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Resurrection

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[[File:Plaque resurrection dead VandA M.104-1945.jpg|thumb|300px|Plaque depicting saints rising from the dead]]
{{Salvation}}

'''Resurrection''' is the concept of coming back to life after [[death]]. In a number of ancient religions, a [[dying-and-rising god]] is a deity which dies and resurrects.

The [[resurrection of the dead]] is a standard [[Eschatology|eschatological]] belief in the [[Abrahamic religions]]. As a religious concept, it is used in two distinct respects: a belief in the resurrection of individual [[soul]]s that is current and ongoing ([[Idealism (Christian eschatology)|Christian idealism]], [[realized eschatology]]), or else a belief in a singular [[resurrection of the dead]] at the [[End of the world (religion)|end of the world]]. Some believe the soul is the actual vehicle by which people are resurrected.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gregory of Nyssa: "On the Soul and the Resurrection:" However far from each other their natural propensity and their inherent forces of repulsion urge them, and debar each from mingling with its opposite, none the less will the soul be near each by its power of recognition, and will persistently cling to the familiar atoms, until their concourse after this division again takes place in the same way, for that fresh formation of the dissolved body which will properly be, and be called, resurrection |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.x.iii.ii.html |publisher=Ccel.org}}</ref>

The [[Crucifixion of Jesus|death]] and [[resurrection of Jesus]], an example of resurrection, is the central focus of [[Christianity]]. Christian theological debate ensues with regard to what kind of resurrection is factual&nbsp;– either a ''spiritual'' resurrection with a [[spirit]] body into [[Heaven]], or a material resurrection with a restored [[human body]].<ref>As in the [[Apostle's Creed]]: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting." [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12792a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: General Resurrection]: "Resurrection is the rising again from the dead, the resumption of life. The [[Fourth Lateran Council]] (1215) teaches that all men, whether [[Chosen people#Christianity|elect]] or [[reprobate]], "will rise again with their own bodies which they now bear about with them" (chapter "''Firmiter''"). In the language of the [[creed]]s and professions of faith this return to life is called resurrection of the body (''resurrectio carnis, resurrectio mortuoram, anastasis ton nekron'') for a double reason: first, since the [[Immortality of the soul|soul cannot die]], it cannot be said to return to life; second the [[heretical]] contention of [[Hymenaeus (Ephesian)|Hymeneus and Philitus]] that the [[Scriptures]] denote by resurrection not the return to life of the body, but the rising of the soul from the death of [[Christian views on sin|sin]] to the life of [[Grace (Christianity)|grace]], must be excluded."</ref> While most Christians believe [[Resurrection of Jesus|Jesus' resurrection from the dead]] and [[Ascension of Jesus|ascension to Heaven]] was in a material body, a very small minority believe it was spiritual.<ref>{{cite web |first=R. C. |last=Symes |title=According to Paul of Tarsus, the resurrection transformed Jesus into the Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world. Christ's resurrected body was not a resuscitated physical body, but a new body of a spiritual/celestial nature: the natural body comes first and then the spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:46). Paul never says that the earthly body becomes immortal. |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/symes01.htm |publisher=religioustolerance.org}}</ref><ref>The Watchtower Society claims that Jesus was not raised in His actual physical human body, but rather was raised as an invisible spirit being—what He was before, the archangel Michael. They believe that Christ's post-Resurrection appearances on earth were on-the-spot manifestations and materializations of flesh and bones, with different forms, that the Apostles did not immediately recognize. Their explanation for the statement "a spirit hath not flesh and bones" is that Christ was saying that he was not a ghostly apparition, but a true materialization in flesh, to be seen and touched, as proof that he was actually raised. But that, in fact, the risen Christ was, in actuality, a divine spirit being, who made himself visible and invisible at will. The Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses believes that Christ’s perfect manhood was forever sacrificed at Calvary, and that it was not actually taken back. They state: "...in his resurrection he ‘became a life-giving spirit.’ That was why for most of the time he was invisible to his faithful apostles... He needs no human body any longer... The human body of flesh, which Jesus Christ laid down forever as a ransom sacrifice, was disposed of by God’s power."—Things in Which it is Impossible for God to Lie, pages 332, 354.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gospel-mysteries.net/resurrection-theories.html |title=Resurrection Theories |publisher=Gospel-mysteries.net |date= |accessdate=2013-05-04}}</ref>

There are documented rare cases of the return to life of the [[Clinical death|clinically dead]] which are classified scientifically as examples of the [[Lazarus syndrome]], a term originating from the biblical story of the [[resurrection of Lazarus]].

