For Easter this year I am doing four readings of Bible passages, poetry, and books on the importance of Jesus' bodily resurrection.

Those who follow my work know that I've often emphasized the importance of affirming Jesus' literal, bodily resurrection in a body that could be touched, photographed, etc., just as Christianity has always affirmed. I've pointed out that this has been definitional of Christianity from Day 1 when it was preached by the apostles at Pentecost. Not just a vision (no, not even just an objective vision) but a bodily presence with whom they talked and ate. By this important definition, someone like theologian Dale Allison is not a Christian, because he will not affirm and even seems to scoff at this idea.

He says, dismissively, "What is the advantage of an interpretation of the resurrection so literal that it forces the conclusion that the risen Jesus retained his kidneys and genitals, had a body full of carbon and oxygen atoms, and sported a material costume?" (The Resurrection of Jesus, 2021, p. 261), a comment that smacks of Gnostic contempt for the value of the body, especially Jesus' resurrection body.

To my surprise, some commenters on social media, though (I assume) Christians themselves, have contended that we should not be so-called "gatekeepers" on this matter. One even went so far as to imply that if we say that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is creedally definitional, we are risking leaving ourselves with a Christianity that has only two members, because such a requirement is so stringent.

But Christianity has always been a creedal religion. While it is more than creedal, it is certainly not less. And Jesus' bodily resurrection is at its heart.

These readings are meant to address, if only partially, the question, "What is the advantage of affirming the bodily resurrection of Jesus?" The bodily resurrection of Jesus' is tied up intimately with all of the significance of Jesus' death and the promise of our own bodily resurrection and (crucially) the resurrection of physical Nature, which Scripture promises.

I hope that you enjoy these readings. There will be two more of them released *during the week* this coming week (notice that this is different than usual), one on Tuesday and one on Friday, and then the last on the first Sunday after Easter.