Resurrection

==Religion==

===Ancient religions in the Near East===
{{See also|Dying-and-rising god}}
The concept of resurrection is found in the writings of some ancient non-Abrahamic religions in the [[Middle East]]. A few extant [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] and [[Canaan]]ite writings allude to [[Life-death-rebirth deity|dying and rising gods]] such as [[Osiris]] and [[Baal]]. Sir [[James Frazer]] in his book ''[[The Golden Bough]]'' relates to these dying and rising gods,<ref>Sir [[James Frazer]] (1922). ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' Ware: Wordsworth 1993.</ref> but many of his examples, according to various scholars, distort the sources.<ref>[[Jonathan Z. Smith]] "Dying and Rising Gods" in Mircea Eliade (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of Religion: Vol. 3''. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan 1995: 521-27.</ref> Taking a more positive position, [[Tryggve Mettinger]] argues in his recent book that the category of rise and return to life is significant for Ugaritic [[Baal]], [[Melqart]], [[Adonis]], [[Eshmun]], [[Osiris]] and [[Tammuz (deity)|Dumuzi]].<ref>Mettinger, ''Riddle of Resurrection'', 55-222.</ref>

===Ancient Greek religion===
In [[ancient Greek religion]] a number of men and women have been interpreted as being resurrected and made [[Immortality#Ancient Greek religion|immortal]]. [[Achilles]], after being killed, was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine mother [[Thetis]] and brought to an immortal existence in either Leuce, the [[Elysium|Elysian plains]] or the [[Fortunate Isles|Islands of the Blessed]]. [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]], who was killed by Achilles, seems to have received a similar fate. [[Alcmene]], [[Castor and Pollux|Castor]], [[Heracles]], and [[Melicertes]], are also among the figures interpreted to have been resurrected to physical immortality. According to [[Herodotus]]'s [[Histories (Herodotus)|''Histories'']], the seventh century BC sage [[Aristeas of Proconnesus]] was first found dead, after which his body disappeared from a locked room. He would reappear alive years later.<ref>Endsjø, ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs'', 54-64; cf. Finney, ''Resurrection, Hell and the Afterlife'', 13-20.</ref> However, Greek attitudes towards resurrection were generally negative, and the idea of resurrection was considered neither desirable nor possible.<ref>{{Citation |last=Wright |first=NT |title= The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God |volume = 3 |publisher = Fortress Press |year = 2003 |isbn=978-0-8006-2679-2 |page=53}}</ref> For example, [[Asclepius]] was killed by Zeus for using herbs to resurrect the dead, but by his father [[Apollo]]'s request, was subsequently immortalized as a star.<ref>Emma and Ludwig Edelstein, ''Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, Volume 1, Page 51</ref><ref>[[Sabine G. MacCormack]] ''Concise Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology'' p.47</ref><ref>Theony Condos, ''Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans'', p.141</ref>

Many other figures, like a great part of those who fought in the [[Trojan war|Trojan]] and Theban wars, [[Menelaus]], and the historical pugilist Cleomedes of Astupalaea, were also believed to have been made physically immortal, but without having died in the first place. Indeed, in Greek religion, immortality originally always included an eternal union of body and soul.<ref>Endsjø, ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs'', 21-45, 64-72.</ref> [[Alcestis]] undergoes something akin to a resurrection in her escape from the underworld,<ref>
{{cite book
| editor1-last = Luschnig
| editor1-first = C. A. E.
| title = Euripides' Alcestis
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RLw1yMrIhzgC
| series = Oklahoma series in classical culture
| year = 2003
| volume = 29
| location = Norman, Oklahoma
| publisher = University of Oklahoma Press
| publication-date = 2003
| page = 219
| isbn = 9780806135748
| access-date = 2019-11-04
| quote = [...] Alcestis' resurrection and restoration to her home [...] once the three days pass that it will take for Alcestis to be cleansed of her obligations to the Netherworld [...]
}}
</ref>
but without achieving immortality.<ref>
{{cite journal
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=GAQ8AAAAMAAJ
| journal               = Transactions of the American Philological Association
| title                 = Transactions of the American Philological Association
| year = 1994
| publisher             = Scholars Press
| publication-date      = 1994
| volume                = 124
| issn                  = 1533-0699
| access-date           = 2019-11-04
| quote                 = And it should be remembered that Alcestis is not immortal — she and Admetus must eventually die their fated deaths.
}}
</ref>{{Full citation needed |date=August 2023}}

