Oscar Cullmann]]. “Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead” in [[Krister Stendahl]] (ed.) ''Immortality and Resurrection.'' New York 1965 [1955]:35; [[Gunnar af Hällström]]. ''Carnis Resurrection: The Interpretation of a Credal Formula.'' Helsinki 1988:10; [[Caroline Walker Bynum]] 1995. ''The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336.'' New York 1995:6.</ref> In the gospels however, the resurrection, as exemplified by the resurrection [[Jesus]], is presented with an increasing emphasis on the resurrection of the flesh, from the empty tomb in Mark ({{bibleverse||Mark|16:2-7}}), the women embracing the feet of the resurrected Jesus in Matthew ({{bibleverse||Matthew|28:9}}), the insistence of the resurrected Jesus in Luke that he is of "flesh and blood" and not just a Pauline spirit or ''pneuma'' ({{bibleverse||Luke|24:37-39}}), to the resurrected Jesus’ encouraging the disciples to touch his wounds in John ({{bibleverse||John|20:27}}).<ref>Cf. [[Dag Øistein Endsjø]]. ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009:159-180.</ref>
⚫
[[Jesus]] appears to have been in general agreement with the position held by some [[Pharisees]], as illustrated by his response to a question regarding marriage at the resurrection ({{bibleverse||Matthew|22:23-32}}, {{bibleverse||Mark|12:18-27}} and {{bibleverse||Luke|20:27-40}}). While the Christian doctrine of resurrection is based on Jewish belief, how the emphasis on this involving the actual flesh increased parallel with Christianity succeeding among the Greek populace may connect to traditional Greek beliefs that true immortality always had to involve both body and soul. Although the Greeks held that a few individuals had been [[Resurrection#Ancient Greek religion|resurrected to physical immortality]], there was no ancient Greek belief in a general resurrection of the dead. Indeed they held that once body had been destroyed, there was no possibility of returning to life. A number of early Church Fathers, like [[Pseudo-Justin]], [[Tatian]], [[Irenaeus]], and [[Athenagoras of Athens]], argues about the Christian resurrection beliefs in ways that answer this traditional Greek scepticism to post-mortal physical continuity.<ref>Dag Øistein Endsjø. ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009.</ref>

⚫
While the Christian doctrine of resurrection is based on Jewish belief, how the emphasis on this involving the actual flesh increased parallel with Christianity succeeding among the Greek populace may, as first pointed out by scholar of religion [[Dag Øistein Endsjø]], connect to [[Immortality#Ancient Greek religion|traditional Greek beliefs]] that true immortality always had to involve both body and soul.<ref>[[Dag Øistein Endsjø]] (2008). “Immortal Bodies, Before Christ. Bodily Continuity in Ancient Greece and 1 Corinthians” in ''Journal for the Study of the New Testament'' 30 (2008):417-36; [[Dag Øistein Endsjø]]. ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009:21-158.</ref> Although the Greeks held that a few individuals had been [[Resurrection#Ancient Greek religion|resurrected to physical immortality]] and that this really was the best fate possible, there was no ancient Greek belief in a general resurrection of the dead. Indeed they held that once a body had been destroyed, there was no possibility of returning to life as not even the gods could recreate the flesh. As also first demonstrated by [[Dag Øistein Endsjø|Endsjø]], several early Church Fathers, like [[Exhortation to the Greeks|Pseudo-Justin]], [[Justin Martyr]], [[Tatian]], [[Irenaeus]], and [[Athenagoras of Athens]], argue about the Christian resurrection beliefs in ways that answer to this traditional Greek scepticism to post-mortal physical continuity. The human body could not be annihilated, only dissolved – it could not even be integrated in the bodies of those who devoured it. Thus God only had to reassemble the minute parts of the dissolved bodies in the resurrection.<ref>[[Dag Øistein Endsjø]]. ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009:159-217.</ref>


Traditional [[Christian Church]]es{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}, i.e. ones that adhere to the [[creed]]s, continue to uphold the belief that there will be a general and [[universal resurrection]] of the dead at "the [[end of the world (religion)|end of time]]", as described by [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] when he said, "...he hath appointed a day, in which he will [[Last judgment|judge the world]]..." ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:30-31;&version=31 Acts 17:31] KJV) and "...there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2024:14-16;&version=31 Acts 24:15] KJV).
Traditional [[Christian Church]]es{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}, i.e. ones that adhere to the [[creed]]s, continue to uphold the belief that there will be a general and [[universal resurrection]] of the dead at "the [[end of the world (religion)|end of time]]", as described by [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] when he said, "...he hath appointed a day, in which he will [[Last judgment|judge the world]]..." ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:30-31;&version=31 Acts 17:31] KJV) and "...there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2024:14-16;&version=31 Acts 24:15] KJV).