==Etymology==
Resurrection, from the Latin noun ''resurrectio -onis'', from the verb ''rego'', "to make straight, rule" + preposition ''sub'', "under", altered to ''subrigo'' and [[Syncope (phonology)|contracted to]] ''surgo, surrexi, surrectum'' ("to rise", "get up", "stand up"<ref>[[Karl Ernst Georges]], Ferruccio Badellino, Oreste Calonghi, ''Dizionario Latino-Italiano'' (''Latin to Italian dictionary''), Rosenberg & Sellier, 3rd edition, [[Turin]], 1989, 2.957 pages</ref>) + preposition ''re-'', "again",<ref>Cassell's Latin Dictionary</ref> thus literally "a straightening from under again".

==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 the following deities: 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 were made physically [[Immortality|immortal]] as they were resurrected from the dead. [[Asclepius]] was killed by Zeus, only to be resurrected and transformed into a major deity. [[Achilles]], after being killed, was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine mother [[Thetis]] and resurrected, brought to an immortal existence in either Leuce, [[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]], were also among the figures sometimes considered 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. Later he found not only to have been resurrected but to have gained immortality.

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. The philosophical idea of an [[immortal soul]] was a later invention, which, although influential, never had a breakthrough in the Greek world. As may be witnessed even into the [[Christian era]], not least by the complaints of various philosophers over popular beliefs, traditional Greek believers maintained the conviction that certain individuals were resurrected from the dead and made physically immortal and that for the rest of us, we could only look forward to an existence as disembodied and dead souls.<ref>[[Erwin Rohde]] ''Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks''. New York 1925 [1921]</ref>

This traditional religious belief in physical immortality was generally denied by the [[Greek philosophers]]. Writing his ''Lives of Illustrious Men'' ([[Parallel Lives]]) in the first century CE, the [[Middle Platonism|Middle Platonic]] philosopher [[Plutarch]]'s chapter on [[Romulus]] gave an account of the mysterious disappearance and subsequent deification of this first king of Rome, comparing it to traditional Greek beliefs such as the resurrection and 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 traditional ancient Greek religion, writing, "many such improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures naturally mortal."

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." (''1 Apol.'' 21). There is, however, no belief in a general resurrection in ancient Greek religion, as the Greeks held that not even the gods were able to recreate flesh that had been lost to decay, fire or consumption. The notion of a ''general'' resurrection of the dead was therefore apparently quite preposterous to the Greeks. This is made clear in [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]]'s [[Areopagus]] discourse. After having first told about the resurrection of Jesus, which makes the Athenians interested to hear more, Paul goes on, relating how this event relates to a general resurrection of the dead:
{{quote|
"Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, `We shall hear you again concerning this.'"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2017:30-32;&version=49 |title=Acts 17:30-32 |publisher=Biblegateway.com |date= |accessdate=2013-05-04}}</ref>}}

===Judaism and Samaritanism===
{{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 Shunammite woman ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%204:32-37;&version=49; 2 Kings 4:32-37]); this was the very same child 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])

During the [[Second Temple period|period of the Second Temple]], there developed a diversity of beliefs concerning the resurrection. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in [[2 Maccabees]], according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh.<ref>2 Maccabees 7.11, 7.28.</ref> Resurrection of the dead also appears in detail in the extra-canonical books of [[Book of Enoch|Enoch]],<ref>1 Enoch 61.5, 61.2.</ref> in [[Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch|Apocalypse of 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 [[Dead Sea scrolls]] texts.<ref>Philip R. Davies. “Death, Resurrection and Life After Death in the Qumran Scrolls” in Alan J. Avery-Peck & Jacob Neusner (eds.) ''Judaism in Late Antiquity: Part Four: Death, Life-After-Death, Resurrection, and the World-To-Come in the Judaisms of Antiquity.'' Leiden 2000:209.</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|Paul]], 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> [[Book of Jubilees|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>

