Today, 13 July, the first hymn (NEH 112) began
Jesus lives! thy terrors now
can no longer, death, appal us;
Jesus lives! by this we know
thou, O grave, canst not enthral us.
Jesus lives! henceforth is death
but the gate of life immortal;
this shall calm our trembling breath
when we pass its gloomy portal.
CS Lewis, to whom I am much indebted for my understanding of the Christian faith, said this:
“The Resurrection is the central theme in every Christian sermon reported in the Acts. The Resurrection, and its consequences, were the “gospel” or good news which the Christians brought: what we call the “gospels” , the narratives of Our Lord’s life and death, were composed later for the benefit of those who had already accepted the gospel. They were in no sense the basis of Christianity: they were written for those already converted” (Miracles, ch.16 pp.241-2).
The first two verses of hymn 112 encapsulate the gospel admirably.
Why do we not hear more about the Resurrection to eternal or immortal life, of which the Resurrection of Jesus is the assurance? It was the hope of eternal life that attracted many of the Christians of the first three centuries, not the atonement theology later developed by Augustine, Anselm and Calvin which has assumed such an important place in Catholic (including C of E) thinking.
In the Didache, the earliest written teaching manual for Christians, which John Robinson considered is possibly as early as 40 AD, but which clearly comprises teaching that had been given orally before it was written, the prayer at the end of communion begins
“We thank you, Holy Father, for Your Holy name which you made to dwell in our hearts, and for knowledge and faith and immortality as You made known to us through Jesus, Your Servant.”
There is no mention of the crucifixion: it is the knowledge of immortality for which God is thanked.
There is a great deal more evidence of life after death than there was 75 years ago, when the majority of the distinguished members of the Archbishops’ Commission on Spiritualism concluded, with regard to communications purporting to come from the deceased,
“When every possible explanation of these communications has been given, and all doubtful evidence set aside, it is very generally agreed that there remains some element as yet unexplained. We think that it is possible that the hypothesis that they proceed in some cases from discarnate spirits is the true one.”
Since then there have been a growing number of accounts of near death experiences, owing to the growing skill of the medical profession at resuscitating those who, by normal standards, are dead, which have convinced even some sceptics that there is life in another world after death; and Phillip Wiebe’s book Visions of Jesus has given many recent examples of the appearance of Jesus, one of the best known being his appearance to Hugh Montefiore, who had been thinking of becoming a rabbi and had been forbidden by his father to read the New Testament: Jesus appeared to him and said ”Follow me”, and from that time on he did, ending as bishop of Birmingham.
Christians, of course, have always declared their belief in life everlasting or the life of the world to come in the creeds; yet they seem strangely reluctant to teach it either in church or to the outside world. It is a much more upbeat message than is commonly heard, and in my view more likely to be attractive to many of those who are not currently active Christians than the emphasis of the Western churches on the crucifixion and the atonement. I believe we should give much more weight to our belief in life after death, and to the fact that Christianity has the key to attaining it.
Letter to the Editor
Ted Nugee