Revision as of 15:30, 27 September 2014

This redirect is about a final resurrection at the end time. For other uses, see Resurrection (disambiguation).
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The Last Trumpet sounded, detail of the Holy Thorn Reliquary, 1390s

Resurrection of the dead, the belief that the dead will be brought back to life, is a common component of a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian eschatology.

Most Christian eschatologies include belief in a universal resurrection of all of the dead, while a minority, such as the Christadelphians,[1] believe that only a select few will be resurrected. A minority claim this has already happened in the past[2] or is occurring now without most knowing it.[3] Some Christians, who hold to the doctrine of Millennialism, interpret the Book of Revelation to indicate two resurrections of the dead - at either end of a millennium.[4]

Zoroastrianism

Main article: Zoroastrian eschatology

Zoroastrian belief in an end times renovation of the earth, frashokereti including some form of revival of the dead can be attested from the 4th Century BCE.[5] As distinct from Judaism this is the resurrection of all the dead to universal purification and renewal of the world.[6]

Frashokereti is the Zoroastrian doctrine of a final renovation of the universe, when evil will be destroyed, and everything else will be then in perfect unity with God (Ahura Mazda). The term probably means "making wonderful, excellent".[citation needed]

The doctrinal premises are (1) good will eventually prevail over evil; (2) creation was initially perfectly good, but was subsequently corrupted by evil; (3) the world will ultimately be restored to the perfection it had at the time of creation; (4) the "salvation for the individual depended on the sum of [that person's] thoughts, words and deeds, and there could be no intervention, whether compassionate or capricious, by any divine being to alter this." Thus, each human bears the responsibility for the fate of his own soul, and simultaneously shares in the responsibility for the fate of the world.[7]

Judaism

Resurrection of the Dead - fresco from Dura Europos synagogue
Main article: Jewish eschatology

Hebrew Bible

The earliest reference in the Hebrew Bible to raising from Sheol is found in the Song of Hannah (1 Sam. 2:6). However this is usually understood by commentators to be read figuratively not a literal expectation of God bringing down to Sheol and raising up.[8] Resurrection passages prior to Daniel are primarily taken as dealing with national resurrection as in Isaiah's (26:19) "Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise."[9] This passage in Isaiah later became a touchpoint for rabbinical discussion on the resurrection.[10] Temporary resurrections of individual dead people are found in the Hebrew Bible, such as Elijah and the widow's son at Zarephath: "Behold your son lives." (1 Kings 17:23); Elisha and the Shunammite woman: "Take up your son." (2 Kings 4:36) and contact with Elisha's bones reviving a dead man: "as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet." (2 Kings 13:21)

National resurrection is found in Ezekiel's Vision in the Valley of Dry Bones reads, "Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live". (Ezekiel 37:5)

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia article on resurrection,[11] the topic may be discussed in Job 14:13–15, 19:25–26, Isa 26:19, Dan 12:1–4.

Second Temple period

530 BCE to 70 CE

In the Second Temple period the concept of resurrection of the dead is found in 4Q521 among the Dead Sea scrolls, Josephus records it (Antiquities 18.14; Jewish War 2.163), and the New Testament records that the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife, but the Pharisees believed in a literal resurrection of the body.[12] Resurrection of the dead appears in detail in the extra-canonical books of Enoch, Jubilees, Apocalypse of Baruch, 2 Esdras and the Maccabees.

Rabbinical period

The Resurrection is a core belief of the Mishnah.[13] The belief in resurrection is expressed on all occasions in the Jewish liturgy; e.g., in the morning prayer Elohai Neshamah, in the Shemoneh 'Esreh and in the funeral services.[14] Maimonides made it the last of his thirteen articles of belief: "I firmly believe that there will take place a revival of the dead at a time which will please the Creator, blessed be His name."

Modern Judaism

According to Herbert C. Brichto, writing in Reform Judaism's Hebrew Union College Annual, the family tomb is the central concept in understanding biblical views of the afterlife. Brichto states that it is "not mere sentimental respect for the physical remains that is...the motivation for the practice, but rather an assumed connection between proper sepulture and the condition of happiness of the deceased in the afterlife".

