Overview
This is (Butler University's New Testament-Religious Studies professor) James McGrath's "no-frills" study of and reflections on what Christians call "the Paschal Mystery," namely, the high point of Christian faith - the death-resurrection of Jesus. The book aims to mediate between history and (Christian) faith. What makes it unique is that McGrath pays particular attention to details regarding the burial of Jesus (hence the title) and what those factors imply for the historical and theological assessment of Jesus' death and resurrection. For its diminutive size (13.3 x 0.8 x 18.4 cm and only 142 pages of content!), this book, I would say, "packs a punch" and lays out succinctly but very well practically all of the major considerations related to the history behind and theology regarding the death-burial-resurrection and very person of Jesus, with an introductory section to different issues that make up Gospel study to boot! Even though New Testament and Christology are two of my main fields of study, I finished this book with much food for thought and truly learned a lot from it! I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about how history and faith correlate when it comes to the death-burial-resurrection and very person of Jesus.
My (Three) Takeaways
- [The Role of Faith and Doubt] Faith and doubt even with regard to the burial and resurrection of Jesus are not polar opposites. They are necessary partners in approaching this subject. An uncritical faith can be described as accepting uncritically things that we are told by --what we think are-- the right book or the right person. On the other hand, in order to have a more critical (thus, more mature) faith, we need history, as well as the interplay of faith-as-trust and doubt (cf. p. 10, 13).
- [On the Burial of Jesus] McGrath gives priority to the Gospel of Mark's bare-bones, most probably more historical account of the burial of Jesus (Mark 15:42-47). He puts the spotlight on the following noteworthy factors: Jesus' disciples were not in a position to give Jesus an honorable burial as they thought he deserved. As a consequence of that, (as we can observe in the developing tradition about this event in the New Testament itself) "later Christian authors tried desperately to obscure [that historical fact]" (See pp. 70-75). What most probably happened was that Joseph of Arimathea was a pious and observant Jew (not so much the "hidden" disciple of Jesus as he is portrayed in later New Testament traditions) who was not so much concerned about Jesus (as later portrayals make him to be) but was more keen on the observance of Jewish Law which forbade the leaving of dead bodies on the cross before sundown when the Sabbath begins. Because of this devotion to the Law, he put the body of Jesus in a tomb that was close to the execution site without much fanfare (not even giving Jesus' body to his family as popular piety has portrayed e.g. in Michaelangelo's pieta). This dishonorable burial embarrassed the early Christians and so they altered the story as time went on and made the burial of Jesus more honorable (pp. 76-86).
- [What Happened to Jesus'Body & Resurrection Faith] Contrary to what many Christians think and believe, McGrath suggests that "not only is what happened to the body not the decisive factor in resurrection faith; in many respects it is irrelevant to it" (p. 97). McGrath's thoughts on this deserve careful reading and pondering!
