8. Brainstorming

I almost wrote 'Brianstorming' on the heading of this post. I do have a friend and colleague call Brian, and I am imagine he has brianstorms sometimes. But unless you are blessed by the moniker 'Brian', I am afraid that you won't be doing any of that.

But if you are in possession of a brain and faced with the task of completing a theology essay, brainstorming is an indispensible activity and you'd better get into it.

Having determined what the question actually means, the aim of your initial brainstorm is to get down on paper everything you can think of in no particular order.

Remember: thinking is a physical activity. At this point I personally need to use pen and paper, or a whiteboard. (If I use a whiteboard, I then take a digital photo and upload it for later). I can't really explain why, but using the old-style messy handwriting just works to unlock the sleepy bits of my brian. Um, no, my brain.

What are you looking for? Well what I end up with isn't pretty. It's a sketch with lots of question marks, and lines going all over the place as I trace out possible connections between thoughts. I haven't read much yet, so I just don't know what I am going to find. I guess I am listing a series of doors to open, without knowing what doors are going to lead into passageways, and further doors, and even whole rooms, and what doors are going lead nowhere.

What I am looking for is possibilities. Ideas to follow and things to read. So: here is a good place to make a preliminary list of Scriptural passages that are going to be obvious touchstones for you. If you know already of any obvious conversation partners in the history of theology, jot them down here too.

Just say the question is this:

What would be lost by denying that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was bodily?

Now, analysing the question I have come up with the sub-question 'lost from what'? - and I have recognised that the question is asking me to make a defence of the traditional understanding of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as bodily. There's a negative in place here - how would a non-bodily resurrection be deficient?

Well I am obviously going to have to hunt around for some thinkers who might argue that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead wasn't a bodily resurrection. Now, I have heard it said that Bishop Spong argues against this so I jot his name down. That doesn't mean he is going to feature in my essay - far from it: he's not a scholarly source - but looking at his books might at least alert me to other places to look. I have also heard something about for Anglican Archbishop of Perth Peter Carnley, so I'll jot his name down.

Clearly this isn't a very long list, so I had better commit to further investigation of the other side of the case. If my portrayal of the case against the bodily resurrection is deficient then my argument in defence of it will also be weak. So I must be careful to find the strongest opponent to argue with. (more of that later).

What could possibly be the opposite case? A resurrection that is spiritual only? No resurrection at all? It is important to consider the alternatives and how someone could possibly argue for them.

Can I think at this stage of any possibilities of things that might be lost? A couple of possibilities come to mind, because I think of the bodily resurrection in terms of the strong affirmation of the body and of the created order in the New Testament. In fact, Romans 8 is a very interesting passage in this regard and says something about the 'redemption of our bodies'. That'll be worth a further look.

Also, the resurrection of Jesus as a body is something that then gets used as an image to talk about the church, which is 'his body'. I don't quite know what to make of that, but - well, it's worth scratching it down for now.

What about the Bible? Romans 8 I've already mentioned. 1 Corinthians 15 is going to be the obvious place to look and I am going to have to do some exegetical work in and around that passage. But where else? The Old Testament? Ezekiel 37 and Daniel 12 are the standard resurrection passages. But also, later Isaiah talks alot about the new creation - maybe that's worth a look. Psalm 16? The preaching in Acts? Note it down. We can add to this list later.

Now whatever you do: don't lose this sketch of paper! File carefully! This work will be your reference in the weeks to come.