If you pay attention to the title of this inspirational piece, you might think I wrote this at the Easter season. It is appropriate for that time, but it is not Easter. Instead I am writing in response to an article I recently read. Now I will have to confess, the whole Easter message---including resurrection---is tricky. And that is compounded by the early church’s Hellenistic context. What that means is early Christian theology emerged in a world that spoke Greek and Latin and whose way of understanding reality was informed by the variety of Greek philosophical schools, primarily Platonic and Stoic.
Of course, any of us who think---whether it is first-century Christian believers or twenty-first century ones---have to think in some particular way of looking at the world. While the Platonic worldview has not disappeared, it now shares the stage with others. The other important thing is to recognize that most of us are not even aware of our way of looking at our world. It seems normal because that is the way it always has been. And most of us share a worldview with others around us, so that only reinforces our confidence that the way we know things is normal.
This is all a backdrop to an article by a favorite of mine, Bill Timmeus, who happens to be a Presbyterian, who regularly writes for a Catholic periodical. I like the way he thinks and the kinds of things about which he thinks. And so it was when I encountered his article, “It’s time for Christianity to re-emphasize resurrection of the body.” I am not sure what I expected, but it was better than my expectations.
The first line of the article was a bit arresting. Timmeus claims, “To the surprise of some of its adherents, Christianity does not teach that each of us has an immortal soul.” I believe he is correct, although if we attended a funeral in this country, more than likely we would hear the grieving ones assured that the deceased’s soul is in heaven. That may be true, but it is not the teaching of the gospels. The second sentence of Timmeus’ article tells us why the gospels are not about immortality of the soul. “That, instead, is an old Greek idea, one that from time to time has weaseled its way into Christian thinking.”
He has my attention now. He says that the gospel teaching about death has to do with resurrection, not immortality of the soul. I appreciate his insight that our world is sorely in need of a message affirming human nature. He says, “it's time for the church universal to re-emphasize that doctrine so we understand more fully the sacredness of the human body.” I can say Amen! While Timmeus does not offer detail scholarship to substantiate his claims, I do like his use of a New Testament scholar, Shirley Guthrie, Jr., to develop his line of thinking. For example, Guthrie points to hope, which the resurrection idea supports: "the Christian hope is not in the indestructibility of man, but in the creative power of God."
Timmeus states succinctly his perspective. “Put another way: Only God is immortal. If we are to have a life beyond the grave, it will be a gift from God, not because some aspect of us already is immortal.” That perspective attracts me. I think it also fits nicely with the creation perspective which the first book of the Bible, Genesis, puts forth. In the beginning human beings were created out of the love of God. We were endowed with the image and likeness of God. While this likeness to God may be tarnished by sin, our abiding hope is that we ultimately will be in God’s presence and be “like God.” This is what the resurrection affirms---that hope.
Timmeus is realistic in acknowledging people today do all sorts of things to profane the human body and human person. But---and it is a powerful but---“…human bodies will, in some mysterious, inexplicable way, be part of what is resurrected, redeemed, honored with eternal life. Thus, those bodies even now are sacred.” We won’t and can’t do it by ourselves. But we can hope in the creative power of God---that same creative power that brought us into being in the first place---and God’s willingness to resurrect that which God created. The old line from the street claimed, “God don’t make junk!”
Again, Timmeus articulates it very well. “When we use the word ‘body’ in this theological sense, we mean more than just the physical atoms that make us up. We mean, somehow, our whole selves, not just our flesh or our disembodied spirit. And just as God intends to redeem the whole creation, God also intends to redeem the essence of us.”
Timmeus is not ignorant and neither are we. We all know that so much of our contemporary culture treats humans and the human body in ways that demean and profane. There is not an abiding sense of the sacredness of the human body. But in Christian terms, the body is more than simply a vehicle for our soul. The soul is embodied. This is a more wholistic way of looking at human beings. We are not junk. And we should not treat others as junk.
I appreciate this article because it helps me think creatively about who we are now, as we also anticipate who we will be when we pass from this world. Death will be a time of new creation---resurrection.
Of course, any of us who think---whether it is first-century Christian believers or twenty-first century ones---have to think in some particular way of looking at the world. While the Platonic worldview has not disappeared, it now shares the stage with others. The other important thing is to recognize that most of us are not even aware of our way of looking at our world. It seems normal because that is the way it always has been. And most of us share a worldview with others around us, so that only reinforces our confidence that the way we know things is normal.
This is all a backdrop to an article by a favorite of mine, Bill Timmeus, who happens to be a Presbyterian, who regularly writes for a Catholic periodical. I like the way he thinks and the kinds of things about which he thinks. And so it was when I encountered his article, “It’s time for Christianity to re-emphasize resurrection of the body.” I am not sure what I expected, but it was better than my expectations.
The first line of the article was a bit arresting. Timmeus claims, “To the surprise of some of its adherents, Christianity does not teach that each of us has an immortal soul.” I believe he is correct, although if we attended a funeral in this country, more than likely we would hear the grieving ones assured that the deceased’s soul is in heaven. That may be true, but it is not the teaching of the gospels. The second sentence of Timmeus’ article tells us why the gospels are not about immortality of the soul. “That, instead, is an old Greek idea, one that from time to time has weaseled its way into Christian thinking.”
He has my attention now. He says that the gospel teaching about death has to do with resurrection, not immortality of the soul. I appreciate his insight that our world is sorely in need of a message affirming human nature. He says, “it's time for the church universal to re-emphasize that doctrine so we understand more fully the sacredness of the human body.” I can say Amen! While Timmeus does not offer detail scholarship to substantiate his claims, I do like his use of a New Testament scholar, Shirley Guthrie, Jr., to develop his line of thinking. For example, Guthrie points to hope, which the resurrection idea supports: "the Christian hope is not in the indestructibility of man, but in the creative power of God."
Timmeus states succinctly his perspective. “Put another way: Only God is immortal. If we are to have a life beyond the grave, it will be a gift from God, not because some aspect of us already is immortal.” That perspective attracts me. I think it also fits nicely with the creation perspective which the first book of the Bible, Genesis, puts forth. In the beginning human beings were created out of the love of God. We were endowed with the image and likeness of God. While this likeness to God may be tarnished by sin, our abiding hope is that we ultimately will be in God’s presence and be “like God.” This is what the resurrection affirms---that hope.
Timmeus is realistic in acknowledging people today do all sorts of things to profane the human body and human person. But---and it is a powerful but---“…human bodies will, in some mysterious, inexplicable way, be part of what is resurrected, redeemed, honored with eternal life. Thus, those bodies even now are sacred.” We won’t and can’t do it by ourselves. But we can hope in the creative power of God---that same creative power that brought us into being in the first place---and God’s willingness to resurrect that which God created. The old line from the street claimed, “God don’t make junk!”
Again, Timmeus articulates it very well. “When we use the word ‘body’ in this theological sense, we mean more than just the physical atoms that make us up. We mean, somehow, our whole selves, not just our flesh or our disembodied spirit. And just as God intends to redeem the whole creation, God also intends to redeem the essence of us.”
Timmeus is not ignorant and neither are we. We all know that so much of our contemporary culture treats humans and the human body in ways that demean and profane. There is not an abiding sense of the sacredness of the human body. But in Christian terms, the body is more than simply a vehicle for our soul. The soul is embodied. This is a more wholistic way of looking at human beings. We are not junk. And we should not treat others as junk.
I appreciate this article because it helps me think creatively about who we are now, as we also anticipate who we will be when we pass from this world. Death will be a time of new creation---resurrection.
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