A Comparative Elucidation of the Resurrection Body from a Pauline and Ancient Cultural Perspectives
(1) Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
The resurrection of the dead is one of the most important dogmatic doctrines as expounded by Apostle Paul. He explained that Christians that die will resurrect with a spiritual body similar to Christ’s type of body when he resurrected. However, Christ resurrection body had some physical features and Paul did not explain how the physical features of Christ resurrection body can be connected to other believers that will resurrect. There are many ancient cultures that teach that the physical body needed to be preserved so that it can be qualified for resurrection without. Paul on the other hand seemed to ignore these beliefs in favour of the view that resurrection body is strictly spiritual. This research is a comparative study that sheds light on the debate regarding the nature of the resurrection body according to The New Testament teaching in comparison with ancient cultures especially those of the Semitic Peoples and other Africans like the Egyptians and the Yorubas. The purpose of this research is to create an imagery regarding the nature and the features of the resurrection body that is yet to be fully understood.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/jaot
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