2010م - 1444هـ
Not even the intense drama and tragedy of Jesus’ trial, passion, death and burial can

prepare one for the utter shock at what comes next in the well-known story: Jesus’ resurrection.



The Gospels recount varying stories of the disciples’ astonishment and confusion as they

encounter the resurrected Jesus.

The Gospel of Luke tells of one such meeting on the road to Emmaus. There is

considerable controversy among archaeologists as to which among nine sites may be identified

as Biblical Emmaus. In “Emmaus: Where Christ Appeared,” Hershel Shanks puts forth Emmaus

Nicopolis as the leading contender.

What did the concept of resurrection mean to the earliest Christians? In what ways did it

evolve from, and depart from, contemporaneous ideas about death and the afterlife? Author N.T.

Wright traces the origins of the idea of bodily resurrection to first-century Judaism in “The

Resurrection of Resurrection.”

And what about the wide range of modern interpretations of the Resurrection of Jesus

Christ? In “Thinking about Easter,” Markus J. Borg questions just how literal and physical we

should take the gospel accounts of the resurrected Jesus to be.

The interpretation of the Gospel of Mark in particular challenges Bible scholars because

at least nine versions of its conclusion have been identified in 1,700 surviving ancient Greek

manuscripts and early translations. In “To Be Continued...” author Michael W. Holmes stresses

the importance of piecing together the end Mark’s resurrection story.