Resurrection – A matter of faith or fiction

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The varied responses to Rev Clinton Chisholm’s article ‘Ancient events: Proving them how?’ are interesting.

I am of the view that the Incarnation, Resurrection and Ascension claims about Jesus are full of psychological imports, and they are psychic ways of offering humans, in a world that is often cruel and unpredictable, some assurance that there is some grand design behind it all. Although humans and nature seem to conspire against us to do harm, we must always hold out hope, that we too can, and must, rise up above our adversaries, adversities and prevail.

So Jesus’ purported resurrection is just another example of resurrection stories which are meant to tell us, don’t ever lose hope; and, that we must surge, or rise up, from our moribund state.

However, we should be aware of the fact that there is an abundance of literature that shows that Jesus’ Resurrection was not necessarily a unique event; but that his death, and the post-death space that he occupies are shared, and were shaped, by other ancient cultures.

GEORGE GARWOOD