The Pauline doctrine of resurrection

Abstract

Resurrection, as characterized by Paul, attains its clearest significance when viewed in the context of all his letters, rather than through the lens of two or three more prominent verses. Its meaning lies at the basis of all of Paul's thinking, giving to life a fullness and purpose. Without the doctrine of resurrection Pauline theology is substanceless, a barren theory, wandering athirst in the desert of human hope. Seen at the heart of his thinking, resurrection becomes the central strand which uniquely links the various strains of his thought into a unified whole. Before his Damascus road experience Paul ranks as a Pharisee of the first order, especially in his zeal to trample on foreign elements of thought. The irradiance of a new day, the light of the life and love of Jesus, dawned in Paul's thought as he journeyed from Jerusalem to Damascus. A man of intrinsic goodness, misdirected as it sometimes may have been, Paul traversed the barren sands o:f arid law, Judaism grom stale because of its essential lack of inwardness. In the conflict of a choice between the old and the new, Paul awakened to the essential ethic of Christianity. His own regeneration in this period demonstrated to him the need :for universal human regeneration [TRUNCATED]