Resurrection
RESURRECTION
RESURRECTION . The term resurrection is so intricately bound up with Christian ideas that it is extremely difficult to decide when it should be used for similar ideas in other religions. Obviously, the term should not be used to refer to the belief that there is an immortal element in humans (often called "soul" or "spirit") that lives on after the destruction of the body, or to the belief in some kind of continued existence in a shadowy realm of the dead. Also excluded is the idea of reincarnation, which implies that the soul is repeatedly reborn into a new body. If resurrection is defined as the revival of the body, or rather of the person as a whole, after a period of death, one finds phenomena that fit this definition only in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, with doubtful analogies in Chinese Taoism and ancient Indian and Egyptian religions. Belief in resurrection presupposes either a monistic view of humans, which implies that humanity as a whole disappears in death and is then revived to a new existence; or a dualistic view, according to which the body dies whereas the soul or spirit lives on and is later united with the body into a renewed being. Another phenomenon that should be discussed here is the idea of dying and rising gods, which is found in several religions, some with and some without a belief in resurrection.
Daoism
In Chinese Daoism there is frequent mention of prolonging life and strengthening the vital force, but there is no uniform doctrine on this subject. The background is the idea that humans, like the universe, consist of several elements, some light, pure, and heavenly, others heavy, impure, and earthly; they are held together by the vital principle, or breath. One early report had it that a certain Bo You managed to strengthen his life to the extent that he actually returned to life after being dead for some time. Most cases, however, told of various practices—meditation, use of alcoholic beverages, magical rites—through which the lower and mortal elements in humans can be replaced by higher and immortal ones and the vital principle can be strengthened so as not to be separated from the body. In this way humans can achieve immortality and ascend to the heavenly world. But this is hardly resurrection in the strict sense of the word.
India
The Vedic religion of ancient India offers a rich variety of beliefs concerning the dead and the life in the hereafter. There is the idea of the dead haunting the living as ghosts; there is the idea of the heavenly world of Yama, the first human, where the ancestors live; and there are hints of a dark world or a kind of hell. The dead were either buried or burned, the latter practice becoming predominant.
The Vedic language possesses several words that have been thought to denote the "soul" as an immortal spiritual substance in humans: manas ("thought, thinking"), asu ("life"), ātman ("breath"), tanu ("body, self"). But the equation of any of these words with "soul" is hardly correct. That which appears as a ghost or exists in heaven or hell is not a bodiless spirit but the dead person himself with some kind of body. Any existence without a body is inconceivable. It might seem that the fire in which the corpse is burned would consume it, but in reality the corpse is supposed to be transformed into a heavenly body. In the Ṛgveda there are hints that at death the various parts of the body merge with natural phenomena of a similar kind: The flesh goes to the earth, the blood to the water, the breath to the wind, the eye to the sun, the mind (manas ) to the moon, and so on. These natural phenomena then give the elements of the body back to the deceased as he ascends to heaven in the burning fire. Thus the individual is recreated in the other world as a kind of shadow that looks like his former self but that cannot be touched or embraced. Although this belief differs considerably from the Christian idea of resurrection, it may perhaps be described by this term.
In the Upaniṣads, the term ātman ("breath") came to denote the imperishable spiritual element in humans, identical with the "spirit" of the universe, called brahman. This correlation opened the way to the idea of mystical union between humanity's spirit and the divine element in the cosmos, and also to the idea that the soul can be reborn into a new body (reincarnation). Thus the idea of resurrection was lost.
Egypt
The ancient Egyptian ideas of the hereafter are very complicated, partly beause they contain elements of differing origins and belonging to different stages of development. The Egyptian view of humanity presupposes two incorporeal elements, neither corresponding to any modern concept of the soul. The ba, usually translated as "soul," is often depicted as a bird; it can mean power or external manifestation, and it represents the ability to "take any form it likes." When a person dies, his or her ba leaves the body but hovers near the corpse. The ka combines the ideas of vital force, nourishment, double, and genius. The British Egyptologist Alan Gardiner suggests such translations as "personality, soul, individuality, temperament, fortune, or position." Ba and ka cannot exist without a bodily substrate. Therefore the body is embalmed to secure their existence. In addition, the funerary rites transform the deceased into an akh, a "shining" or "transformed" sprit. In this capacity the deceased lives on in the realm of Osiris, the god of the netherworld, who once died but was revived again as the ruler of the dead.
