Moltmann and the Resurrection
Jesus was crucified publicly and died publicly. But the only people to learn of his resurrection were the faithful women at his tomb in Jerusalem, and the disciples who had fled into Galilee. The disciples then returned to Jerusalem and proclaimed the crucified Jesus quite openly as Lord and redeemer of the world, whom Jesus raised from the dead. Those are the relatively well-attested historical facts. And they are astonishing enough. But at the same time, all that can actually be proved about them are the assurances of the women that at Jesus' empty tomb they heard an angelic message telling them of his resurrection, and the assertions of the disciples that they had seen appearances of Christ in Galilee.
In the earliest testimony to the resurrection we have, in the First Letter to the Corinthians, written in the year 55 or 56, Paul cites testimonies that Christ had appeared to Cephas, to the twelve, and then to five hundred brethren at once. At the end he adds himself. Paul's account is especially valuable because it is a personal record of what he himself experienced when Christ appeared to him. According to what he say says, Paul "saw " Jesus, the Lord (1 Cor. 9:1), but this "seeing" evidently took the form of an inward experience: "It pleased God through his grace to reveal his Son in me" (Gal. 1:15f).
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