Writing his ''Lives of Illustrious Men'' ([[Parallel Lives]]) in the first century, the [[Middle Platonism|Middle Platonic]] philosopher [[Plutarch]] in his chapter on [[Romulus]] gave an account of the king's mysterious disappearance and subsequent deification, comparing it to Greek tales such as the physical immortalization of Alcmene and Aristeas the [[Proconnesian]], "for they say Aristeas died in a fuller's work-shop, and his friends coming to look for him, found his body vanished; and that some presently after, coming from abroad, said they met him traveling towards Croton". Plutarch openly scorned such beliefs held in ancient Greek religion, writing, "many such improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures naturally mortal."<ref>''[[Parallel Lives]], Life of Romulus 28:4-6''</ref> Likewise, he writes that while something within humans comes from the gods and returns to them after death, this happens "only when it is most completely separated and set free from the body, and becomes altogether pure, fleshless, and undefiled."<ref>Collins, Adela Yarbro (2009), ''"Ancient Notions of Transferal and Apotheosis"'', pp 46,51</ref>

The parallel between these traditional beliefs and the later resurrection of Jesus was not lost on the early Christians, as [[Justin Martyr]] argued: "when we say ... [[Jesus Christ]], our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus." ([[First Apology of Justin Martyr|''1 Apol.'' 21]]).

===Buddhism===
{{Further|Rebirth (Buddhism)}}
There are stories in [[Buddhism]] where the power of resurrection was allegedly demonstrated in Chan or [[Zen]] tradition. One is the [[legend]] of [[Bodhidharma]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adamek |first=Wendi Leigh |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/166230168 |title=The mystique of transmission : on an early Chan history and its contexts |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-231-51002-8 |location=New York |pages=154 |oclc=166230168}}</ref> the Indian master who brought the [[Ekayana]] school of India that subsequently became [[Chan Buddhism]] to China.

The other is the passing of Chinese Chan master [[Puhua]] (Japanese:Jinshu Fuke) and is recounted in the Record of [[Linji Yixuan|Linji]] (Japanese: Rinzai Gigen). Puhua was known for his unusual behavior and teaching style so it is no wonder that he is associated with an event that breaks the usual prohibition on displaying such powers. Here is the account from Irmgard Schloegl's "The Zen Teaching of Rinzai".

{{Blockquote|
"One day at the street market Fuke was begging all and sundry to give him a robe. Everybody offered him one, but he did not want any of them. The master [Linji] made the superior buy a coffin, and when Fuke returned, said to him: "There, I had this robe made for you." Fuke shouldered the coffin, and went back to the street market, calling loudly: "Rinzai had this robe made for me! I am off to the East Gate to enter transformation" (to die)." The people of the market crowded after him, eager to look. Fuke said: "No, not today. Tomorrow, I shall go to the South Gate to enter transformation." And so for three days. Nobody believed it any longer. On the fourth day, and now without any spectators, Fuke went alone outside the city walls, and laid himself into the coffin. He asked a traveler who chanced by to nail down the lid.

The news spread at once, and the people of the market rushed there. On opening the coffin, they found that the body had vanished, but from high up in the sky they heard the ring of his hand bell.<ref>Schloegl, Irmgard; tr. "The Zen Teaching of Rinzai". Shambhala Publications, Inc., Berkeley, 1976. Page 76. {{ISBN|0-87773-087-3}}.</ref>}}

===Christianity===
In [[Christianity]], resurrection most critically concerns the [[resurrection of Jesus]], but also includes the resurrection of [[Judgment Day]] known as the resurrection of the dead by those Christians who subscribe to the [[Nicene Creed]] (which is the majority or mainstream Christianity), as well as the resurrection miracles done by Jesus and the prophets of the [[Old Testament]].

====Resurrection miracles====
[[File:Bonnat01.jpg|thumb|250px|right|''The Resurrection of Lazarus'', painting by [[Leon Bonnat]], France, 1857]]
{{Main|Miracles of Jesus#Resurrection of the dead}}
In the [[New Testament]], Jesus is said to have raised several persons from death. These resurrections included the daughter of [[Jairus]] shortly after death, a young man in the midst of his own [[funeral]] procession, and [[Lazarus of Bethany]], who had been buried for four days.

