Looking Back to Easter

Arguably, Easter is the single most significant day for the Christian Church. Also arguably, the story of Easter - that of the resurrection from the dead of Jesus of Nazareth - is the single most disputed story by critics of the church.

For example, John Shelby Spong, the former bishop, has written: "I do not believe that the deceased body of Jesus was resuscitated physically on the third day and was restored to the life of this world as, at least, the later gospels assert, but I do believe that in him and through him people found a way into that which is eternal and so they portrayed him as breaking through and transcending the limits of death."

And from the atheist revolution blogspot, "How narcissistic must one be to imagine an all-powerful god who cares for them? This whole business of souls, resurrection, and heaven is so obviously about wish-fulfillment and self-delusion that it should be mocked. And what of salvation, redemption, and forgiveness? Surely these notions are little more than a rationalization for flawed morality. These believers maintain beliefs which make them feel good without regard to whether such beliefs have any basis in reality."

To put these positions in perspective, here is something from Tom Wright (N. T. Wright), who is the current Bishop of Durham in England. Wright has written one of the latest heavyweight books on the the whole notion of resurrection. In an interview with BeliefNet, Wright said, "The resurrection does that. You cannot fit the resurrection of Jesus into pre-existent worldviews, Jewish, Christian, pagan, whatever. You need to develop the genuine Christian worldview, which says, “Put this in the middle, and you’ll see everything else clearly.” You can’t prove it by saying, “Two plus two equals four. Here are five arguments, therefore you have to believe the resurrection.” That’s inviting people to put the resurrection into the worldview they’ve already got. Instead, the resurrection needs to challenge the worldview they’ve already got and say, “It meshes with that but it challenges it, and you’d be much, much better to have a bigger worldview that would include it.” "

Which of these speaks to your understanding of Easter? How do approach the story of the resurrection?