THE QUESTION

Do you have to believe the resurrection is literally true -- that Jesus came back to life in his body -- to be a Christian?
Posted by Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on March 22, 2008 4:44 AM

FROM THE PANEL

Charles W. "Chuck" Colson is founder of Prison Fellowship, a Christian outreach ministry to the prison population of this country, as well as to ex-prisoners and crime victims. The "On Faith" panelist's daily radio commentary, BreakPoint, is aired daily on over a 1,000 radio outlets nationwide. Colson also is a syndicated columnist, lawyer, and author of 25 books, most recently The Faith (2008). He served as special counsel to the late President Richard M. Nixon (1969-73). After pleading guilty to a Watergate-related charge of obstruction of justice in 1974, Colson served seven months of a one to three-year federal prison sentence. His 1973 Christian conversion was documented in the internationally best-selling book and film, Born Again. He founded Prison Fellowship in 1976. In 1993, Colson was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion and donated the $1 million prize to Prison Fellowship. In the last 28 years, Colson has visited more than 600 prisons in 40 countries and, with the help of nearly 50,000 volunteers, has built Prison Fellowship into the world's largest prison outreach, serving the spiritual and practical needs of prisoners in 93 countries including the U.S.

Overwhelming Evidence Says He Is Risen

To me, the resurrection is the central doctrine of Christianity, and if you don’t believe in it, then you can’t really call yourself a Christian. But I don’t know why people would not believe in it, because the evidence for it is overwhelming.

Charles "Chuck" Colson, Founder, Prison Fellowship ministry | 26 COMMENTS
Mar 24, 2008 at 8:37 AM
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world. The “On Faith” panelist is a theologian and ordained minister and has served as pastor and staff minister of several Southern Baptist churches. He holds a Master of Divinity degree and the Doctor of Philosophy (in systematic and historical theology) from Southern Seminary. He did additional study at the St. Meinrad School of Theology and research at Oxford University. He became seminary president after serving as editor of The Christian Index, the oldest of the state papers serving the Southern Baptist Convention. Called "an articulate voice for conservative Christianity at large" by the Chicago Tribune, Mohler's mission is to address contemporary issues from a consistent and explicit Christian worldview. He hosts a daily radio program for the Salem Radio Network and blogs on moral, cultural and theological issues. He also has contributed chapters to several books including Hell Under Fire, Whatever Happened to Truth, Here We Stand: A Call From Confessing Evangelicals and The Coming Evangelical Crisis. He served as General Editor of The Gods of the Age or the God of the Ages: Essays by Carl F. H. Henry.

Resurrection Essential to Christianity

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead separates Christianity from all mere religion--whatever its form. Christianity without the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is merely one religion among many

R. Albert Mohler Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary | 28 COMMENTS
Mar 24, 2008 at 7:37 AM
Kathleen Flake is associate professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University. The "On Faith" panelist teaches courses in new religious movements and the relation between church and state in America. She researches the effect of politics on religion and the strategies by which religious communities maintain a sense of fidelity to an originating vision, while changing over time. Her recent book, "The Politics of American Religious Identity: the Seating of Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle," addresses both questions in the context of twentieth-century Mormonism. Descended from Southern Mormon pioneers and Baptist dust bowl migrants who ended up in Arizona, she now lives in Nashville, and is a practicing Latter-day Saint. Prior to her appointment to Vanderbilt, she was a litigation attorney in Washington, D.C., representing the government in civil rights and professional liability cases.

Little Boxes, Big Promises

Does it’s insistence on the literalness and import of Christ’s physical resurrection make Mormonism more or less Christian? I would say “neither.”

Kathleen Flake, Associate Professor, Religious History | 29 COMMENTS
Mar 24, 2008 at 6:50 AM
An ordained United Church of Christ and American Baptist minister, "On Faith" panelist Dr. Willis E. Elliott has been a pastor, teacher, lecturer, administrator, consultant (to Newsweek for 38 years), church executive, and the author of six books. His five earned degrees in religion include a PhD, University of Chicago, where he was divinity research librarian. He taught in colleges, seminaries, & universities--including the University of Hawaii, where he taught "The World's Great Religions" and "Religion and the Meaning of Existence." At the 1966 Triennium of the National Council of Churches, he was the interlocutor with Billy Graham.

Sense and Nonsense in Easter Thinking

And for all of us Christians, Easter means "the resurrection of the Son of God" with all its attendant splendors for time and eternity. The last word is not sorrow but joy, not death but life.

