Resurrection

Resurrection comes through Latin resurrectio (rising again, standing up again), from re (again) and surgere (to rise)[1]. The Greek New Testament term most often translated is anastasis[2]. The Hebrew Bible has related concepts under different terms; the developed doctrine of bodily resurrection grew through Second Temple Judaism and was central in early Christianity[3].

resurrection differs from reincarnation and should not be treated as the same religious concept.

Resurrection is central to Christian faith. The New Testament proclaims that Jesus, having been crucified and buried, was raised from the dead by God on the third day. This claim is the heart of the apostolic preaching as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15: if Christ has not been raised, the Christian message is empty[4]. The resurrection of Jesus is celebrated above all at Easter, the central feast of the Christian year.

Christian doctrine also holds the general resurrection of the dead at the end of time. The dead will be raised to face judgment, with believers entering eternal life with God and the unrepentant facing eternal separation[3]. The exact details (intermediate state between death and resurrection, the nature of the resurrected body, the relationship between resurrection and immediate post-death existence) are debated within Christian theology.

Jewish tradition has its own doctrine of resurrection (techiyat ha-meitim), developed especially in Second Temple Judaism and rabbinic tradition. The Mishnah lists belief in the resurrection of the dead as one of the foundational principles of Judaism[5]. Maimonides included resurrection in his thirteen principles of faith[6]. Some modern Jewish movements have shifted toward less literal interpretations, with Reform Judaism historically reframing resurrection in terms of eternal life with God rather than bodily resurrection.

Islamic doctrine includes a Day of Resurrection (Yawm al-Qiyamah) at the end of time, when all will be raised for judgment[7]. The Quranic teaching is detailed and central to Islamic eschatology.

Resurrection in these biblical traditions is distinguished from reincarnation. Resurrection is the raising of the body for eternal life; reincarnation in South Asian traditions is the return of consciousness in a new body within the cycle of samsara. The two concepts emerge from different theological frameworks and are not equivalent.

New Testament scholarship on the resurrection of Jesus is voluminous and contested. N. T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God offers a comprehensive case for traditional interpretation[3]; other scholars including Bart Ehrman and Gerd Ludemann argue for various reinterpretations. Comparative work on Jewish, Christian, and Islamic resurrection doctrines, and on the broader category of life-after-death across religions, continues to develop[8].

• The Resurrection of the Son of Godby N. T. Wright
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• Heaven: A Historyby Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang
  book