Other beliefs include the judgment in the hall of Osiris of the deeds of the deceased; the latter's taking part in the journey of the sun god, Re, in his bark; the warding off of monsters and other dangers in the netherworld by means of magical formulas; the happy life of the deceased in the Field of Rushes; and so on. One common idea seems to be that of absorption into the great rhythm of the universe. Osiris was, among other things, a symbol of grain; thus, when the dead join Osiris they participate in the renewal of life in the growing grain. Similarly, when the dead join the sun god they partake of the life of the sun that is renewed every morning. It is difficult to decide whether these are beliefs in resurrection or whether they should be given another name.
Zoroastrianism
The earliest documents of Zoroastrian religion do not mention the resurrection of the body but rather the soul's ascent to paradise. But in the later parts of the Avesta there is at least one reference to resurrection: "When the dead rise, the Living Incorruptible One will come and life will be transfigured" (Yashts 19.11). The Living One is the savior, Saoshyant (Pahl., Sōshans), who is to come at the end of the present era. Another passage (Yashts 13.11), which speaks of joining together bones, hairs, flesh, bowels, feet, and genitals, refers not to resurrection, as has been maintained, but to birth.
In the cosmological treatise the Bundahishn (ninth century ce), a doctrine is set forth in detail. Chapter 30 describes what happens at the death of a man. His soul remains near the head of his body for three nights and is then carried away. If the man has been righteous the soul meets a fragrant wind, a sleek cow, and a beautiful young girl and is brought across the Chinvat Bridge to Paradise. If he has been evil the soul meets a foul wind, a gaunt cow, and a hideous girl and is thrown from the bridge into Hell. This description should be read against the background of the ideas set forth in the Avestan fragment Hadhōkht Nask, which relates that after the three nights the soul meets its daēnā, which, according to his works, appears either as a beautiful girl or as an ugly hag. It becomes apparent that the daēnā is the heavenly counterpart or double of the soul, whose character is dependent on the person's deeds in this life. As the two join together, the spritual part of the person is complete and can enter eternal life.
Chapter 33 of the Bundahishn describes the course of the world as it evolves in subsequent periods toward the end, when evil is defeated and the world perfected. Chapter 34 deals with resurrection. At the arrival of the third and last savior, Saoshyant, the dead will be roused, first the primeval man, Gaya-maretan, (Pahl., Gayōmard), then the first human pair, Mashyē and Mashyānē, and finally all humankind. Then the great gathering will take place at which everyone's good and evil deeds are revealed. The sinners will be punished and the righteous will enter the bliss of Paradise. A stream of molten metal will spread over the earth, and all people will have to pass through it: The evil will be burned (and purified), the righteous will experience it like lukewarm milk. At the end, all will be saved, and creation will be renewed.
Similar ideas are set forth in chapter 34 of the Selections of Zatspram (approximately contemporary with the Bundahishn ). Here it is asked how creatures who have passed away can receive their bodies back and rise again. The first answer is that it is easier to assemble parts already existing than to create from nothing. If Ahura Mazdā was able to create them, he is also able to assemble the scattered parts again. There are five "storekeepers" that receive the bodily substance of those who have died: The earth keeps flesh and bone; the water, the blood; the plants preserve the head and the hair; the light of the firmament receives the fire; and the wind, the spirit. At the time of the rehabilitation (Frashōkereti; Pahl., Frashkart), Ahura Mazdā will assemble all these elements again then create new human beings. This account is very close to the belief expressed in the Indian Ṛgveda. Obviously, these later expositions present a combination of at least two ideas of different origin and character, the idea of the soul joining its counterpart in the other world and the idea of bodily resurrection. Lack of sources prevents scholars from following the process of amalgamation of these ideas.