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>{{Cite book|title=Jewish Views of the Afterlife|last=Raphael|first=Simcha Paull|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2009|isbn=9780742562202|location=Lanham, MD|pages=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 [[Abzu|Aralu]], and the [[Greeks]] had one known as [[Hades]]. For biblical references to Sheol see Genesis 42:38, Isaiah 14:11, Psalm 141:7, Daniel 12:2, Proverbs 7:27 and Job 10:21,22, and 17:16, among others. According to Brichto, other Biblical names for Sheol were: Abaddon (ruin), found in Psalm 88:11, Job 28:22 and Proverbs 15:11; Bor (the 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>

===Christianity===
[[File:Pilon-risenchrist2.jpg|thumb|Resurrection of Jesus]]
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]] (see Judaism and Samaritanism below).

====Resurrection of Jesus====
{{main|Life-death-rebirth deity|Resurrection of Jesus|Easter|Resurrection appearances 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:
{{quote|
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>{{bibleref2|1 Corinthians|15:19-20|49}}</ref>}}

====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}}
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> 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|Lazarus]], who had been buried for four days. 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.

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. Following the [[Apostolic Age]], many saints were said to resurrect the dead, as recorded in [[Orthodox Christian]] hagiographies.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} [[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>

Most Christians understand these miraculous resurrections to be of a different nature than the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of the dead.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/stewart.cfm?id=136 |title=What's the Difference between Resurrection and Resuscitation? |archive-url=https://archive.is/20130629200514/http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/stewart.cfm?id=136 |archive-date=June 29, 2013 |dead-url=yes |access-date=June 29, 2013}}</ref> The raising of Lazarus and others from the dead could also be called "resuscitations" or "reanimations", since the life given to them is presumably temporary in nature. In contrast, the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of the dead has abolished death once and for all (see {{bibleverse||Isaiah|25:8|31}}, {{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|15:26|31}}, {{bibleverse|2|Timothy|1:10|31}}, {{bibleverse||Revelation|21:4|31}}).

====Resurrection of the dead====
{{main|Resurrection of the dead#Views in 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 both the [[Sadducees]] and, according to [[Josephus]], the [[Pharisees]], this belief 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]], perhaps as prophesied by the Apostle Paul when he said: "...he hath appointed a day, in the which he will [[Last judgment|judge the world]]..." ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:30-31;&version=NASB Acts 17:31] KJV) and "...there shall be a resurrection of the dead, [[Universal resurrection|both of the just and unjust]]." ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2024:14-16;&version=NASB Acts 24:15] KJV).

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.

====Difference from Platonic philosophy====
In Platonic philosophy and other Greek philosophical thought, at death the soul was said to leave the inferior body behind. The idea that Jesus was resurrected spiritually rather than physically even gained popularity among some Christian teachers, whom the author of [[1 John]] declared to be [[antichrist]]s. Similar beliefs appeared in the early church as [[Gnosticism]]. However, in Luke 24:39, the resurrected Jesus expressly states "behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."

=== Hinduism ===
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. In the Ramayana, after Ravana was slayed by Rama in a great battle between good and evil, Rama requests the king of Gods, Indra, to restore the lives of all the monkeys who died in the great battle.

===Islam===
{{Main|Qiyama}}
Belief in the "Day of Resurrection", ''[[Qiyamah|Yawm al-Qiyāmah]]'' ({{lang-ar|يوم القيامة}}) 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 Qur'an and the [[hadith]], and also in the commentaries of [[Ulema|scholars]]. The Qur'an 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 | ref=harv }}: 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=harv }}</ref>

===Zen 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]], the Indian master who brought the [[Ekayana]] school of India to China that subsequently became Chan Buddhism.

The other is the passing of Chinese Chan master [[Fuke Zen|Puhua]] (J., Fuke) and is recounted in the Record of [[Linji Yixuan|Linji]] (J., [[Rinzai]]). 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".

