A little bit more resurrection

This from theologian Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki

Because I see resurrections all the time, and experience them within my own life, I can talk about resurrection confidently.  If you push me to say that all the molecules in Jesus' body were summoned together and the processes of death reversed and Jesus just got up out of that grave and went through a few walls and that's what resurrection is all about, I think you're missing the point.  I can't tell you how God raised Jesus within history.  I, like most theologians -- process or not -- am convinced that resurrection is something utterly different from resuscitation.  Resurrection cannot be reduced to molecules revivifying!   Resurrection is the power of God to overcome evil, to bring hope to otherwise hopeless situations, to make creative transformation possible no matter what.  Womanist theologians say that "God makes a way out of no way," and this is what I think resurrection is all about.  The resurrection of Jesus is like a great shout telling us that no evil is  greater than God, or can overcome God's power of resurrection.  Because of this revelation -- however God brings it about -- we know we can trust God no matter how bleak situations may seem.  God is there, offering us a future that can change history -- whether our own or the whole world's -- toward the good.  Resurrection tells us that hope is grounded in the reality of God.

Note: Because of my reading in Moltmann I'd probably change "reality" in that last sentence to "righteousness."

Comments

[Ben]

Well said. I like this.