Displaying items by tag: resurrection

Senior Anglicans are asking the Archbishop of Canterbury to force his ambassador to the Vatican to resign because he does not believe Jesus rose from the dead. In an Easter sermon some years ago Dr John Shepherd said, ‘It is important for Christians to be set free from the idea that the resurrection was an extraordinary physical event, which restored to life Jesus’s original earthly body. The resurrection of Jesus ought not to be seen in physical terms, but as a new spiritual reality.’ He added that the disciples merely ‘felt his presence after his death’, and the Gospel accounts in the Bible were not historical records as we would write history today. Senior Anglicans have rounded on his unorthodox views. Dr Shepherd’s appointment came after the previous ambassador stood down following accusations of sexual misconduct.

Rev Gavin Ashenden (featured in a Prayer Alert article on 5 May about a controversy over the Qu’ran being read in church) responded to a survey showing that one in four British adults who consider themselves Christians do not believe that the resurrection of Jesus really happened. He said that such people ‘made the mistake of confusing British culture with Christianity,’ according to The Daily Telegraph, which ran the story. ‘Those people who neither believe in the resurrection nor go anywhere near a church cannot be Christians,’ he said. ‘As with so many things, the key is in the definition of terms. Discovering the evidence for the resurrection having taken place to be wholly compelling is one of the things that makes you a Christian.’