Judaism
The Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) as a whole have no doctrine of resurrection. When it is said, "I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal" (Dt. 32:39), or "The Lord kills and brings to life, he brings down to Sheʾol [the realm of death] and raises up" (1 Sm. 2:7), the stress is on God as the origin and cause of everything rather than on resurrection. Usually the scriptures assert that "if a man dies, he will not live again" (Jb. 14:14) or that "he who goes down to Sheʾol does not come up" (7:9). In the Book of Psalms there is the general conviction that Yahveh is stronger than death and can rescue from Sheʾol: "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears.… I walk before the Lord in the land of the living" (116:8–9); "I shall not die, but I shall live … he has not given me over to death" (118:17–18); "God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheʾol" (49:15). It is never stated how this deliverance takes place; it is enough for the psalmist to know that God will not give him up to death or Sheʾol. It is probable that for an explanation of the mechanism of deliverance one must look to the metaphorical language referring to healing of illness or rescue from some deadly danger. Illness or calamity is potential death, and it means being in the grip of Sheʾol; consequently, rescue from illness or danger is rescue from death. It is interesting to recall that when a Babylonian god is said to be "a reviver of the dead," it clearly means that he cures illness.
Ezekiel 37 reports the prophet's vision of a heap of dry bones in a valley that is revived through "the spirit." At an early stage of Judaism this text was understood as referring to resurrection (e.g., in the paintings of the synagogue at Dura-Europos), but the context indicates that the bones symbolize the Jewish nation, and the message of the vision is that just as it seems impossible for the dead bones to be revived, it also seems impossible for the nation to be restored; however, the impossible is made possible through a divine miracle.
Isaiah 26:19 reads, "Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise." This passage evidently points back to verse 14, "The dead will not live, the shades will not rise," a reference to the enemies of Israel. It may be, therefore, that verse 19 should be interpreted along the same lines as Ezekiel 38: Israel is in a better position than her enemies, therefore Israel shall "live." The next line, however, reads: "Wake up and rejoice, you who sleep in the dust." This may be an early, though vague, reference to the resurrection of the dead. But the chapter belongs to the latest part of the Book of Isaiah, the so-called Isaiah apocalypse, and it probably dates from the third century bce.
The only clear reference to resurrection is found in the Book of Daniel (c. 165 bce). It reads: "Many of those who sleep in the dust will awake, some to eternal life, others to eternal shame" (12:2). There can be no doubt: the dead are described as sleeping, and they are going to wake up from their sleep; consequently they will live again. It is not explicitly said that all the dead shall rise, although "many" (rabbīm ) often has that connotation. Yet not only the righteous will be resurrected; others will awaken also, but to eternal shame.
It has been suggested that the idea of resurrection in Israel has its roots in Canaanite religion. There, the dying and rising of the god Baal plays a significant part in symbolizing the annual death and renewal of vegetation. But the conclusion that such a resurrection might apply to humanity in general is never drawn, as far as the available evidence goes. It should be noted, however, that Isaiah 26:19 combines the revival of the dead with the falling of the dew of light, and that dew plays an important part in Canaanite mythology. It is also very probable that Hosea 6:2, "He will revive us after two days, on the third day he will raise us up," goes back to a Canaanite formula quoted by repenting people. The prophet, however, rejects the conversion of the people and does not accept their hope of revival. Thus, there may be Canaanite ideas in the background, but the final development of the idea of resurrection probably did not take place without Zoroastrian influence. The Judaism of the period of the Second Temple develops the idea further, without, however, reaching any consensus regarding the details. Above all, the testimonies differ as to whether resurrection means a reunion of body and soul or a renewal of the person as a totality.
