Western University Scholarship@Western Faculty Publications Theology 2010 Revisiting the Empty Tomb: The aE rly History of Easter Daniel A. Smith Huron University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/huron_theologypub Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the History of Christianity Commons Citation of this paper: Smith, Daniel A. Revisiting the Empty Tomb: The Early History of Easter. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010. Revisiting the Empty Tomb The Early History of Easter Daniel A. Smith FORTRESS PRESS MINNEAPOLIS For my teachers, especially John P. Egan, S.J.† John S. Kloppenborg Richard N. Longenecker REVISITING THE EMPTY TOMB The Early History of Easter Copyright © 2010 Fortress Press, an imprint of Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any man- ner without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information visit: www.augsburg fortress.org/copyrights or write to: Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209. Translations of biblical and other ancient texts are the author’s own unless otherwise noted. “Side with the Seeds,” written by Jeff Tweedy and Mikael Jorgenson © 2007 WORDS AMPERSAND MUSIC (BMI) AND JORGENSTORMUSIC (ASCAP)/Administered by BUG MUSIC. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Purchases of ten or more copies of this book are available at a discount from the publisher. For more information, contact the sales department at Augsburg Fortress, Publishers, 1-800-328-4648, or write to: Sales Director, Augsburg Fortress, Publishers, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209. Cover image: Cover design: Laurie Ingram Book design: Michelle L. N. Cook Smith, Daniel Alan, 1963- Revisiting the empty tomb : the early history of Easter / Daniel A. Smith. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes. ISBN 978-0-8006-9701-3 (alk. paper) 1. Jesus Christ—Resurrection—Biblical teaching. 2. Holy Sepulcher—Biblical teaching. 3. Bible. N.T—History of Biblical events. I. Title. BT482.S65 2010 2009044518 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z329.48-1984. Manufactured in the U.S.A. 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tires type black Where the blacktop cracks Weeds spark through Dark green enough to be blue When the mysteries we believe in Aren’t dreamed enough to be true Some side with the leaves Some side with the seeds —Wilco, “Side With The Seeds” (written by Jeff Tweedy and Mikael Jorgensen) What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. And that which you sow—you do not sow the body that is to come, but a naked seed, perhaps of wheat, or of something else. But God gives to that seed a body exactly as he wishes—and he gives to each of the seeds its own particular body. —1 Corinthians 15:36-38 Contents Preface vii Abbreviations ix Introduction: Not Here but Risen: Seeing and Not Seeing the Easter Jesus 1 Two Independent Traditions: The Disappearance and the Appearances of Jesus 2 Four Basic Reminiscences 8 1. When the Dead and/or Gone Appear to the Living 13 Apparitions of the Dead and/or Gone in Greco-Roman Literature 16 Apparitions of the Dead and/or Gone in Early Jewish and Christian Literature 20 The Appearances of (the Risen) Jesus and the Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Resurrection 22 2. Paul: “Last of All, He Appeared Also to Me” 27 Paul and the Resurrection Kerygma 29 The Resurrection of the Dead and the Finer Points of Greek Anthropology 35 Paul and the Empty Tomb 40 Paul and the Two Traditions 43 3. Empty Tombs and Missing Bodies in Antiquity 47 Assumption in the Hebrew Bible, the Ancient Near East, and Early Jewish Apocalypticism 49 Assumption in Greco-Roman Writings, Hellenistic Judaism, and Early Christianity 53 Interpreting Empty Tombs and Missing Bodies 61 4. The Sayings Gospel Q: “You Will Not See Me” 63 The Trouble with Q 66 Q and the Postmortem Vindication of Jesus 67 To the Origins of the Empty Tomb Tradition 76 How Different Is Assumption? How Different Is Q? 78 v 5. Mark: When the Bridegroom Is Taken Away 83 The Revelation of the Son of God 85 Seeing Mark 16:1-8 as the Conclusion of the Gospel 89 The Resurrection of the Son of Man 91 Assumption as Resurrection, and Resurrection as Assumption 97 6. Luke: “Why Do Doubts Arise in Your Hearts?” 99 How Luke Adapts the Empty Tomb Story 101 The Appearance to Simon (Peter) and His Visit to the Tomb 103 Are We Seeing a Pneuma? 