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But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead (Matthew 28:5-7a, ESV).
I consider N.T. Wright to be the world’s greatest living Biblical scholar. Why do I consider him to be the world’s greatest living Biblical scholar?
- His name. He has initials before his last name. Just like C.S. Lewis and D.A. Carson, only those exuding scholastic success can get away with using initials instead of a full name.
- N.T. Wright (spoiler alert: Nicholas Thomas) has written over 80 books, and I have 31 of them in my library. He’s so prolific that after writing a book that was challenged by another scholar (who didn’t have initials in front of his name), and Wright having received from that initial-less scholar a proof copy of his criticism for comment (before it was published as a critical book), N.T. wrote a criticism of the critical book and got it published almost the same day as the challenged book — wow, take that scholar with no initials.
- Wright refocused Paul’s teachings in a way no one has since Martin Luther (not sure why Luther didn’t have initials). He challenges American evangelicalism and its emphasis on the “born again” experience at the expense of total Kingdom living (with which I both agree and disagree).
- N.T.’s most amazing work is a book entitled The Resurrection of the Son of God. In this book of 800 pages, he takes every imaginable objection to the actual and literal resurrection of Jesus and obliterates it. No liberal or progressive scholar can stand toe-to-toe, or should I say initials to initials, with Wright and refute his conclusion that Jesus has risen.
This is the day after Easter, and most of us groan from a too-much-ham-and-Easter-candy hangover. But as we head back to work, class, or coffee with a friend this Monday morning, clip the quotes below, and if you hear anyone doubt the resurrection of Jesus, pull them aside and lecture the offender as if you had initials.
Quote #1
The historical datum now before us is a widely held, consistently shaped, and highly influential belief: that Jesus of Nazareth was bodily raised from the dead. This belief was held by virtually all the early Christians for whom we have evidence. The question we now face is obvious: what caused this belief in the resurrection of Jesus? (emphasis added)
Quote #2
The early Christians did not invent the empty tomb and the ‘meetings’ or ‘sightings’ of the risen Jesus in order to explain a faith they already had. They developed that faith because of the occurrence, and convergence, of these two phenomena. Nobody was expecting this kind of thing; no kind of conversion-experience would have generated such ideas; nobody would have invented it, no matter how guilty (or how forgiven) they felt, no matter how many hours they pored over the scriptures. To suggest otherwise is to stop doing history and to enter into a fantasy world of our own (emphasis added).
Quote #3
For all these reasons I conclude that the historian, of whatever persuasion, has no option but to affirm both the empty tomb and the ‘meetings’ with Jesus as ‘historical events’ and that they took place as real events; they were significant events; they are, in the normal sense required by historians, provable events; historians can and should write about them. We cannot account for early Christianity without them (emphasis added).
Consider what the world’s greatest Biblical scholar says:
- No early Christian objected to the resurrection
- If you don’t believe that the resurrection is history, you have entered a fantasy world
- We have no option but to affirm the empty tomb and the post-resurrection sightings of Jesus as historical
We must believe N.T. Wright about the empty tomb and those we know should historically believe in the resurrection. How can we debate N.T. Wright, as he has initials and we don’t, but he also has evidence that cannot be refuted?
This blog post is written by an initial wannabee G.C. Edwards!