Willis E. Elliott, Minister, teacher, author | 14 COMMENTS
Mar 24, 2008 at 4:36 AM
Syndicated political columnist and “On Faith” panelist Cal Thomas has a twice-weekly column that appears in over 500 newspapers around the world. A graduate of American University, Thomas is a veteran of broadcast and print journalism. He has worked for NBC, CNBC, PBS television, and the Fox News Channel where he currently appears on the weekly media critique show, “Fox News Watch.” Thomas has authored ten books, including Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?, A Freedom Dream, Public Persons and Private Lives, Book Burning, Liberals for Lunch, Occupied Territory, The Death of Ethics in America, Uncommon Sense and Things That Matter Most. His latest was The Wit and Wisdom of Cal Thomas. In 1995, Thomas was honored with a Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Interview Program. Other awards include a George Foster Peabody team reporting award, and awards from both the Associated Press and United Press International. Common Ground, which Thomas writes for USA Today, offers insightful discussion of contentious social issues with his friend and political counterpart, Bob Beckel. The two are working together on a book to be published in 2007.

He Arose, or There's No Hope

If Jesus was not literally and bodily raised from the dead - as He said He would be and demonstrated in front of witnesses who just days before had abandoned Him in fear of the mob that called for His crucifixion -- then all humanity is without hope.

Cal Thomas, Syndicated political columnist | 58 COMMENTS
Mar 22, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Nicholas Thomas Wright is Anglican Bishop of Durham, England. The "On Faith" panelist taught New Testament studies for 20 years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities before becoming Dean of Lichfeld in 1994. He was named Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey in 2000, and consecrated bishop in 2003. He has written hundreds of articles and more than 40 books, including Judas and the Gospel of Jesus (2006) and Evil and the Justice of God (2006). He has served as Visiting Professor at numerous institutions including Harvard Divinity School, Gregorian University in Rome and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr Wright holds four degrees, including a divinity doctorate from Oxford University, and honorary degrees from several universities and colleges.

The Resurrection Revolution

For Christians, resurrection is a highly revolutionary doctrine. Death is the last weapon of the tyrant. The news that the living God is sovereign over death itself is therefore very bad news for tyrants

Nicholas T. Wright, Anglican Bishop of Durham, England | 30 COMMENTS
Mar 22, 2008 at 10:29 AM
"On Faith" panelist Deepak Chopra is the author of more than fifty books translated into over thirty-five languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers in both the fiction and nonfiction categories. His latest is "The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore." Chopra’s Wellness Radio airs weekly on Sirius Satellite Stars, Channel 102, which focuses on the areas of success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being, and spirituality. He is founder and president of the Alliance for a New Humanity. Time magazine heralds Deepak Chopra as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century and credits him as “the poet-prophet of alternative medicine.

Resurrection Times Three

I am speaking as someone outside the Christian faith, but it's my belief that Jesus belongs to the world, The promise of resurrection is also universal.

Deepak Chopra, Founder and president of the Alliance for a New Humanity | 32 COMMENTS
Mar 22, 2008 at 9:29 AM
“On Faith” panelist Michael Otterson has served as director of media relations for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1997. As senior spokesman for the church, Otterson has worked with most major publications, TV and radio networks, and other news media in the United States and overseas on issues ranging from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to the Church’s burgeoning international growth and diversity. A convert to the Mormon faith, he worked as a journalist for 11 years before being appointed director of the Church’s public affairs office in London in 1976 – the first such office outside the United States. After opening and managing a new Pacific Area public affairs office in Australia, Otterson moved to the United States in 1991 to help oversee the church’s international public affairs from its Salt Lake City headquarters. In a church that operates worldwide with a lay clergy, Otterson has served twice as a stake president (leader of a group of church congregations), in both England and Australia. He is now a US citizen.

The Resurrection: An Electrifying Moment

To take the resurrection out of Christianity is to gut the Christian faith of much of its hope and promise.

Michael Otterson, Media relations director, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | 34 COMMENTS
Mar 22, 2008 at 7:56 AM

READER RESPONSE

» JD | Why is it Christians focus so much on the supposed supernatural acts in the bible and so little on the philosophy of Christ? It took the Catholic chu...
» Steven Johnston | To answer the question, yes. Why, because I heard the Word of God. Back in June of 1985, while driving eastbound on the old Davison Freeway, at the b...
» Stan | A different question would be: could the resurrection have happened but the tale we have been told is not what happened? There seems to be some Force...
MORE RESPONSE

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On Faith is an interactive conversation on religion moderated by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. It is produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com, as is PostGlobal, a conversation on international affairs. Please send your comments, questions and suggestions for On Faith to David Waters, its producer.