According to Brichto, the early Israelites believed that the graves of family, or tribe, united into one, and that this unified collectivity is to what the Biblical Hebrew term Sheol refers, the common Grave of humans. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the dead went after the body died. The Babylonians had a similar underworld called Aralu, and the Greeks had one known as Hades. For biblical references to Sheol see Genesis 42:38, Isaiah 14:11, Psalm 141:7, Daniel 12:2, Proverbs 7:27 and Job 10:21,22, and 17:16, among others. According to Brichto, other Biblical names for Sheol were Abaddon (ruin), found in Psalm 88:11, Job 28:22 and Proverbs 15:11; Bor (the pit), found in Isaiah 14:15, 24:22, Ezekiel 26:20; and Shakhat (corruption), found in Isaiah 38:17, Ezekiel 28:8.[15]

Christianity

See also: Christian eschatology, Intermediate state, and Christian conditionalism
Detail from a North Mississippi Christian cemetery headstone with the inscription:"May the resurrection find thee On the bosom of thy God"

New Testament teachings

According to the New Testament, Jesus argued with the Sadducees over the doctrine of the resurrection. These passages are Mark 12:18–27, Matthew 22:23–33, Luke 20:27–40. See also Mark 12. The Gospel of John also contains teachings about the resurrection of the dead (5:25–29, 6:39–59).

The "Sign of Jonah" (Matthew 12:38–42, 16:1–4, Luke 11:29–32, cf. Mark 8:11–13) may be about the resurrection of the dead. From the Jesus Seminar's Scholars Version (commonly known as "The Five Gospels") translation of Matthew 12:38-42: "...At judgment time, the citizens of Ninevah will come back to life along with this generation ... At judgment time, the queen of the south will be brought back to life along with this generation ..."

The "resurrection of the righteous" is mentioned at Luke 14:14. The "resurrection at the last day" is mentioned at John 11:24–25.

In Acts of the Apostles, the Apostles and Paul of Tarsus argued in support of the doctrine: 4:2, 17:32, 23:6–8, 24:15, 24:21. In 1 Corinthians 15:13 Paul argues: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised." 2 Timothy 2:18 warns of some "who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some." Additional verses are Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:12–13; 2 Corinthians 4:14; 2 Corinthians 5:1–2; Philippians 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–16; 2 Timothy 2:11; Hebrews 6:2.

Nicene Creed and Early Christianity

Most Christian denominations profess the Nicene Creed, which affirms the "resurrection of the dead"; most English versions of the Nicene Creed in current use include the phrase:

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Both "resurrection of the dead" and "world to come" are phrases found in Christian Bibles.

The centrality of this idea for Christian doctrine is early stated in 1 Corinthians 15 by Paul the Apostle:

51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. - King James Version

Resurrection of the Flesh (c. 1500) by Luca Signorelli - based on 1 Corinthians 15: 52: "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto.

The Christian writers Irenaeus and Justin Martyr, in the 2nd Century, wrote against the idea that only the soul survived. Martyr[16] insists that a man is both soul and body and Christ has promised to raise both, just as his own body was raised. He wrote: "Seeing as ... the Saviour in the whole Gospel shows that there is salvation for the flesh, why do we any longer endure those unbelieving and dangerous arguments, and fail to see that we are retrograding when we listen to such an argument as this: that the soul is immortal, but the body mortal, and incapable of being revived? For this we used to hear from Pythagoras and Plato, even before we learned the truth. If then the Saviour said this, and proclaimed salvation to the soul alone, what new thing, beyond what we heard from Pythagoras and Plato and all their band, did He bring us? But now He has come proclaiming the glad tidings of a new and strange hope to men."

Paul insisted that the resurrection did not involve “flesh and blood” (1 Corinthians 15:50, cf. 1 Corinthians 1:29, Colossians 2:11, arguing that we instead will be resurrected with a spiritual or pneumatic body (1 Corinthians 15:44). As a number of scholars has pointed out, according to Paul, flesh is simply to play no part as we are made immortal.[17] In the gospels however, the resurrection, as exemplified by the resurrection Jesus, is presented with an increasing emphasis on the resurrection of the flesh, from the empty tomb in Mark (Mark 16:2–7), the women embracing the feet of the resurrected Jesus in Matthew (Matthew 28:9), the insistence of the resurrected Jesus in Luke that he is of "flesh and blood" and not just a Pauline spirit or pneuma (Luke 24:37–39), to the resurrected Jesus’ encouraging the disciples to touch his wounds in John (John 20:27).[18]

While the Christian doctrine of resurrection is based on Jewish belief, how the emphasis on this involving the actual flesh increased parallel with Christianity succeeding among the Greek populace may, as first pointed out by scholar of religion Dag Øistein Endsjø, connect to traditional Greek beliefs that true immortality always had to involve both body and soul.[19] Although the Greeks held that a few individuals had been resurrected to physical immortality and that this really was the best fate possible, there was no ancient Greek belief in a general resurrection of the dead. Indeed they held that once a body had been destroyed, there was no possibility of returning to life as not even the gods could recreate the flesh. As also first demonstrated by Endsjø, several early Church Fathers, like Pseudo-Justin, Justin Martyr, Tatian, Irenaeus, and Athenagoras of Athens, argue about the Christian resurrection beliefs in ways that answer to this traditional Greek scepticism to post-mortal physical continuity. The human body could not be annihilated, only dissolved – it could not even be integrated in the bodies of those who devoured it. Thus God only had to reassemble the minute parts of the dissolved bodies in the resurrection.[20]

Traditional Christian Churches[citation needed], i.e. ones that adhere to the creeds, continue to uphold the belief that there will be a general and universal resurrection of the dead at "the end of time", as described by Paul when he said, "...he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world..." (Acts 17:31 KJV) and "...there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." (Acts 24:15 KJV).