One of the earliest references to resurrection is found in the Second Book of the Maccabees (first century bce). It shows that the idea of resurrection is bound up with belief in just retribution, especially in the case of martyrdom. Seven young brothers are tortured and killed by King Antiochus, and one young man after another confesses his belief in resurrection: "The king of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life" (7:9). "We cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him, but for you there will be no resurrection to life" (7:14). Finally, their mother addresses her sons: "God will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again" (7:23). The reason for this hope is that the sons are giving their life "for God's laws," and it is repeatedly stated, especially in 7:36, that the king will receive just punishment for his arrogance. No statement is made about the how of the resurrection, but the mother, addressing her last son, expresses her hope "to get him back again with his brothers" (7:29), which seems to imply some kind of family life in the other world.
According to Josephus Flavius (37/8–c. 100), the Essenes believed in the immortality of the soul (Antiquities 17.18), whereas Hippolytus (Against Heresies 9.27) says that they believed in the resurrection of the body. So far no words to this effect have been found in the Qumran writings.
The clearest statements about resurrection appear in documents from the end of the first century ce; they were probably inspired by reaction to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 ce. Though several passages in 1 Enoch (22, 90:33, 91:10, 92:3) mention the resurrection, it is only in the so-called Similitudes (chapters 37–71, which are absent from the Qumran manuscripts and probably of later origin) that the idea is clearly set forth: "And in those days shall the earth give back that which has been entrusted to it, and Sheʾol also shall give back that which it has received, and Hell shall give back that which it owes"(1 En. 51:1). It is clear from other passages (46:6, 49:9–10) that the sinners do not take part in this resurrection, which is not the joining of body and soul but the renewal of humanity as a whole to live on a new earth (51:5).
Similar statements are found in other documents from approximately the same periods. The passage 4 Ezra 7:32 reads: "The earth shall give up those who sleep in it, and the dust those who rest there in silence, and the storehouses shall give back the souls entrusted to them." The mention of the souls seems to indicate that death is the separation of body and soul (cf. 7:78) and that resurrection means they are reunited. Similarly, the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch speaks of the opening of the treasuries in which souls are preserved (30:2). The dust is told to give back what is not its own and to let everything arise that it has preserved (42:7); it is said further that the earth shall restore the dead without changing their form (50:2). This last text clearly teaches the resurrection of the body, but the context shows that the righteous will then be transformed into an angelic state. The word soul here seems to refer, as in the Old Testament, to humanity as a whole. Finally, the Liber antiquitatum biblicarum, falsely ascribed to Philo, says that God will "revive the dead and raise up from the earth those who sleep" (3:10); after that, judgment will be held and everybody will receive according to his work.
These texts use more or less the same formulaic language, but their view of humans is not uniform. Some use soul to refer to the human being as a whole, others distinguish between body and soul. Resurrection always implies the restoration of the body and usually its transfiguration. According to Josephus and the New Testament, the Pharisees accepted the resurrection of the righteous, whereas the Sadducees denied it altogether (Acts 23:8, Mt. 22:23).
The victory of Pharisaism after the fall of Jerusalem led to general acceptance of the belief in resurrection in rabbinic Judaism. Thus in the Mishnah tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 10 begins with the statement that the one who denies the resurrection of the dead has no part in the world to come, and the rest of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of who is not going to rise (qūm ).
Liturgical texts, such as the ʿAmidah, assert that God "makes the dead alive and keeps faith to those who sleep in the dust" (cf. Dn. 12:2), and that he "kills and makes alive and causes salvation to sprout forth" (cf. 1 Sm. 2:6). It is interesting that on some occasions a reference to God as giving wind and rain is inserted into the prayer, which uses the verb "to sprout forth," in its literal sense referring to the growing of plants. This indicates a parallel between the life of nature and the life of humans. The parallel is also suggested by Talmudic comments comparing resurrection with the growing of a grain of wheat (B.T., San. 90b; cf., in the New Testament, 1 Cor. 15:36ff.) and stating that the dead "sprout forth" from the earth (B.T., Ket. lllb). Does this language contain a reminiscence of ancient roots in the fertility cult? One rabbinic statement explains resurrection as the reunion of body and soul: "Blessed art thou, who bringest the souls back to the dead bodies" (B.T., Ber. 60b). Other passages defend the possibility of resurrection by assuming that a certain part of man, the lowest vertebra or a spoonful of rotten mass, escapes corruption and serves as material for the new body.
