www.ntt-online.nl NTT 61/1, 2007, 47-59 ISTVÁN CZACHESZ Early Christian Views on Jesus’ Resurrection Toward a Cognitive Psychological Interpretation * ABSTRACT This article examines the cognitive capacities of the human mind that underlie the con- cept of Jesus’ resurrection. The first part of the article surveys some alternative tradi- tions about Jesus’ death and resurrection in early Christian thought. In the second part, the relevant cognitive structures will be discussed. We will examine, in particular, how the human mind deals with agency, intentionality, and counterintuitiveness. The final part of the study will interpret the idea of the resurrected Jesus in the light of these cog- nitive capacities and give an explanation of the long-term success of the canonical story. 1. One Theme with Many Variations Jesus’ resurrection has been a central theme in early Christian tradition. 1 Our earliest written evidence of what Christians believed about Jesus’ resurrection is found in Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians, written around 50 AD: ‘(…) how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead’. 2 In another pas- sage of the same epistle, Paul quotes a formulaic statement about Jesus’ death and resurrection: ‘For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died’. 3 Finally, some three years later, Paul offers a more elaborate account in 1 Corinthians: _____________ * For their support in writing this article I am indebted to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Re- search (NWO project ‘Early Christian Mind’, project code 275-25-003), the University of Groningen, and the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, where I was able to carry out research in the framework of the project ‘Metamorphoses: Resurrection, Taxonomies and Trans- formative Practices in Early Christianity’, directed by Turid Karlsen Seim. 1 For recent studies on the origins and earliest history of the idea, see U.B. Müller, Die Entstehung des Glaubens an die Auferstehung Jesu, Stuttgart 1998; F. Avemarie & H. Lichtenberger (eds.), Auferstehung – Resurrection, Tübingen 2001; P. Piovanelli, ‘Pre- and Post-canonical Passion Stories: Insights into the Development of Christian Discourse on the Death of Jesus’, Apocrypha 14 (2003), 99-128; D.C. Allison, Jr., Resurrecting Jesus: The Earliest Christian Tradition and Its Interpreters, New York 2005; J.H. Charlesworth et al., Resurrection: The Origin and Future of a Biblical Doctrine, London 2006. 2 1 Thess. 1:9-10. Translations of passages from the New Testament follow the New Revised Standard Version. For dating 1 Thessalonians around 50 AD, see H. Köster, Einführung in das Neue Testament im Rahmen der Religionsgeschichte und Kulturgeschichte der hellenistischen und römischen Zeit, Berlin and New York 1980, 545; N. Perrin & D. Duling, The New Testament: An Introduction, San Diego and New York 1982, 51; A.J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians (The Anchor Bible), New York 2000, 73. 3 1 Thess. 4:14. Both its concise and solemn structure (‘if we believe … then also God’) and the non- Pauline vocabulary (‘Jesus’ and instead of ‘Christ’ and ) suggest that the passage is a pre-