Roman Catholicism

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: ""No doctrine of the Christian Faith", says St. Augustine, "is so vehemently and so obstinately opposed as the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh"... This opposition had begun long before the days of St. Augustine."[21]

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the body after resurrection is changed into a spiritual, imperishable body:

999How? Christ is raised with his own body: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself".553But he did not return to an earthly life. So, in him, "all of them will rise again with their own bodies which they now bear," but Christ "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body," into a "spiritual body."[22]

According to the Summa Theologica, spiritual beings that have been restored to glorified bodies will have the following basic qualities:

  • Impassibility (immortal / painless) — immunity from death and pain
  • Subtility (permeability) — freedom from restraint by matter
  • Agility — obedience to spirit with relation to movement and space (the ability to move through space and time with the speed of thought)
  • Clarity — resplendent beauty of the soul manifested in the body (as when Jesus was transfigured on Mount Tabor)[23]

Lutheranism

Although Martin Luther personally believed and taught resurrection of the dead in combination with soul sleep, this is not a mainstream teaching of Lutheranism and most Lutherans traditionally believe in resurrection of the body in combination with the immortal soul.[24]

According to the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), on the last day all the dead will be resurrected. Their souls will then be reunited with the same bodies they had before dying. The bodies will then be changed, those of the wicked to a state of everlasting shame and torment, those of the righteous to an everlasting state of celestial glory.[25]

Anglicanism

There are many theologians, such as Thomas Oden, popular Christian writers such as Randy Alcorn, and Christian scholars such as the Anglican Bishop of Durham N.T. Wright,[26] who have defended the primacy of the resurrection in Christian faith.

Interviewed by Time in 2008, senior Anglican bishop and theologian N. T. Wright spoke of “the idea of bodily resurrection that people deny when they talk about their ‘souls going to Heaven,'" adding: “I've often heard people say, ‘I'm going to heaven soon, and I won't need this stupid body there, thank goodness.’ That's a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.” Instead, Wright explains: “In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state." This is "conscious," but "compared to being bodily alive, it will be like being asleep." This will be followed by resurrection into new bodies, he says. "Our culture is very interested in life after death, but the New Testament is much more interested in what I've called the life after life after death."

Methodism and other evangelicals

The Reverend M. Douglas Meeks, professor of theology and Wesleyan studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, states that "it is very important for Christians to hold to the resurrection of the body."[27] F. Belton Joyner in United Methodist Answers, states that the "New Testament does not speak of a natural immortality of the soul, as if we never actually die. It speaks of resurrection of the body, the claim that is made each time we state the historic Apostles' Creed and classic Nicene Creed", given in The United Methodist Hymnal.[28] In ¶128 of the Book of Discipline of the Free Methodist Church it is written "There will be a bodily resurrection from the dead of both the just and the unjust, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of the damnation. The resurrected body will be a spiritual body, but the person will be whole identifiable. The Resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of resurrection unto life to those who are in Him."[29] John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, in his sermon On the Resurrection of the Dead, defended the doctrine, stating "There are many places of Scripture that plainly declare it. St. Paul, in the 53d verse of this chapter, tells us that 'this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.' [1 Corinthians 15:53]."[30] In addition, notable Methodist hymns, such as those by Charles Wesley, link 'our resurrection and Christ's resurrection".[27]

The Doctrinal Basis of the Evangelical Alliance affirms belief in "the resurrection of the body, the judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and the eternal punishment of the wicked."[31]

Baptist Churches

James Leo Garrett Jr., E. Glenn Hinson, and James E. Tull write that "Baptists traditionally have held firmly to the belief that Christ rose triumphant over death, sin, and hell in a bodily resurrection from the dead."[32]

Anabaptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Restorationists

Main article: Christian conditionalism

Several churches, such as the Anabaptists and Socinians of the Reformation, then Seventh-day Adventist Church, Christadelphians, Jehovah's Witnesses, and theologians of different traditions reject the idea of the immortality of a non-physical soul as a vestige of Neoplatonism, and other pagan traditions. In this school of thought, the dead remain dead (and do not immediately progress to a Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory) until a physical resurrection of some or all of the dead occurs at the end of time, or in Paradise Restored on earth, in a "general resurrection". Some groups, Christadelphians in particular, consider that it is not a universal resurrection, and that at this time of resurrection that the Last Judgment will take place.[33]