During the [[Ministry of Jesus]] on earth, before his death, Jesus commissioned his [[Twelve Apostles]] to, among other things, raise the dead.<ref>Not in the [[Great Commission]] of the resurrected Jesus, but only in the so-called [[Matthew 10|''Lesser Commission'']] of Matthew, specifically {{bibleverse||Matthew|10:8}}.</ref>

Similar resurrections are credited to the [[twelve apostles|apostles]] and Catholic saints. In the [[Acts of the Apostles]], [[Saint Peter]] raised a woman named [[Dorcas]] (also called Tabitha), and [[Paul the Apostle]] revived a man named [[Eutychus]] who had fallen asleep and fell from a window to his death. According to the [[Gospel of Matthew]], after Jesus's resurrection, many of those previously dead came out of their tombs and entered [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]], where they appeared to many. Following the [[Apostolic Age]], many saints were said to resurrect the dead, as recorded in [[Orthodoxy#Christianity|Orthodox Christian]] hagiographies.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} [[Columba|St. Columba]] supposedly raised a boy from the dead in the land of Picts<ref>Adomnan of Iona. Life of St Columba. Penguin books, 1995</ref> and [[Saint Nicholas|St. Nicholas]] is said to have resurrected pickled children from a brine barrel during a famine by making the [[sign of the cross]].<ref>{{citation|last=Ferguson|first=George|date=1976|orig-year=1954|chapter=St. Nicholas of Myra or Bari|title=Signs and Symbols in Christian Art|location=Oxford, England|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=136}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=409|title=St. Nicholas Center: Saint Nicolas|website=stnicholascenter.org|access-date=22 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205211459/http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=409|archive-date=5 December 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Resurrection of Jesus====
{{Main|Life-death-rebirth deity|Resurrection of Jesus|Easter|Resurrection appearances of Jesus}}
[[File:Pilon-risenchrist2.jpg|thumb|Resurrection of Jesus]]
Christians regard the resurrection of Jesus as the central doctrine in Christianity. Others take the [[Incarnation (Christianity)|incarnation of Jesus]] to be more central; however, it is the [[Miracles of Jesus|miracles]]&nbsp;– and particularly his resurrection&nbsp;– which provide validation of his incarnation. According to Paul, the entire Christian faith hinges upon the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus and the hope for a life after death. The [[Apostle Paul]] wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians:
{{Blockquote|
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|15:19-20|49}}</ref>}}

====Resurrection of the dead====
{{Main|Universal resurrection#Christianity|Christian eschatology#Resurrection of the dead}}
Christianity started as a religious movement within 1st-century Judaism (late [[Second Temple Judaism]]), and it retains what the New Testament itself claims was the [[Pharisaic]] belief in the [[Pharisees#The afterlife|afterlife and resurrection of the dead]]. Whereas this belief was only one of many beliefs held about the [[world to come]] in Second Temple Judaism, and was notably rejected by the [[Sadducees]], but accepted by the Pharisees (cf. Acts 23:6-8). Belief in the resurrection became dominant within [[Early Christianity]] and already in the Gospels of Luke and John, included an insistence on the resurrection of the flesh. Most modern [[Christian churches]] continue to uphold the belief that there will be a final [[resurrection of the dead#Christianity|resurrection of the dead]] and [[World to Come#Christian eschatology|world to come]].

Belief in the resurrection of the dead, and Jesus' role as judge, is codified in the [[Apostles' Creed]], which is the fundamental creed of Christian [[baptismal]] faith. The [[Book of Revelation]] also makes many references about the [[Judgment Day|Day of Judgment]] when the dead will be raised.