Christianity
In primitive Christianity the resurrection of Christ was the fundamental fact; belief in it was even regarded as a prerequisite of salvation. The earliest statements, which are found in the letters of Paul, are very simple and state the fact in a credal form: "God raised Jesus from the dead" (Rom. 10:9); "Jesus died and rose again" (1 Thes. 4:14). Sometimes the significance of Jesus' resurrection is defined: "He was designated the son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4); "He was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (4:25). The choice of words and the context indicate (1) that he was dead; (2) that it was God who raised him; and (3) that his resurrection was not merely a return to normal life on earth but a transfer into an existence of a higher kind. The question of body and soul is not discussed.
Jesus' death and resurrection are mentioned together also in his predictions of suffering in the Gospels (Mk. 8:31, 9:31, 10:34, and parallels), and in the proclamation of the apostles in Acts of the Apostles (2:23–24, 10:39–40, 17:3). It is difficult to tell whether the expression "on the third day" derives from an interpretation based on Hosea 6:2 (see above) or is based on actual experience.
The Gospels give no detail of the resurrection itself. What they have is the report on the empty tomb (Mk. 16:1ff. and parallels), to which Matthew has given an apologetic touch by adding the story of the guard being bribed by the chief priests to report that the disciples stole the body (Mt. 28:11–13). There are, however, several reports of appearances of Jesus, some taking place in Jerusalem, others in Galilee. It is a matter of dispute whether these different geographical locations rest on independent traditions and, if not, how they are related. According to Luke the last appearance is connected with Jesus' ascension to heaven; according to Matthew it is associated with his sending the apostles to preach to all nations.
The New Testament seems to have taken over the general idea of resurrection from contemporary Judaism. Matthew 12:41 mentions it explicitly ("will arise at the last judgment"), and it is presupposed in many other passages (e.g., Mt. 7:22, 8:11, 11:22, 12:41–42). In his answer to the Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, Jesus adopts the idea of an angelic existence of the resurrected (Mk. 12:18–27 and parallels).
The first Christians expected the second coming of Christ (the Parousia) to happen in their lifetime. But as several Christians died without having experienced the Parousia, questions arose as to the reliability of the Christian hope. Paul answers such questions in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, asserting that just as Christ died and rose again, the fellowship with him cannot be broken by death: First those who have died in Christ will rise when "the archangel calls and the trumpet sounds," then those who are still alive will be taken away to heaven to Christ. This idea of a two-step process is taken further in the Book of Revelation, according to which the righteous will rise at the beginning of the millennium ("the first resurrection," 20:6), the rest at its end (20:12–13). The same idea seems to be present in 1 Corinthians 15:22–23, where one learns that "all shall be made alive in Christ … first at his coming those who belong to Christ; then comes the end," when all evil powers are defeated and everything is laid under his feet. Elsewhere, there is only reference to resurrection in general as one event, which is clearly presupposed in the parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25.
The question of how the resurrection is going to take place is dealt with by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. The body that rises is not the old body but a new one, just as a new plant comes out of a seed. Nothing is said here of an immortal soul. Humanity as a whole is perishable; a human being as a whole is recreated as a "spiritual body." Other New Testament passages seem to imply some kind of existence between death and resurrection, for example, "to be with Christ" (Phil. 1:23), "to be in Abraham's bosom" (Lk. 16:22), and "to be with Christ in paradise" (23:43). A different approach is represented by the Gospel of John. He who believes in Christ receives eternal life here and now (3:36, 5:24). However, other statements in the same gospel, which many exegetes ascribe to a later editor, retain the idea of a resurrection at the end of time (5:28).
Under Greek influence the early church developed the idea of an immortal soul that continues to exist after death and is reunited with the body at the resurrection. This remained the commonly accepted belief of the Christian church into the twentieth century. Modern theology now often tries to view the human being as a unity that is totally dissolved in death, whereas resurrection implies a total recreation of the whole being.