Millenialists

Some commentators interpret the Book of Revelation as requiring two resurrections of the dead, one is before the Millennium, the other after it.[34]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Further information: Plan of salvation (Latter Day Saints) and Spirit world (Latter Day Saints)

According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) all those who have lived on the earth will be resurrected, regardless of their righteousness, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22, see also Acts 24:15). Those who are righteous will be resurrected at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This is a part of the First Resurrection (Revelation 20:4 KJV) which commenced at the resurrection of Jesus Christ (the first to be resurrected). Those who are not righteous will wait until the end of the Millennium, after which they too will be resurrected (Revelation 20:5 KJV).

Before the resurrection, the spirits of the dead are believed to exist in a place known as the spirit world, which is similar to yet fundamentally distinct from the traditional concept of Heaven and Hell. It is believed that the spirit retains its wants, beliefs, and desires in the afterlife (1 Peter 3:19 KJV).

The resurrection is believed to unite the spirit with the body again, and the LDS Church teaches that the body (flesh and bone) will be made whole and become incorruptible, a state which includes immortality.[35] After His resurrection, Christ stated to his disciples: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."(Luke 24:39) This is a departure from the Trinity doctrine established by the Nicene Creed; for Christ is now a resurrected personage, different in substance from His Father, to whom Christ went after His resurrection. He said to Mary, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." (John 20:17). After Christ was resurrected, he ministered for 40 days among the people (Acts 1:3), and was seen by more than 500 (1 Cor 15:6). He continues to have His resurrected body of flesh and bones, for He will return to this earth just as he left it, "this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11). It should be noted that God created mankind in His image and after His likeness (Gen 1:26,27)--it is not God who transforms himself into the image of man. And so our resurrected bodies have an eternal purpose, just like our Father's who is in heaven.

According to LDS doctrine, Jesus Christ was the first to be resurrected into incorruptibility (1 Cor 15:20), followed by many church members who were also dead. (Matthew 27:52–53 KJV). There is also a belief in LDS doctrine that a few exceptional individuals were removed from the earth "without tasting of death." This is referred to as translation, and these individuals are believed to have retained their bodies in a purified form, though they too will eventually be required to receive resurrection. Enoch (Genesis 5:24 KJV), Moses (Deuteronomy 34:5–6 KJV), and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11 KJV) are frequently cited as examples of this.

Modern de-emphasis

Early church fathers defended the resurrection of the dead against the pagan belief that the immortal soul went to the underworld immediately after death.[36] Currently, however, it is a popular Christian belief that the souls of the righteous do go straight to heaven.[37][38]

At the close of the medieval period, the modern era brought a shift in Christian thinking from an emphasis on the resurrection of the body back to the immortality of the soul.[39] This shift was a result of a change in the zeitgeist, as a reaction to the Renaissance and later to the Enlightenment. Dartigues has observed that especially “from the 17th to the 19th century, the language of popular piety no longer evoked the resurrection of the soul but everlasting life. Although theological textbooks still mentioned resurrection, they dealt with it as a speculative question more than as an existential problem.”[39]

This shift was supported not by any scripture, but largely by the popular religion of the Enlightenment, deism. Deism allowed for a supreme being, such as the philosophical first cause, but denied any significant personal or relational interaction with this figure. Deism, which was largely led by rationality and reason, could allow a belief in the immortality of the soul, but not necessarily in the resurrection of the dead. American deist Ethan Allen demonstrates this thinking in his work, Reason the Only Oracle of Man (1784) where he argues in the preface that nearly every philosophical problem is beyond humanity’s understanding, including the miracles of Christianity, although he does allow for the immortality of an immaterial soul.[40]

Influence on secular law and custom

Formerly, it was widely believed that to rise on judgement day the body had to be whole and preferably buried with the feet to the east so that the person would rise facing God.[41][42][43] An Act of Parliament from the reign of King Henry VIII stipulated that only the corpses of executed murderers could be used for dissection.[44] Restricting the supply to the cadavers of murderers was seen as an extra punishment for the crime. If one believes dismemberment stopped the possibility of resurrection of an intact body on judgement day, then a posthumous execution is an effective way of punishing a criminal.[45][46][47][48] Attitudes towards this issue changed very slowly in the United Kingdom and were not manifested in law until the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832. For much of the British population it was not until the 20th century that the link between the body and resurrection was finally broken as cremation was only made legal in 1902.[49]

Islam

Main articles: Islamic eschatology and Islamic view of the Last Judgment

In Islam, Yawm al-Qiyāmah (Arabic: يوم القيامة "the Day of Resurrection") or Yawm ad-Din (Arabic: يوم الدين "the Day of Judgment") is believed to be God's final assessment of humanity. The sequence of events (according to the most commonly held belief) is the annihilation of all creatures, resurrection of the body, and the judgment of all sentient creatures.