=== Hinduism ===
{{Further|Reincarnation}}
There are folklore, stories, and extractions from certain holy texts that refer to resurrections. One major folklore is that of Savitri saving her husband's life from Yamraj.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Service |first=Pragativadi News |date=2023-05-19 |title=Know Significance Of Sabitri Brata |url=https://pragativadi.com/know-significance-of-sabitri-brata/ |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=Pragativadi |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-18 |title=पति के बिना कैसे होंगे 100 पुत्र? सावित्री ने जब यमराज से बचाई सत्यवान की जान |url=https://www.aajtak.in/visualstories/religion/vat-savitri-vrat-2023-savitri-saved-her-husband-life-from-yamraj-with-the-blessing-of-100-sons-tvisu-35769-18-05-2023 |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=www.aajtak.in |language=hi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Savitri {{!}} Epic Poem, Indian Mythology, Hinduism {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Savitri |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> In the [[Ramayana]], after Ravana was slain by Rama in a great battle between good and evil, Rama requests the king of Devas, Indra, to restore the lives of all the monkeys who died in the great battle<ref>{{Cite web |title=Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda |url=http://www.valmikiramayan.net/yuddha/sarga120/yuddha_120_prose.htm |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=www.valmikiramayan.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2020-09-27 |title=On Rama’s request Indra restores the Army [Chapter 123] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-ramayana-of-valmiki/d/doc424751.html |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref> [[Mahavatar Babaji]] and [[Lahiri Mahasaya]] are also believed to have resurrected themselves.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Here's how Rajinikanth became a devotee of Mahavatar Babaji |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/lifestyle/what-s-hot/story/here-s-how-rajinikanth-became-a-devotee-of-mahavatar-babaji-1191001-2018-03-16 |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Chapter 43: The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar - Autobiography of a Yogi |url=https://www.crystalclarity.com/pages/autobiography-of-a-yogi-chapter-43-the-resurrection-of-sri-yukteswar |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=Crystal Clarity Publishers |language=en}}</ref>

===Islam===
{{Main|Islamic eschatology}}
Belief in the [[Day of Resurrection]] (''yawm al-qiyāmah'') is also crucial for Muslims. They believe the time of ''Qiyāmah'' is preordained by God but unknown to man. The trials and [[tribulation]]s preceding and during the ''Qiyāmah'' are described in the Quran and the [[hadith]], and also in the commentaries of [[Ulema|scholars]]. The Quran emphasizes [[Resurrection of the Dead|bodily resurrection]], a break from the [[pre-Islamic Arabia]]n understanding of death.<ref>See:
* "Resurrection", ''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'' (2003)
* {{Cite encyclopedia | title=Avicenna | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Online }}: Ibn Sīnā, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Sīnā is known in the West as "Avicenna".
* {{Cite encyclopedia | title=Qiyama | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Online | author=L. Gardet }}</ref>

According to [[Nasir Khusraw]] (d. after 1070), an [[Isma'ilism|Ismaili]] thinker of the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] era, the Resurrection (''Qiyāma'') will be ushered by the [[Al-Qa'im Al Muhammad|Lord of the Resurrection]] (''Qāʾim al-Qiyāma''), an individual symbolizing the purpose and pinnacle of creation from among the progeny of Muhammad and his Imams. Through this individual, the world will come out of darkness and ignorance and “into the light of her Lord” (Quran 39:69). His era, unlike that of the enunciators of the divine revelation (''nāṭiqs'') before him, is not one where God prescribes the people to work but instead one where God rewards them. Preceding the Lord of the Resurrection (''Qāʾim'') is his proof (''ḥujjat''). The Qur’anic verse stating that “the night of power (''laylat al-qadr'') is better than a thousand months” (Quran 97:3) is said to refer to this proof, whose knowledge is superior to that of a thousand Imams, though their rank, collectively, is one. Hakim Nasir also recognizes the successors of the Lord of the Resurrection to be his deputies (''khulafāʾ'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Virani|first=Shafique|title=The Days of Creation in the Thought of Nasir Khusraw|url=https://www.academia.edu/37219457|journal=Nasir Khusraw: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow|date=January 2005|language=en}}</ref>

===Judaism===
{{Main|Jewish eschatology}}
There are three explicit examples in the Hebrew Bible of people being resurrected from the dead:
* The prophet [[Elijah]] prays and God raises a young boy from death ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2017:17-24;&version=49; 1 Kings 17:17-24])
* [[Elisha]] raises the son of the [[Woman of Shunem]] ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%204:32-37;&version=49; 2 Kings 4:32-37]) whose birth he previously foretold ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%204:8-16;&version=49; 2 Kings 4:8-16])
* A dead man's body that was thrown into the dead Elisha's tomb is resurrected when the body touches Elisha's bones ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2013:21;&version=49; 2 Kings 13:21])