{{quote|
"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>}}

== Technological resurrection ==
[[Cryonics]] is the [[Cryopreservation|low-temperature preservation of humans]] who cannot be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future.<ref>"What is Cryonics?". Alcor Foundation. Retrieved 2 December 2013. "Cryonics is an effort to save lives by using temperatures so cold that a person beyond help by today's medicine might be preserved for decades or centuries until a future medical technology can restore that person to full health."</ref> Cryonics procedures ideally begin within minutes of cardiac arrest, and use [[cryoprotectants]] to prevent ice formation during cryopreservation.<ref>Best BP (April 2008). "Scientific justification of cryonics practice". Rejuvenation Research 11 (2): 493–503. doi:10.1089/rej.2008.0661. {{PMID|18321197}}.</ref> However, the idea of cryonics also includes preservation of people long after death because of the possibility that brain encoding memory structure and personality may still persist or be inferable in the future. Whether sufficient brain information still exists for cryonics to successfully preserve may be intrinsically unprovable by present knowledge. Therefore, most proponents of cryonics see it as an intervention with prospects for success that vary widely depending on circumstances.

[[Russian cosmism|Russian Cosmist]] [[Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov]] advocated resurrection of the dead using scientific methods. Fedorov tried to plan specific actions for scientific research of the possibility of restoring life and making it infinite. His first project is connected with collecting and synthesizing decayed remains of dead based on "knowledge and control over all atoms and molecules of the world". The second method described by Fedorov is genetic-hereditary. The revival could be done successively in the ancestral line: sons and daughters restore their fathers and mothers, they in turn restore their parents and so on. This means restoring the ancestors using the hereditary information that they passed on to their children. Using this genetic method it is only possible to create a [[identical twin|genetic twin]] of the dead person. It is necessary to give back the revived person his old mind, his personality. Fedorov speculates about the idea of "radial images" that may contain the personalities of the people and survive after death. Nevertheless, Fedorov noted that even if a soul is destroyed after death, Man will learn to restore it whole by mastering the forces of decay and fragmentation.<ref>Nikolai Berdyaev, The Religion of Resusciative Resurrection. "The Philosophy of the Common Task of N. F. Fedorov.</ref>

In his 1994 book ''The Physics of Immortality'', American [[physicist]] [[Frank J. Tipler]], an expert on the [[general theory of relativity]], presented his [[Omega Point (Tipler)|Omega Point Theory]] which outlines how a resurrection of the dead could take place at the end of the [[cosmos]]. He posits that humans will evolve into [[robots]] which will turn the entire [[cosmos]] into a [[supercomputer]] which will, shortly before the [[big crunch]], perform the resurrection within its [[cyberspace]], reconstructing formerly dead humans (from information captured by the [[supercomputer]] from the past [[light cone]] of the cosmos) as [[Avatar (computing)|avatars]] within its [[metaverse]].<ref>Frank J. Tipler, ''The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead'' (New York: Doubleday, 1994), {{ISBN|0198519494}}. 56-page excerpt available [http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385467995 here.]</ref>

[[David Deutsch]], British [[physicist]] and pioneer in the field of [[quantum computing]], agrees with Tipler's Omega Point cosmology and the idea of resurrecting deceased people with the help of quantum computers<ref>David Deutsch (1997). "The Ends of the Universe". The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications. London: Penguin Press. {{ISBN|0-7139-9061-9}}.</ref> but he is critical of Tipler's theological views.

Italian [[physicist]] and [[computer scientist]] [[Giulio Prisco]] presents the idea of "quantum archaeology", "reconstructing the life, thoughts, memories, and feelings of any person in the past, up to any desired level of detail, and thus resurrecting the original person via 'copying to the future'".<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies]] | title=Technological Resurrection Concepts From Fedorov to Quantum Archeology | url=http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/prisco20151011 | access-date=December 10, 2015 | date=October 11, 2015 |author= Giulio Prisco}} {{cite web|url=http://giulioprisco.blogspot.fr/2011/12/quantum-archaeology.html|title=Quantum Archaeology |author=Giulio Prisco | accessdate=6 July 2015 | date=December 16, 2011}}</ref>

In his book ''Mind Children'', [[roboticist]] [[Hans Moravec]] proposed that a future [[supercomputer]] might be able to resurrect long-dead minds from the information that still survived. For example, this information can be in the form of memories, filmstrips, medical records, and [[DNA]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56mb7XuSx3QC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Mind Children|work=google.co.uk|accessdate=6 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://futurisms.thenewatlantis.com/2010/02/resurrecting-dead.html|title=Resurrecting the Dead - Futurisms - The New Atlantis|work=Futurisms - The New Atlantis|accessdate=6 July 2015}}</ref>

