The Origin of Faith in the Resurrection of Jesus: Two Recent Perspectives

Abstract

I A widely-noted lecture delivered at the University of Tubingen on June 27, 1972, the German exegete Rudolf Pesch proposed a new account of the origin of faith in the resurrection of Jesus. Questioning the historical reliability of New Testament references to the discovery of Jesus' empty tomb and to appearances of the risen Christ, Pesch argued that the foundation of Christian belief in Jesus' resurrection lay in the historical Jesus, not in events after the crucifixion. In Pesch's judgment, the disciples had already recognized Jesus during his lifetime as eschatological prophet and prophetic Messiah. Having been prepared by Jesus for the coming of his own violent death, they were able to draw on current conceptions of the fate of eschatological figures to express the permanent personal salvific significance of the crucified Jesus by confession and proclamation of his resurrection. Theological examination of the resurrection should correspondingly be oriented on Jesus' public life and death, where it will find the appropriate historical foundation for Christian faith in the risen Lord. An earlier article in the pages of this journal presented in more detail Pesch's analysis of the origin of faith in the resurrection, summarized the extensive critical response to his proposal, and commented briefly on systematic aspects of the discussion. In the decade which has elapsed since publication of that note, numerous exegetes and systematic theologians have studied the resurrection at length, often as part of the general contemporary reconsideration of central topics of Christology, and Pesch's reconstruction has been subjected to further critical appraisal. During the same period Pesch has substantially modified his