Islam
Islam shares with Christianity the belief in a general resurrection followed by a judgment. The stress is rather on the latter. In the Qurʾān the last day is referred to as "the day of resurrection" (yawm al-qiyāmah ), but also as "the day of judgment" (yawm ad-dīn ), "the day of reckoning" (yawm al-hisāb ), or "the day of awakening" (yawm al-baʿth ). In the Qurʾān there are several very graphic descriptions of the day of resurrection, focusing on the natural phenomena that accompany it and on the outcome of the judgment—the believers entering paradise and the unbelievers being thrown into the fire of hell. It is a day "when the trumpet is blown" (cf. Mt. 24:31, 1 Thes. 4:16) and men "shall come in troops, and heaven is opened and the mountains are set in motion" (surah 78:18–20; cf. 18:99), a day "when heaven is rent asunder … when earth is stretched out and casts forth what is in it" (84:1–4; cf. 99:1–2). After these events the dead "shall come forth from their graves unto their Lord; they shall say: Alas for us! Who roused us from our bed?" (36:51–52).
There is no reference in the Qurʾān to an immortal soul, nor is resurrection defined as the reunion of body and soul. Sūrah 81:7 states that "the souls shall be coupled"; some Muslim commentators take this to mean that the souls are to be joined to their bodies, whereas others think that they are to be coupled with their equals (good or evil) or that they will be divided into two groups.
When the unbelievers express doubt in the resurrection, the Qurʾān refers to God's omnipotence as the creator: "Does man think we shall not gather his bones? Indeed, we are able to shape again his fingers" (75:3–4); "Man says: Who shall quicken the bones when they are decayed? Say: He shall quicken them who originated them the first time. He knows all creation" (36:78–79; cf. 17:53, 19:68). Again, "O men, if you are in doubt as to the uprising, surely we created you of dust, then of a sperm-drop, then of a blood clot … and we establish in the womb what we wish, till a stated term, then we deliver you as infants.… And you see the earth blackened, then we send down water upon it, it quivers and swells and puts forth herbs of every joyous kind. This is because God—he is the Truth—brings the dead to life and is powerful over everything" (22:5–6). Thus God forms the child in the womb, he renews the life of vegetation, so he is also able to raise the dead. Only on one occasion is there a hint that the resurrected body will be different from the present one: "We have decreed among you death … that we may exchange the likes of you and make you to grow again in a fashion you do not know" (56:60–61). But the wording is not very specific here.
Later Muslim tradition has developed these ideas in several directions. A great number of signs foretelling the day of resurrection are mentioned; the blast of the trumpet has become three blasts: the blast of consternation, the blast of examination, and the blast of resurrection. There is also the idea that at the resurrection the body will be raised and united to its soul, and that the lower part of the spine is preserved as a basis for the future body (as in the rabbinic idea discussed above). In addition there are speculations about a "punishment in the grave" (ʿadhāb al-qabr ): immediately after burial the deceased is questioned by the two angels, Munkar and Nakir, and if the deceased is not able to answer the questions concerning God and the Prophet, punishment is inflicted.
Several speculations are based on an interpretation of the obscure word barzakh in the Qurʾān (23:100), taken by commentators to denote a bar or obstacle preventing return to the world after death. The word is now defined as the interval or space between this world and the next, or between death and resurrection, a kind of intermediary state. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyah (d. 1350), who wrote a book about the spirit, presents various theories about what happens to the spirit between death and resurrection: The spirits are in or near the grave; the spirits of the believers only are in Paradise, or at the gates of Paradise, or in the sacred well Zamzam, or on the right-hand side of Adam; the unbelievers are in the fire of Hell, or in the well Barhut.
