The Preaching of the Resurrection of Christ in Augustine, Luther, Barth, and Thielicke

Abstract

The absolute centrality of the resurrection of Christ to Christian faith can be seen clearly articulated by major preachers–theologians from the Apostle Paul through Augustine, Luther, Barth, and Thielicke, to take a historical sampling. These men agreed on interpreting the resurrection as bodily (a changed body, but a body nonetheless) and in uniting Christ's resurrection with that of Christians. Though tone and emphases differed considerably, they all took seriously and combated the forms of doubt that these affirmations took in their own day, and played out the consequences of resurrection faith for life in this world. The intellectual seriousness with which they engaged the questions of their own time, as well as the intensity with which they related theological affirmation of the resurrection to the perennial threats of sin, death, and final futility, provide a challenge to do likewise to today's theologians and preachers.