The Resurrection: History and Myth
Geza Vermes
Doubleday, 2008
171 Pages
Purchase from Amazon.COM or Amazon.CA

Here is the TOC:
Prologue: The Christian Notion of Resurrection and Its Historical Antecedents
Part 1: Afterlife in teh Jewish World Before Jesus

1. A Bird’s-Eye View of Human Destiny in the Bible: From Lost Immortality to Resurrection
2. Death and Its Sequels in Ancient Judaism: Paving the Way for Resurrection
3. Biblical and Postbiblical Antecedents of the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus
4. Martyrdom and Resurrection in Late Second Temple Judaism
5. Jewish Attitudes to Afterlife in the Age of Jesus

Part 2: Resurrection and Eternal Life in the New Testament

6. Introductory Note
7. The Teaching of Jesus on Resurrection and Eternal Life
8. Predictions of the Resurrection of Jesus
9. Resurrection Accounts in the New Testament Regarding Persons Other Than Jesus
10. The Gospel Accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus
11. Initial Evaluation of the Accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus
12. The Resurrection of Jesus in the Acts of the Apostles
13. The Resurrection of Jesus in Saint Paul
14. The Resurrection of Jesus in the Rest of the New Testament
15. The Meaning of the Concept of Resurrection in the New Testament

Epilogue: Resurrection in the Hearts of Men

Here is the dust jacket description:
World-famous biblical scholar Geza Vermes has studies all the evidence that still remains, over two thousand years after Jesus Christ was reported to have risen from the dead. Examining the Jewish Bible, the New Testament, and other accounts left to us, as well as contemporary attitudes toward the afterlife, he takes us through each episode with a historian’s focus: the crucifixion, the treatment of the body, the statements of the women who found the empty tomb, and the visions of Christ by his disciples. Unraveling the true meaning conveyed in the Gospels, the Acts, and Saint Paul, Vermes shines new light on the developing faith in the risen Christ among the first followers of Jesus.

This book is clearly meant to be an accessible introduction to this topic — evidenced by its size and its sparse reference and dialogue with studies on the topic.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 5:21 pm by Danny Zacharias and is filed under resurrection, Doubleday, Book Blurbs, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.