A Possible Precursor
The belief in dying and reviving gods has sometimes been taken as one of the roots of the idea of resurrection. The English anthropologist James G. Frazer (1854–1941) devoted one volume of The Golden Bough to "the dying god," interpreting the myth as a symbol of the death and renewal of vegetation. However, the clearest example of a dying god, the Canaanite Aliyan Baal, was not known when the book was written, because the Ugaritic texts were only discovered in 1929. Baal is the god of thunder, rain, and fertility. He is killed by his enemy Mot (whose name means "death" and who represents the dry season), and vegetation withers away. However, Baal's sister Anat defeats Mot, and Baal returns to life, which also implies the renewal of vegetation. The myth probably served as the scenario of a ritual drama, whose aim was to secure the new life of vegetation and promote fertility in general. However, there is no trace of any belief in the resurrection of humans based on the god's return to life.
Another example is the Sumerian god Dumuzi (the Akkadian Tammuz). According to the Sumerian myths, Dumuzi, the god of the flocks and the grain, was killed by demons and had to descend into the netherworld. There are no clear texts referring to his resurrection, but there are hints that it was decided that he spend part of the year in the netherworld and the other part on earth. This would indicate that his death and return to life represent the seasonal cycle. Here too, evidence for a belief in resurrection is lacking.
Elements from these two myths (of Baal and Dumuzi) are clearly recognized in what Greek sources report on the Phoenician-Syrian god Adonis (Phoen., ʾādōn, "lord"). He was loved by the goddess Aphrodite and by the lady of the netherworld, Persephone; Zeus finally decided that Adonis should stay one half of the year with Aphrodite and the other half with Persephone. (It is also told that Adonis was killed by a boar and was bitterly mourned by Aphrodite.) In the case of the Egyptian god Osiris, the facts are somewhat more favorable to the theory of belief in resurrection growing out of the myth of the dying god. The myth of Osiris was known in several versions, but their essence is as follows. Osiris was a good king who was killed and dismembered by his brother Seth. His wife, Isis, mourned him, found the body, reassembled its parts, and restored it to life through a magical formula. Isis then was made pregnant and bore a son, Horus, who was recognized as the lawful successor of his father, while Osiris was made ruler of the netherworld. As a god, Osiris had clear connections with the inundation of the Nile and with grain. These connections are manifest in several rites of the Osiris "mysteries," including the burial of an effigy of Osiris made of earth and grain. Growing grain symbolizes the god's return to life. Here, for once, is a clear connection with beliefs concerning human life in the hereafter. Every person who is properly buried becomes an Osiris in the other world and shares the life of the god.
Clearly, there are considerable differences between these dying gods, and it is doubtful whether all of them represent the same specific type of god. Great caution should be exercised in seeking to draw conclusions concerning the role played by these myths in the development of the belief in resurrection.
See Also
Bibliography
There is no monograph on resurrection in general. Volume 5 (1965) of the journal Kairos has a series of articles on resurrection in different religions, supplemented by two articles on Jewish ideas in volumes 14 (1972) and 15 (1973).
Discussion of Chinese ideas can be found in Henri Maspero's Mélanges posthumes sur les religions et l'histoire de la Chine, 3 vols. (Paris, 1950) by consulting the index entries under immortalité. Indian ideas are dealt with by Helmuth von Glasenapp in Unsterblichkeit und Erlösung in den indischen Religionen (Halle, 1938). For Egyptian ideas, see Alan H. Gardiner's The Attitude of the Ancient Egyptians to Death and the Dead (Cambridge, 1935); Herman Kees's Totenglauben und Jenseitsvorstellungen der alten Ägypter, 2d ed. (Berlin, 1956), a classic but difficult work; and, for certain aspects, Louis V. Zabkar's A Study of the Ba Concept in Ancient Egyptian Texts (Chicago, 1968) and Gertie Englund's Akh: Une notion religieuse dans l'Egypte pharaonique (Uppsala, 1978). The only comprehensive study of Iranian conceptions is Nathan Söderblom's La vie future d'après le Mazdéisme (Paris 1901). It is now somewhat out of date, but is still useful, as is J. D. C. Pavry's The Zoroastrian Doctrine of a Future Life (New York, 1926).