The exact time when these events will occur is unknown, however there are said to be major[50] and minor signs[51] which are to occur near the time of Qiyamah (End time). Many Qur'anic verses, especially the earlier ones, are dominated by the idea of the nearing of the day of resurrection.[52][53]

The Day of Resurrection

Nearing the end of time, the trumpet will be blown and creation will cease to exist. God, Almighty, says:

“And the Trumpet will be blown, and all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth will swoon away, except him whom God wills.” (Quran 39:68)

It will be blown a second blowing, and all creation from the beginning of time till the end of time will be resurrected. God, the Exalted, tells us:

“And the Trumpet will be blown (i.e. the second blowing) and behold! From the graves they will come out quickly to their Lord.” (Quran 36:51)

People will be standing naked, barefooted and uncircumcised. The Prophet described to us what will happen, he said:

“You will be gathered, barefooted, naked, and uncircumcised (as God says):

“As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it.” (Quran 21:104)

Technology

In his 1994 book The Physics of Immortality, physicist Frank J. Tipler, an expert on the general theory of relativity, presented his Omega Point Theory which outlines how a resurrection of the dead could take place at the end of the cosmos. He posits that humans will evolve into robots which will turn the entire cosmos into a supercomputer which will, shortly before the big crunch, perform the resurrection within its cyberspace, reconstructing formerly dead humans (from information captured by the supercomputer from the past light cone of the cosmos) as avatars within its metaverse.[54]

British physicist and pioneer in the field of quantum computing, David Deutsch, agrees with Tipler's Omega Point cosmology and the idea of resurrecting deceased people with the help of quantum computers[55] but he is critical of Tipler's theological views. No-cloning theorem is used.

Italian physicist and computer scientist, Giulio Prisco presents the idea of quantum archaeology or the idea of simulating, on quantum computers, and find quantum information in the universe about each human to resurrect everyone with reversible computing.[56] Quantum information can't be destroyed or copied.

In his book Mind Children, roboticist Hans Moravec showed how a future supercomputer would be able to resurrect long-dead minds from the information that still survived. This information can be memories, filmstrips, medical records, DNA...[57][58]

Ray Kurzweil, American scientist, inventor and futurist believes that when the singularity happens it will be possible to resurrect the dead by digital recreation.[59]

Russian philosopher and transhumanist Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov advocated resurrection of the dead using scientific methods. Fedorov tried to plan specific actions for scientific research of the possibility of restoring life and making it infinite. His first project is connected with collecting and synthesizing decayed remains of dead based on "knowledge and control over all atoms and molecules of the world". The second method described by Fedorov is genetic-hereditary. The revival could be done successively in the ancestral line: sons and daughters restore their fathers and mothers, they in turn restore their parents and so on. This means restoring the ancestors using the hereditary information that they passed on to their children. Using this genetic method it is only possible to create a genetic twin of the dead person. It is necessary to give back the revived person his old mind, his personality. Fedorov speculates about the idea of "radial images" that may contain the personalities of the people and survive after death. Nevertheless, Fedorov noted that even if a soul is destroyed after death, Man will learn to restore it whole by mastering the forces of decay and fragmentation.[60]

In their science fiction novel The Light of Other Days Sir Arthur Clarke and Stephen Baxter imagine a future civilization resurrecting the dead of past ages by reaching into the past, through micro wormholes and with nanorobots, to download full snapshots of brain states and memories.[61]

Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans who cannot be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future.[62] Cryonics procedures ideally begin within minutes of cardiac arrest, and use cryoprotectants to prevent ice formation during cryopreservation.[63] However, the idea of cryonics also includes preservation of people long after death because of the possibility that brain encoding memory structure and personality may still persist or be inferable in the future. Whether sufficient brain information still exists for cryonics to successfully preserve may be intrinsically unprovable by present knowledge. Therefore, most proponents of cryonics see it as an intervention with prospects for success that vary widely depending on circumstances.

