Resurrection: Historical Event or Theological Interpretation?

The inaugural Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary last weekend featured two speakers who debated the “resurrection of Jesus.”

The inaugural Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) last weekend featured two speakers who debated the “resurrection of Jesus.”

The two divergent voices heating up the debate in Leavell Chapel on March 11 were of N.T. Wright, an Anglican evangelical scholar -- who took a stance in the literal viewpoint -- and John Dominic Crossan, a professor emeritus at DePaul University -- who played a strong defense of the metaphorical interpretation.

According to Baptist Press, the forum kicked off with a 20-minute session led by each speaker. Then the two scholars came together for a dialogue, challenging each other with questions and clarifying one’s belief with explanations.

Wright began by presenting common arguments proposed against the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus -- the view in which he strictly adheres to.

“Having examined as many of the alternative explanations I could find and having shown them all to be completely inadequate, the one we are left with, however unlikely, must press itself upon us as being true,” Wright said.

Wright emphasized on the biblical account of the empty tomb and Jesus’ appearances as being a sufficient cause for the rise of resurrection belief in the early church.

“It is only with the bodily resurrection of Jesus, demonstrating that His death dealt a decisive blow to evil, that we could find the proper grounds for calling the kingdoms of earth to submit to the Kingdom of God.”

Crossan, taking a metaphorical approach to the resurrection, pointed out the significance of the meaning, rather than the means of resurrection.

“If you want to debate what has to be taken literally and what has to be taken metaphorically, it is a perfectly valid debate,” Crossan said. “But there is something else -– the question of meaning.”

Crossan, however, stated that whether one takes a literal or metaphorical approach to the resurrection, will “find common ground in the area of meaning” and the “implications of the resurrection should make a difference in the world today.”

New Orleans Seminary President Chuck Kelley described the dialogue as “a great opportunity for our seminary family and many other guests to see how we can dialogue with the world and get the Gospel out there without sacrificing our convictions ... a great model for how to take a strongly held belief like we have in the resurrection and then share and defend that belief with those who don’t accept it.”

The forum continued on March 12 with a response session joined by a number of noted scholars including Gary Habermas, distinguished professor of apologetics and philosophy at Liberty University; Craig Evans, Payzant distinguished professor in New Testament at Acadia Divinity College; R. Douglas Geivett, professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology; Chuck Quarles, associate professor of New Testament and Greek at NOBTS; William Lane Craig, research professor at Talbot School of Theology; and Ted Peters, interim president at Pacific Lutheran Seminary.

A number of other evangelical scholars were present as the Southwest regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, the Evangelical Missiological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society met in conjunction with the Greer-Heard Forum.

Next year’s Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum has been slated for Feb. 10-11, 2006. The topic of the forum, titled “Debating Design", is on whether the universe was created by intelligent design or by evolution. One of intelligent design's leading directors, William Dembski, the newly named director of the Center for Science and Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and evolutionist Michael Ruse, a professor at Florida State University, will hold the debates.