[[Ray Kurzweil]], American inventor and [[futurist]], believes that when his concept of [[Technological singularity|singularity]] comes to pass, it will be possible to resurrect the dead by digital recreation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.singularityweblog.com/ray-kurzweil-singularity/|title=Ray Kurzweil on the Singularity and Bringing Back the Dead|author=Socrates|date=18 July 2012|work=Singularity Weblog|accessdate=6 July 2015}}</ref>

In their [[science fiction]] [[novel]] ''[[The Light of Other Days]]'', [[Arthur C. Clarke|Sir Arthur Clarke]] and [[Stephen Baxter (author)|Stephen Baxter]] imagine a future civilization resurrecting the dead of past ages by reaching into the past, through micro [[wormholes]] and with [[Nanorobotics|nanorobots]], to download full snapshots of [[brain]] states and memories.<ref>Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible, Millennium [i.e., Second] Edition, Victor Gollancz – An imprint of Orion Books Ltd., 1999, p. 118: "the novel that Stephen Baxter has now written from my synopsis — The Light of Other Days."</ref>

Both the Church of Perpetual Life and the [[Terasem Movement]] consider themselves [[Transhumanism#Spirituality|transreligions]] and advocate for the use of technology to indefinitely extend the human lifespan.<ref>{{cite web| publisher=International Business Times | title=Virtual reality heaven: How technology is redefining death and the afterlife | url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/virtual-reality-heaven-how-technology-redefining-afterlife-1532429 | author=Anthony Cuthbertson | access-date=December 10, 2015 | date=December 9, 2015}}</ref>

==Zombies==
{{Main|Zombie}}
A zombie ([[Haitian French]]: ''{{lang|fr|zombi}}'', {{lang-ht|zonbi}}) is a fictional [[undead]] being created through the reanimation of a human [[corpse]]. Zombies are most commonly found in [[Horror fiction|horror]] and [[fantasy]] genre works. The term comes from [[Culture of Haiti#Folklore and mythology|Haitian folklore]], where a ''zombie'' is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]].

==Disappearances (as distinct from resurrection)==
{{See also|Entering heaven alive}}
As knowledge of different religions has grown, so have claims of bodily disappearance of some religious and mythological figures. In [[ancient Greek religion]], this was a way the gods made some physically immortal, including such figures as [[Cleitus (mythology)|Cleitus]], [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]], [[Menelaus]], and [[Tithonus]].<ref>[[Erwin Rohde]] ''Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks''. New York: Harper & Row 1966.[1921]</ref> After his death, [[Cycnus]] was changed into a [[swan]] and vanished. In his chapter on [[Romulus]] from [[Parallel Lives]], [[Plutarch]] criticises the continuous belief in such disappearances, referring to the allegedly miraculous disappearance of the historical figures Romulus, [[Cleomedes of Astypalaea]], and [[Croesus]]. In ancient times, Greek and Roman pagan similarities were explained by the early Christian writers, such as [[Justin Martyr]], as the work of demons, with the intention of leading Christians astray.<ref>Justin Martyr, ''Dialogue with Trypho'' (ca 147-161 A.D.) Catholic University Press, 2003</ref>

In the [[Epic of King Gesar]], Geesar, at the end, chants on a mountain top and his clothes fall empty to the ground.<ref>[[Alexandra David-Neel]],and Lama Yongden, ''The Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling'', Rider, 1933, While still in oral tradition, it is recorded for the first time by an early European traveler.</ref> The body of the first Guru of the [[Sikh]]s, [[Guru Nanak Dev]], is said to have disappeared and flowers left in place of his dead body.{{{cn|date=October 2018}}

[[FitzRoy Somerset, 4th Baron Raglan|Lord Raglan]]'s [[The Hero Pattern|Hero Pattern]] lists many religious figures whose bodies disappear, or have more than one [[sepulchre]].<ref>[[Otto Rank]], [[FitzRoy Somerset, 4th Baron Raglan|Lord Raglan]], and [[Alan Dundes]], ''In Quest of the Hero'', Princeton University Press, 1990</ref> B. Traven, author of ''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]'', wrote that the [[Inca]] [[Virococha]] arrived at Cusco (in modern-day Peru) and the Pacific seacoast where he walked across the water and vanished.<ref>B. Traven, ''The Creation of the Sun and Moon'', Lawerence Hill Books, 1977</ref> It has been thought that teachings regarding the purity and incorruptibility of the hero's human body are linked to this phenomenon. Perhaps, this is also to deter the practice of disturbing and collecting the hero's remains. They are safely protected if they have disappeared.<ref>See: Michael Paterniti, ''Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain'', The Dial Press, 2000</ref>

