On the Resurrection of the Flesh

One need not be a professional theologian to detect in the text of Tertullian's discussion of the resurrection of the flesh the fact that he must have been at pains to justify to an emerging religion certain fundamental tenets of the faith that were meant to be shared and articulated with unambiguous fervor. That is made plain in the first few words of the text, which refer to "the heretics against whom this work is directed" (Tertullian). Yet it is not sufficient to note that Tertullian is engaged in a project of defining and explicating doctrine. Assuming appreciation of the fact that the patristic period of the Church was devoted to eliminating all manner of heresy so as to reinforce the unitary nature of the faith, there nevertheless remains the issue of understanding the content of orthodox belief. That is, it may be instructive to look at Tertullian's text for the purpose of identifying why his views o

. . .
on of the body. But the whole point of Christianity is that the Christ figure conferred on humanity a new experience of being, such that death, if conquered, implies a rebirth. The gospel story of the Resurrection, therefore, implies that humanity will eventually participate fully in the rebirth that is accounted for in the narrative. That makes sense from the Christian standpoint because it has the effect of preserving veneration of the Creation, which is also deemed to have been a consequence of God's will. Indeed, Tertullian takes from the account of the Creation the lesson that corporeal existence preceded the existence of the soul: "man was clay at first, and only afterwards man entire" (5.5). But as God enabled the clay, there is little reason to suppose that He would hold it in contempt. The doctrine of the Resurrection of the body preserves the integrity of the Creation of material substance and in a sense could be said to celebrate it. That concept is what enables Tertullian to slide over contemplation of infirmities of the flesh and focus instead on "the dignity and skill of the maker . . . in gauging the excellence of the flesh" (6). There is also, of course, the fact that God conferred ultimate dignity on the flesh b
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Resurrection Flesh, Hebrew Bible, Judaism Christianity, Epistle Colossians, Spirit Christ, Jews Tertullian, Christianity Tertullian, Son God, Indeed Tertullian, God Tertullian, human experience, tertullian's text, resurrection flesh, material experience, body soul, divine participation, mosaic dispensation, heavenly objects, final resurrection, divine human, participation human experience, divine participation human,
Approximate Word count = 3217
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)

More Essays on On the Resurrection of the Flesh