The Resurrection of Jesus

A Series on Sunday Mornings

In the Adult Sunday School Class, we have for some time been working our way through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, looking at Jesus' teaching on transforming initiatives, which are designed to free us and our world from bondage to vicious cycles and systems of anger, lust, and violence. From now until Easter, we will be looking at Jesus' teachings on how to respond to evil through the transforming initiatives of nonviolent direct action and loving our enemies.

But after Easter, we will take a break from the Sermon on the Mount and explore the resurrection of Jesus. Some of the questions we will seek to answer are: What did the early Christians mean when they said that God had raised Jesus from the dead? Were they speaking literally, metaphorically, or a mixture of both? What exactly were they claiming, and how are we today to understand, interpret, and appropriate such an extraordinary claim? Moreover, what is the meaning and ongoing significance of the resurrection for Jesus himself, for Christians, for the whole world and its future?

Our conversation partner for this series will be N. T. Wright, who taught New Testament at the universities of Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford and who currently serves as the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. Bishop Wright has written and spoken extensively on the historicity and significance of Jesus' resurrecton. Just to be clear, Bishop Wright will not actually be here in person though he will on occasion appear via DVD technology. As a preview, you may wish to browse the N. T. Wright page (www.ntwrightpage.com), which hosts a growing collection of Wright's articles, sermons, and lectures on a host of topics and in a variety of formats, including audio and video. For more information or for questions, you may contact J. Ted Blakley at jtedblakley@gmail.com.