See also

References

  1. ^ Tennant, H. Christadelphians - What they believe and teach Birmingham, CMPA 1977
  2. ^ For example Christian Full Preterism
  3. ^ For example Christian Idealism or Realized eschatology
  4. ^ See Ben Witherington ref below
  5. ^ Richard N. Longenecker - Life in the Face of Death: The Resurrection Message of the New Testament p48 1998 "Franz König, for example, concludes that the earliest attestation of Zoroastrian belief in a resurrection cannot be dated before the fourth century BC (cf. Zarathustras Jenseitsvorstellungen und das Alte Testament [Vienna: Herder, ."
  6. ^ R. M. M. Tuschling - Angels and Orthodoxy: A Study in Their Development in Syria and ... - 2007 p23 271 " While admitting that Judaism and Zoroastrianism share a belief in resurrection, he points to a significant difference between them: in Iranian religion all are resurrected and purified as part of the renewal of the world."
  7. ^ Boyce, Mary (1979), Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 27–29, ISBN 978-0-415-23902-8
  8. ^ The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: 4 p145 Geoffrey W. Bromiley - 1995 "..only indicates Yahweh's power to intervene victoriously, and it should not be seen as an adumbration of resurrection."
  9. ^ Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament: 9 p156 G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, Heinz-Josef Fabry - 1998 "Such resurrection means primarily national restoration.24 b. Yahweh/Israel.25 Yahweh's promise "Your dead shall live" is accepted with "
  10. ^ Theological Dictionary of Rabbinic Judaism: Part Three p293 Jacob Neusner - 2005 "26:20) - the dead buried in the land where I have my desire will live, but the dead of the land in which I have no desire won't live." B. Objected R. Abba bar Mammal, '"Your dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise' (Isa."
  11. ^ "Resurrection". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  12. ^ Pecorino, Philip (2001). "Section 3. The Resurrection of the Body". Philosophy of Religion. Dr. Philip A. Pecorino. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  13. ^ Jacob Neusner World Religions in America: An Introduction 2009 Page 133 "D. He who says, the resurrection of the dead is a teaching which does not derive from the Torah, "...[Neusner] Excluded are those who deny the resurrection of the dead, or deny that the Torah teaches that the dead will live, "
  14. ^ "Resurrection: Jewish Creed or Not?". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  15. ^ Herbert Chanon Brichto "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife – A Biblical Complex", Hebrew Union College Annual 44, p.8 (1973)
  16. ^ "Justin Martyr on the Resurrection". Mb-soft.com. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  17. ^ Archibald Robertson & Alfred Plummer. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians. Edinburgh 1914:375–76; Oscar Cullmann. “Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead” in Krister Stendahl (ed.) Immortality and Resurrection. New York 1965 [1955]:35; Gunnar af Hällström. Carnis Resurrection: The Interpretation of a Credal Formula. Helsinki 1988:10; Caroline Walker Bynum 1995. The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336. New York 1995:6.
  18. ^ Cf. Dag Øistein Endsjø. Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009:159-180.
  19. ^ Dag Øistein Endsjø (2008). “Immortal Bodies, Before Christ. Bodily Continuity in Ancient Greece and 1 Corinthians” in Journal for the Study of the New Testament 30 (2008):417-36; Dag Øistein Endsjø. Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009:21-158.
  20. ^ Dag Øistein Endsjø. Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009:159-217.
  21. ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: General Resurrection". Newadvent.org. 1911-06-01. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  22. ^ "CCC - PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 3 ARTICLE 11". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  23. ^ The Catholic Catechism by Father John A. Hardon, p. 265
  24. ^ Evangelical Lutheran intelligencer: Volume 5 -1830 Page 9 Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland and Virginia "Every one of those committed to our care is possessed of an immortal soul and should we not exceedingly rejoice, that we in the hands of the Supreme Being, may be instrumental in leading them unto "fountains of living water."
  25. ^ Graebner, Augustus Lawrence (1910). Outlines Of Doctrinal Theology. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House. pp. 233-ff.
  26. ^ Van Biema, David (2008-02-07). "Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop&#13;". Time. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  27. ^ a b Holmes, Cecile S. (March–April 2012). "We shall be raised!". Interpreter Magazine. The United Methodist Church. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  28. ^ Joyner, F. Belton (2007). United Methodist Questions, United Methodist Answers: Exploring Christian Faith. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780664230395. The New Testament does not speak of a natural immortality of the soul, as if we never actually die. It speaks of resurrection of the body, the claim that is made each time we state the historic Apostles' Creed and classic Nicene Creed. (For the words of these creeds, see UMH 880-882.) {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  29. ^ 2007 Book of Discipline. Free Methodist Publishing House. p. 25. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  30. ^ "Sermon 137, On the Resurrection of the Dead". General Board of Global Ministries. The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  31. ^ "Creeds of the Evangelical Protestant Churches". Christian Classics Ethereal Library. 1846. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  32. ^ Garrett, James Leo; Hinson, E. Glenn; Tull, James E. (1983). Are Southern Baptists "Evangelicals"?. Mercer University Press. p. 29. ISBN 9780865540330. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  33. ^ Ashton, Michael. Raised to Judgement Bible Teaching about Resurrection & Judgement Christadelphian, Birmingham 1991
