St. Paul's Basilica outside-the-walls (of ancient Rome) in 2006 was discovered to have a stone coffin buried beneath it containing evidently, the mortal remains of Paul the Apostle. The coffin dates from the year 390 a.d. while the bones inside are from the first century.
Paul's mortal remains were moved during a 3rd century persecution and then returned. The coffin has gold and purple cloth inside and some bones along with the inscription (translated from Latin)
'Paul Apostle Martyr'
A book by James Tabor-a Biblical historian from North Carolina- published in 2011 named Paul and Jesus is an interesting examination of the relationship between the Apostle Paul and the Christians of Jerusalem of the first century. Tabor's historical research of the four books of the Gospel, the book of Acts and Paul's letters leads to many insights some of which are of course controversial. The book is worth reading though. Especially if one is philosophically literate the nominally troubling juxtapositions of the Plain Jane Jerusalem Christians and the intellectual, theological, divine inspired insights of the Apostle Paul disappear fairly readily.
In examination of ancient historical texts even through the translation issues one still has logical and philosophical social and existential parameters regarding the inferences one might make from the given evidence. While new ancient texts are unearthed all time bringing confirmation of the existence of Jesus and/or the ideas of the ancient church the amount of material not found or no loner in existence must exceed the existing by a few hundred percent. Making historical inferences and judgments sets one on making conditional judgments with less certainty. One may know substantive data yet correlate that to a complete worldview only through a glass darkly.
Tabor does a good work in reviewing the various contexts of ideas about immortality and resurrection from that era and back to the Patriarchal and Platonic times. One tends to lose track of the meaning of resurrection-does that mean the physical body or a spiritual new body, or is does it refer to just a continuity of an immortal spirit?
How was Jesus resurrected? If Joseph of Arimethea put his body in a new tomb temporarily Friday evening because people can't hang on crosses on the Sabbath, and removed it for prep for burial Saturday evening after end of the Sabbath, and Sunday morning people found the tomb empty is that remarkable? Does that change anything? If that occurred Jesus even so could have been resurrected in a variety of ways and forms to appear to the faithful after death even if his physical body was disposed of traditionally. Tabor's book creates stimulating thought though not conclusive.
Detailed historical deliberations from a particular point of view can advance a given thesis. They haven't yet found the tombs and riches of Attilla the Hun yet though their are some goof fiction books on that topic.
James Tabor writes that the brother of Jesus (James) was the leader of the Jerusalem church and that the name James did not exist in that era. The name of the brother of Jesus that led the church in Jerusalem was actually Jacob. Because of he Apostle Paul's influence and of the growing schism or distancing between the Jewish Christians and the gentile, Pauline influenced theology James was given his new name to 'anglicize' it or remove the Jewishness as might some immigrant to the U.S.A. take a new, anglicized name.
The disturbing aspect of Tabor's book or thesis is that it fuels the suspicion that he is taking a Jesus-is-just-human Arian heretical approach that denies the nature of Jesus as fully God. He is innocent of that suspicion though even if he believes that none of the books of the gospel were actually written by the disciples or Luke.
In the case of John its probable that John told his story to scribes in his school at Ephesus that wrote it. Thus one finds a couple of references to 'the disciple that Jesus loved' as a third-person reference to John instead of using first person me's or I's. It wasn't narcissism. It is true that John provided the data perhaps orally as if he were Malcolm X talking his autobiography to the author Alex Haley-yet that's okay. John had things to do and places to go like living on the Prison Isle of Patmos for a while receiving visions that would become written as 'The Revelation of John.
There are many interesting ways to consider historically and philosophically the nature of material reality. It has an implicit problem of the criterion. It could be ultimately made of anything-even spirit such that everything of a Universe is produced in the mind of God. Evolutionists that are anti-spiritual simple study the mechanics of the manifest as far as possible. That cannot be an exclusive or exhaustive investigation of all that exists such as spirit.
One tends not to believe that most people in the future will be resurrected like Lazarus or Dorcas in the same body from death. Jesus in the Q documents mentions that in the next life-after-death people will have a different form-they will not marry or be given in marriage being something like angels evidently. In attempting to put everything of the future into a present, material fallen-world format one errs readily I would think especially if making disjunctive inferences. The persona or self-cognition may be the same yet that could be in a myriad ways given God's transcendence of the material-energized Universe he has created.
Even if one takes the existing Universe as one of an infinite number the resurrection or new appearance of the same individual in an infinite number of Universes would be logical enough. It would be something like serialized cloning of the same self-aware being. Like a light switch that is on or off it would be on when alive and sleeping when dead and part of Sheol or dirt.
There are better ways for life after-death to exist besides a Nietzchean recurrent Universe or an infinite number of trans-finite Universes existing with an infinite number of you in them from creation to creation. The Pauline, spiritual body way as a method of transcending the material incarnation parameters of understanding is good enough and acceptable to the quantum mechanic's, string and M-Theory kind of era we live in today.
James the Brother of Jesus left a small book that if one reads it after reading Tabor seems like a combination of proverbs describing the perfect social relations and way to live. Only someone that knew Jesus would have that sort of ethical glow. It's quite remarkable. In that era of transition from the Jewish traditional way to the new covenant the benefits of post-hoc analysis did not exist. During the time of Jesus more than nine Messianic claimants were put to death by ruling authority. Paul's experiences with The Risen Lord spiritually let the church have a plain course to take for future generations. It was a beautiful work-in-progress that continues today.
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