Part I
In this chapter, Norm’s journey brings him to the question of Jesus’s death and resurrection. His entire passion story is investigated by Norm, who is still trying to decipher through the Gospels and other sources who Jesus really was. Jesus is compared to many previous persons in this chapter: Lazarus, Solomon, Jeremiah, and even Pilate at one point concerning his entrance into Jerusalem via donkey. The main point is this: did Jesus really rise from the dead or not? Other main points include the significance of the predictions Jesus made about the destruction of the temple and the portrayal of Jesus’s death as told by the Gospel authors. Norm’s struggle, as always, comes down to the fine line one must walk when reading the Gospels and considering what is truth and what is fabrication to make Jesus into a figure a faith could be proud of following.
Part II
I find Jesus’s death and resurrection to be a very interesting topic. Obviously, at least to modern thinkers, one cannot die and then come back to life. If you do you are a zombie, or some other ridiculous theories. So how did Jesus do it? Or did he even do it at all? Was the entire story of his rising from the dead made up completely by the Gospel writers in order to depict Jesus as the Messiah? Clearly this is a touchy subject because if it is proven that Jesus never rose from the dead and the Gospel authors fabricated that in order to make Jesus a figure to worship, the entire Christian faith would crumble. Jesus would turn from a symbol of hope for salvation into an average man. At worst, Jesus would be seen as simply a political figure who was put to death for defying the Roman emperor. Practically the entire argument of faith vs. historical research rests on the truth of the passion story.
In this chapter, Norm’s journey brings him to the question of Jesus’s death and resurrection. His entire passion story is investigated by Norm, who is still trying to decipher through the Gospels and other sources who Jesus really was. Jesus is compared to many previous persons in this chapter: Lazarus, Solomon, Jeremiah, and even Pilate at one point concerning his entrance into Jerusalem via donkey. The main point is this: did Jesus really rise from the dead or not? Other main points include the significance of the predictions Jesus made about the destruction of the temple and the portrayal of Jesus’s death as told by the Gospel authors. Norm’s struggle, as always, comes down to the fine line one must walk when reading the Gospels and considering what is truth and what is fabrication to make Jesus into a figure a faith could be proud of following.
Part II
I find Jesus’s death and resurrection to be a very interesting topic. Obviously, at least to modern thinkers, one cannot die and then come back to life. If you do you are a zombie, or some other ridiculous theories. So how did Jesus do it? Or did he even do it at all? Was the entire story of his rising from the dead made up completely by the Gospel writers in order to depict Jesus as the Messiah? Clearly this is a touchy subject because if it is proven that Jesus never rose from the dead and the Gospel authors fabricated that in order to make Jesus a figure to worship, the entire Christian faith would crumble. Jesus would turn from a symbol of hope for salvation into an average man. At worst, Jesus would be seen as simply a political figure who was put to death for defying the Roman emperor. Practically the entire argument of faith vs. historical research rests on the truth of the passion story.
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