  34. ^ Ben Witherington Revelation p291 2003 "In short John affirms two resurrections of the dead: one is blessed, the other not blessed; one is before the millennium, the other after it.5 It is then proper to conclude that John believes in a future millennial reign upon the earth ..."
  35. ^ "Gospel Study: Study by Topic", LDS.org, LDS Church {{citation}}: |contribution= ignored (help)
  36. ^ "Do Souls Go To Heaven?". Mindspring.com. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  37. ^ Hereafter
  38. ^ Will We Be Reunited with Children Who Have Died?[dead link]
  39. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Christian Theology Vol. 3, “Resurrection of the Dead” by Andre Dartigues, ed. by Jean-Yves Lacoste (New York: Routledge, 2005), 1381.
  40. ^ The Encyclopedia of Unbelief, Vol. 1, A-K, “Deism,” Edited by Gordon Stein (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1985), 134.
  41. ^ Barbara Yorke (2006), The Conversion of Britain Pearson Education, ISBN 0-582-77292-3, ISBN 978-0-582-77292-2. p. 215
  42. ^ Essex, Mass. - Cemetery: The Old Burying Ground, Essex, Mass.I. Description and History "Up until the early 1800s, graves were marked by pairs of headstones and footstones, with the deceased laid to rest facing east to rise again at dawn of Judgement Day."
  43. ^ Grave and nave: an architecture of cemeteries and sanctuaries in rural Ontario "Sanctuaries face east, and burials are with the feet to the east, allowing the incumbent to rise facing the dawn on the Day of Judgment"
  44. ^ The history of judicial hanging in Britain: After the execution "Henry VIII passed a law in 1540 allowing surgeons 4 bodies of executed criminals each per year. Little was known about anatomy and medical schools were very keen to get their hands on dead bodies that they could dissect"[dead link]
  45. ^ Miriam Shergold and Jonathan GrantThe evolution of regulations for health research in England(pdf) Prepared for the Department of Health, February 2006. Page 4. "For example, the Church banned dissection and autopsies on the grounds of the spiritual welfare of the deceased."
  46. ^ Staff. Resurrection of the Body Catholic Answers, Retrieved 2008-11-17
  47. ^ Fiona Haslam (1996),From Hogarth to Rowlandson: Medicine in Art in Eighteenth-century Britain,Liverpool University Press, ISBN 0-85323-640-2, ISBN 978-0-85323-640-5 p. 280 (Thomas Rowlandson, "The Resurrection or an Internal View of the Museum in W-D M-LL street on the last day", 1782)
  48. ^ Mary Abbott (1996). Life Cycles in England, 1560-1720: Cradle to Grave, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-10842-X, 9780415108423. p. 33
  49. ^ "Department for Constitutional Affairs". Dca.gov.uk. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  50. ^ Shaykh Ahmad Ali. "Major Signs before the Day of Judgment by Shaykh Ahmad Ali". Inter-islam.org. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  51. ^ [email protected]. "Signs of Qiyaamah". Inter-islam.org. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  52. ^ Isaac Hasson, Last Judgment, Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an
  53. ^ L. Gardet, Qiyama, Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an
  54. ^ Frank J. Tipler, The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead (New York: Doubleday, 1994), ISBN 0198519494. 56-page excerpt available here.
  55. ^ David Deutsch (1997). "The Ends of the Universe". The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications. London: Penguin Press. ISBN 0-7139-9061-9.
  56. ^ http://giulioprisco.blogspot.fr/2011/12/quantum-archaeology.html
  57. ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=56mb7XuSx3QC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
  58. ^ http://futurisms.thenewatlantis.com/2010/02/resurrecting-dead.html
  59. ^ http://www.singularityweblog.com/ray-kurzweil-singularity/
  60. ^ Nikolai Berdyaev, The Religion of Resusciative Resurrection. "The Philosophy of the Common Task of N. F. Fedorov.
  61. ^ Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible, Millennium [i.e., Second] Edition, Victor Gollancz – An imprint of Orion Books Ltd., 1999, p. 118: "the novel that Stephen Baxter has now written from my synopsis — The Light of Other Days."
  62. ^ "What is Cryonics?". Alcor Foundation. Retrieved 2 December 2013. "Cryonics is an effort to save lives by using temperatures so cold that a person beyond help by today's medicine might be preserved for decades or centuries until a future medical technology can restore that person to full health."
  63. ^ Best BP (April 2008). "Scientific justification of cryonics practice". Rejuvenation Research 11 (2): 493–503. doi:10.1089/rej.2008.0661. PMID 18321197.
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