Why Believe in Jesus’ Resurrection? A Little Book of Guidance by James D. G. Dunn (review)

James Dunn, who died on June 26, 2020, has written on the historical credibility of the resurrection of Jesus in several publications, but this book may represent his mature thought on the subject. One of greatest advantages of Why Believe in Jesus’ Resurrection? over the many books that have already been published on this fascinating subject is that undergraduate students and other newcomers to the field will be able to comprehend and appreciate the major issues surrounding the historicity of the resurrection for the first time. Moreover, there are plenty of established contentions in this volume that represent the best of mainstream scholarship.

Dunn’s even-handed analysis of the central events that constitute the evidence for the resurrection is testimony to the fact that a wide consensus of biblical scholars still stand in support of the honorable burial, the empty tomb, and the series of postmortem appearances of Jesus to friend and foe alike. Equally important is Dunn’s emphasis on the disciples’ belief in the bodily resurrection, not the various spiritual visions of the afterlife that prevailed in ancient Greco-Roman religions. Dunn rightly observes, “There are plenty of stories, both past and present, where someone who has died is seen active again, whether in dream or in vision. . . . the stories regarding Jesus raised from the dead go beyond the usual category of such stories” (p. 2).

Dunn spends a good bit of time on St. Paul’s epistles. These letters count as eyewitness testimonies regarding the ubiquity and antiquity of the earliest traditions in the churches. Paul also states that he encountered the risen Jesus (1 Cor 15:8). Dunn explains, “When did the belief that Jesus had been raised from the dead first emerge? The answer to this question is surprising . . . because extraordinary claims about people regarded as famous usually take some time. But in the case of Jesus the belief that he had been raised from the dead emerged very soon after his death—indeed, as we shall see, within days of that death, according to the earliest testimonies” (p. 4). Although some scholars remain skeptical about the trustworthiness of the Gospels, one is hard-pressed to deny the validity of the Pauline testimonies. Indeed, Paul was “probably the sharpest mind among the earliest believers . . . the repeated use of phrases like ‘in Christ’ and ‘with Christ’, all make sense in the light of his conversion as an encounter with Jesus, risen from the dead” (p. 8). Paul was a trained Pharisee; he persecuted the earliest Christians in the attempt to stop the new religious heresy.

Dunn reconstructs the history of the earliest tradition concerning the relevant evidence by focusing on 1 Corinthians, Acts, and Galatians. Paul, referencing his own conversion and what transpired immediately afterward (Galatians 1), also mentions to the Corinthians the gospel and sequential list of resurrection appearances (1 Cor 15:3–8). He also reports that he reminded them about this information at an earlier time (many date Paul’s first visit to the church at Corinth in 50 c.e.). Given that Paul may have received the creedal list of appearances from the other apostles (cf. Gal 2:1–10), many scholars date the construction of the creedal list within a few years or even months after the crucifixion of Jesus. “If a resurrection appearance in 32 CE had been ‘late,’ the implication is that the earlier appearances in Paul’s 1 Cor 15 list had been much earlier” (p. 11).

I warmly recommend this book as an introductory-level text on the credibility of the resurrection. It can be used as supplementary material for courses that are dedicated to the historical Jesus, the Gospels, or even Paul. D. fairly represents mainstream scholarship on the biblical texts concerning the resurrection.