106 Luke’s Apostolic Control of the Empty Tomb Story 112 Excursus: The Text of Luke 24 (Especially Luke 24:12) 115 7. Matthew: “And Behold, Jesus Met Them” 119 How Matthew Adapts the Empty Tomb Story 121 “And Behold, Jesus Met Them”: The Risen Jesus at the Tomb 126 “All Authority Is Given to Me”: The Risen Jesus as the Exalted Son of Man 132 8. John: “Where I Am Going, You Cannot Come” 137 How John Adapts the Empty Tomb Story 140 “I Have Seen the Lord”: Mary Magdalene’s Encounter with the Risen Jesus 144 Seeing Is Believing? The Resurrection of Jesus as the Eighth Sign 149 9. Rewriting the Empty Tomb: Early Christian Deployments and Developments 153 The Additions to Mark 16 155 Narrative Expansions of the Empty Tomb Story 158 The Empty Tomb Story and Early Christian Apologetic 164 Empty Tomb Motifs in Early Christian Hagiography 166 Visiting the Empty Tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 170 Uneasy Easter Stories 173 10. Revisiting the Empty Tomb: Why Beginnings Matter 177 Beginnings That Converge Narratively 179 Beginnings That Converge Theologically 182 Bibliography 185 Notes 201 Index of Selected Subjects 251 Index of Modern Authors 254 Index of Ancient Texts 257 vi Revisiting the Empty Tomb Preface Over the course of this project, from its inception to its completion, many indi- viduals have offered important support and encouragement in various ways, and I wish to offer them my thanks. First, I want to thank those who kindly agreed at various stages of this project to read individual chapters and to provide feedback, in particular John Kloppenborg, Agnes Choi, Darrell Reimer, and Timothy Con- nor. I am especially grateful to those who agreed to read the book as it was being prepared for publication: Dale Allison, Wendy Cotter, John Kloppenborg, and Amy-Jill Levine. Some of the material contained in this book was presented, at earlier stages and in very different forms, at annual meetings of the Canadian Society of Bibli- cal Studies. I am especially grateful to the CSBS, not only for the feedback and advice I received from those who patiently endured my several papers on the empty tomb stories, but especially for the generous and collegial forum the Soci- ety provides. I also wish to express my gratitude to the library staff at Huron University College, in particular Bice Schmitz du Moulin, who was always willing to rush a new volume through the cataloging process so that I could use it. Thanks are also due to the Huron University College Faculty of Theology, particularly to Rev. Dr. William Danaher (Dean of Theology), and to Rt. Rev. Dr. John Chapman (for- mer Dean), for support given to my work; I also wish to thank Jennifer Martin for the help she gave me as my research assistant during the summer of 2008. I am also grateful to the Venerable Dr. Timothy Connor and the wardens at St George’s Anglican Church in London, Ontario, for their permission to use the image of the stained-glass window that appears in the introduction. I also thank Evan Agnew, who took the picture. I am very grateful to the editorial staff at Fortress Press, in particular Neil Elliott, who took an interest in this project and was very supportive and helpful in the process of bringing the book to publication. Above all, I thank my wife, Patricia, and our sons, Matthew and James. My family was a great source of encouragement especially in the final stages of this project, when I was not often absent, but often absentminded; without their lov- ing support I could not have completed this book. Finally, I wish to express my indebtedness to my teachers, in particular Fr. John Egan, John Kloppenborg, and Richard Longenecker, who invested their vii time and energy in my formation as a student of Christian origins, not only dur- ing my doctoral program, but also in the years since, whether by their example or direct involvement. More than any method, hypothesis, or fact, what I learned particularly from these three was careful devotion to the study of the texts of early Christianity. This book is dedicated to them with gratitude and admiration. Abbreviations AB Anchor Bible ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992. ABRL Anchor Bible Reference Library AGJU Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums AnBib Analecta biblica ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers AR Archiv für Religionswissenschaft BAR Biblical Archaeology Review BBR Bulletin for Biblical Research BDAG W. Bauer, F. W. Danker, W. F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich. Greek- English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. BDF F. Blass, A. Debrunner, and R. W. Funk. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.