The first such case mentioned in the Bible is that of [[Enoch (ancestor of Noah)|Enoch]] (son of [[Jared (ancestor of Noah)|Jared]], great-grandfather of [[Noah]], and father of [[Methuselah]]). Enoch is said to have lived a life where he "walked with God", after which "he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:1–18).<ref>{{bibleverse-lb||Genesis|5:18-24|HE}}</ref> In [[Deuteronomy]] (34:6) [[Moses]] is secretly buried. [[Elijah]] vanishes in a whirlwind [[2 Kings]] (2:11). After hundreds of years these two earlier Biblical heroes suddenly reappear, and are seen walking with Jesus, then again vanish. [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]] (9:2–8), [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] (17:1–8) and [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] (9:28–33). The last time he is seen, [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] (24:51) alone tells of Jesus leaving his disciples by [[Ascension of Jesus|ascending into the sky]].

==See also==
* [[1 Corinthians 15]]
* [[Information-theoretic death]]
* [[Metempsychosis]]
* [[Near death experience]]
* [[Suspended animation]]
* [[Riverworld]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[[Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews]] by Kevin J. Madigan and Jon D. Levenson. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008
*C.D. Elledge. ''Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE -- CE 200''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* [[Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov]]. ''Philosophy of Physical Resurrection'' 1906.
* [[Edwin Hatch]]. ''Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church'' (1888 Hibbert Lectures).
* [[Alfred J Hebert]]. ''Raised from the Dead: True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles''
* Lange, Dierk. [https://books.google.com/books?id=syATJKcx5A0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=lange,+kingdoms&hl=de&ei=N_-fTYqhL82Vswam6KzoAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false "The dying and the rising God in the New Year Festival of Ife"], in: Lange, ''Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa'', Dettelbach: Röll Vlg. 2004, pp.&nbsp;343–376.
* [[Richard Longenecker]], editor. ''Life in the Face of Death: The Resurrection Message of the New Testament''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
*[[Joseph McCabe]] ''Myth of the Resurrection and Other Essays'', Prometheus books, New York, 1993, originally printed in 1925 and 1926
* Tryggve Mettinger. ''The Riddle of Resurrection: "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East'', Stockholm: Almqvist 2001.
* [[Markus Mühling]]. ''Grundinformation Eschatologie. Systematische Theologie aus der Perspektive der Hoffnung''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007, {{ISBN|978-3-8252-2918-4}}, 242–262.
* [[George Nickelsburg]]. ''Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestmental Judaism''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972.
* [[Pheme Perkins]]. ''Resurrection: New Testament Witness and Contemporary Reflection''. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1984.
* [[Erwin Rohde]] ''Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks''. New York: Harper & Row, 1925 [1921].
* [[Charles H. Talbert]]. "The Concept of Immortals in Mediterranean Antiquity", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', Volume 94, 1975, pp 419–436
* [[Charles H. Talbert]]. "The Myth of a Descending-Ascending Redeemer in Mediterranean Antiquity", ''New Testament Studies'', Volume 22, 1975/76, pp 418–440
* {{cite book
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=1994
|title=The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead
|location=my house
|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
|isbn=0-19-851949-4
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{cite IEP |url-id=Resurrection/ |title=Resurrection}}
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12789a.htm Resurrection of Jesus Christ] - Catholic Encyclopedia
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090702131515/http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/the-life-of-the-world--15 Article on resurrection in the Hebrew Bible.]
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=233&letter=R Jewish Encyclopedia: Resurrection]
* [http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/threshold/occult.shtml The enticement of the Occult: Occultism examined by a scientist and Orthodox Priest]
* [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18159992.html?refid=hbw_rd Rethinking the resurrection.(of Jesus Christ)(Cover Story) Newsweek, April 8th 1996, Woodward, Kenneth L.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311081839/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-76 ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'':] Death and Immortality, Resurrection, Reincarnation

{{Death}}
[[Category:Resurrection| ]]
[[Category:Afterlife]]
[[Category:Miracles]]
[[Category:Mythology]]
[[Category:Religious belief and doctrine]]
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