According to Herbert C. Brichto, writing in Reform Judaism's ''[[Hebrew Union College Annual]]'', the family tomb is the central concept in understanding biblical views of the [[afterlife]]. Brichto states that it is "not mere sentimental respect for the physical remains that is...the motivation for the practice, but rather an assumed connection between proper [[sepulture]] and the condition of happiness of the deceased in the afterlife".<ref>Raphael ''Jewish Views of the Afterlife'', 45.</ref>

According to Brichto, the early [[Israelites]] apparently believed that the graves of family, or tribe, united into one, and that this unified collectivity is to what the [[Biblical Hebrew]] term [[Sheol]] refers, the common grave of humans. Although not well defined in the [[Tanakh]], Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the dead went after the body died. The Babylonians had a similar underworld called [[ancient Mesopotamian underworld|Aralu]], and the [[ancient Greeks]] had one known as [[Greek underworld|Hades]]. According to Brichto, other biblical names for Sheol were [[Abaddon]] "ruin", found in Psalm 88:11, Job 28:22 and Proverbs 15:11;  Bor "pit", found in Isaiah 14:15, 24:22, Ezekiel 26:20; and Shakhat "corruption", found in Isaiah 38:17, Ezekiel 28:8.<ref name="Kin, Cult p.8">Herbert Chanon Brichto "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife&nbsp;– A Biblical Complex", Hebrew Union College Annual 44, p.8 (1973)</ref>

During the [[Second Temple period]], there developed a diversity of beliefs concerning the resurrection.<ref>Cf. Elledge ''Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism'', 19-65; Finney ''Resurrection, Hell and the Afterlife'', 49-77; Lehtipuu ''Debates over the Resurrection'', 31-40.</ref> The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in [[2 Maccabees]], according to which it will happen through re-creation of the flesh.<ref>2 Maccabees 7.11, 7.28.</ref> Resurrection of the dead also appears in detail in the extra-canonical [[Book of Enoch]],<ref>1 Enoch 61.5, 61.2.</ref> [[2 Baruch]],<ref>2 Baruch 50.2, 51.5</ref> and [[2 Esdras]]. According to the British scholar in ancient Judaism [[Philip R. Davies]], there is "little or no clear reference ... either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead" in the texts of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]].<ref>Philip R. Davies. "Death, Resurrection and Life After Death in the Qumran Scrolls" in Avery-Peck & Neusner (eds.) ''Judaism in Late Antiquity'', 209; cf. Nickelsburg ''Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life'', 179.</ref> [[C.D. Elledge]], however, argues that some form of resurrection may be referred to in the Dead Sea texts [[4Q521]], [[Pseudo-Ezekiel]], and [[4QInstruction]].<ref>Elledge ''Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism'', 160-72.</ref> Too, there is the [[Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones]] in the [[Book of Ezekiel]], and the [[Book of Daniel]], which mentions resurrection. As Professor Devorah Dimant notes on ''TheTorah.com'', "Originally an allegorical vision about the future return of Judeans to their land, Ezekiel's vision (ch. 37) becomes one of the cornerstones for the Jewish belief in the resurrection of the dead. ... The only biblical passage that ''unambiguously'' refers to resurrection is found in the final chapter of the book of Daniel[.]" <ref>{{Cite web |last=Dimant |first=Devorah |date=2018 |title=The Valley of Dry Bones and the Resurrection of the Dead |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-valley-of-dry-bones-and-the-resurrection-of-the-dead |access-date=September 8, 2023 |website=TheTorah.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Both [[Josephus]] and the [[New Testament]] record that the [[Sadducees]] did not believe in an [[afterlife]],<ref>Josephus Antiquities 18.16; Matthew 22.23; Mark 12.18; Luke 20.27; Acta 23.8.</ref> but the sources vary on the beliefs of the [[Pharisees]]. The New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not.<ref>Acta 23.8.</ref> According to Josephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people will "pass into other bodies," while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment."<ref>Josephus ''Jewish War'' 2.8.14; cf. ''Antiquities'' 8.14-15.</ref> [[Paul the Apostle]], who also was a Pharisee,<ref>Acts 23.6, 26.5.</ref> said that at the resurrection what is "sown as a natural body is raised a spiritual body."<ref>1 Corinthians 15.35-53</ref> The [[Book of Jubilees]] seems to refer to the resurrection of the soul only, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul.<ref>Jubilees 23.31</ref>