Old Testament ideas have been dealt with by Edmund F. Sutcliffe in The Old Testament and the Future Life (Westminster, Md., 1947) and by Robert Martin-Achard in De la mort à la résurrection … dans … l'Ancien Testament (Neuchâtel, 1956). For further discussion, see Harris Birkeland's "The Belief in the Resurrection of the Dead in the Old Testament," Studia Theologica 3 (1950): 60–78, and my book Israelite Religion (Philadelphia, 1975), pp. 239–247. Among studies dealing with later Jewish and Christian ideas, see R. H. Charles's A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life in Israel, in Judaism, and in Christianity (1899; reprint, New York, 1979) and Pierre Grelot's De la mort à la vie éternelle (Paris, 1971). For Judaism, see also H. C. C. Cavallin's Life after Death, vol. 1, part 1, An Inquiry into the Jewish Background (Lund, 1974), a comprehensive study of all relevant texts, and George W. E. Nickelsburg's Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in InterTestamental Judaism (Cambridge, Mass., 1972).
Of the literature on the New Testament only a few books can be mentioned: Murdoch E. Dahl's The Resurrection of the Body: A Study of 1 Corinthians 15 (London, 1962); Immortality and Resurrection, 2d ed., edited by Pierre Benoït and Roland E. Murphy (New York, 1970); Robert C. Tennenhill's Dying and Rising with Christ (Berlin, 1967); and Geerhardus Vos's The Pauline Eschatology (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1961). Works in German are Oscar Cullman's Unsterblichkeit der Seele und Auferstehung der Toten (Stuttgart, 1963), Paul Hoffmann's Die Toten in Christus: Ein religionsgeschichtliche und exegetische Untersuchung zur paulinischen Eschatologie (Münster, 1978), and Günter Kegel's Auferstehung Jesu, Auferstehung der Toten (Gütersloh, 1970).
On resurrection in Christian theology, see Paul Althaus's Die letzten Dinge (1922; Gütersloh, 1956), Walter Künneth's Theologie der Auferstehung (1934; Giessen, 1982), and Klaus Kienzler's Logik der Auferstehung (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1976), a study of the theologians Rudolf Bultmann, Gerhard Ebeling, and Wolfhart Pannenberg.
For a broad discussion of dying and rising gods, see James G. Frazer's The Golden Bough, 3d. ed., rev. & enl., vol. 4, The Dying God (1912; London, 1955). On Dumuzi, see Thorkild Jacobsen's The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion (New Haven, 1976), pp. 25–73. On Baal, See Arvid S. Kapelrud's Baʾal in the Ras Shamra Texts (Copenhagen, 1952); Werner H. Schmidt's "Baals Tod und Auferstehung," Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 15 (1963): 1–13; and Michael David Coogan's Stories from Ancient Canaan (Philadelphia, 1978). On Osiris, E. A. Wallis Budge's Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, 2 vols. (1911; New York, 1973), and J. Gwyn Griffith's The Origin of Osiris and His Cult, 2d ed., rev. & enl. (Leiden, 1980), may be profitably consulted.
New Sources
Bynum, Caroline Walker. The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200–1336. New York, 1995. A survey of the views of the soul's relationship to the body throughout early and medieval Christianity in a novel perspective.
Casadio, Giovanni. Vie gnostiche all'immortalità. Brescia, Italy, 1997. Types of resurrection in Judaism, Zoroastrianism, New Testament and Gnosticism are discussed with attention to the relevant bibliography.
Hornung, Erik and Schabert, Tilo, eds. Auferstehung und Unsterblichkeit. Munich, 1993. A volume of the new Eranos series, including cross-cultural studies by historians of religions (Michael von Brück, Giovanni Casadio, Reinhold Merkelbach), philosophers (A. Hilary Armstrong, Rémi Brague), anthropologists (Jean Servier), and psychologists (James Hillman).
Mainville, Odette, and Daniel Marguerat, eds. Résurrection. L'après mort dans le monde ancien et le Nouveau Testament. Geneva, 2001. Resurrection in New Testament and ancient world in theological perspective.
Helmer Ringgren (1987)
Revised Bibliography