RESURRECTION
793
RESURRECTION
at Athens, for instance (Acts, xvii, 18, 31, 32), at
Jerusalem (xxiii, 6), before Felix (xxiv, 15), before
Agrippa (xxvi, 8). He insists on the same doctrine
in his Epistles (Rom., vui, 11; I Cor., vi, 14; xv,
12 sqq.; II Cor., iv, 14; v, 1 sqq.; Phil., iii, 21;
I Thess., iv, 12-16; II Tim., ii, 11; Hcbr., vi, 2),
and in this he agrees with the Apocalypse (xx, 12
sqq.).
(3) Tradition. — It is not surprising that the Tradition of the early Church agrees with the clear teaching of both the Old and New Testaments. We have already referred to a number of creeds and pro- fessions of faith which may be considered as part of the Church's official ex-pression of her faith. Here we have only to point out a number of patristic passages, in which the Fathers teach the doctrine of the general resurrection in more or less explicit terms. St. Clement of Rome, I Cor., xxv; St. Justin MartjT, "De resurrect.", vii sqq.; Idem, "Dial. c. Trj^h.", bcxx; Athenagoras, "De resur. cam.", iii; Tatian, "Adv. Grsec", vi; St. Irenseus, "Contra haBr.",I,x; V, vi, 2; Tertullian, "Contra Marcion.", V, ix; Idem, "De prtescript.", xiii; Idem, "De resurrect, earn.", I, xii, xv, Ixiii; Minucius Felix, "Octav.", xx-xiv; Origen, tom. XVII, in Matt., xxix; Idem, "De prineip. ", prsef., v; Idem, "In Lev.", v, 10; Hippolji;us, "Adv. Grsec." in P. G., X, 799; St. C>Til of Jerusalem, "Cat.", XVIII, xv; St. Ephraem, "De resurrect, mort."; St. Basil, "Ep. cclxxi", 3; St. Epiphanius, "In ancor.", Ixxxiii sq., xcix; St. Ambrose, "De exce.ssu frat. sui SatjTi", II, Ixvii, cii; Idem, "In Ps. cxviii", serm. X, n. 18; Ps. Ambr., "De Trinit.", xxiii, in P. L., XVII, 534; St. Jerome, "Ep. ad Paul" in LIII, 8; Rufinus, "In sjinbol.", xhv sq.; St. Chrj'sostom (Ps. Chrysosfom), "Fragm. in libr. Job" in P. G., LXIV, 619; St. Peter Chrysologus, serm. 103, 118; "Apost. Constit.", VII, xli; St. Augustine "En- chirid.", 84; Idem, "De civit. Dei", XX, xx; Theo- doret, "De pro%'ident.", or. ix; "Hist eccl.", I, iii.
The general resurrection can hardly be proved from reason, though we may show its congruity. (a) As the soul has a natural propensity to the body, its perpetual separation from the body would seem unnatural, (b) As the body is the partner of the soul's crimes, and the companion of her virtues, the justice of God seems to demand that the body be the sharer in the soul's punishment and reward, (c) .^s the soul separated from the body is naturally imperfect, the consummation of its happiness, re- plete with every good, seems to demand the resur- rection of the body. The first of these reasons ap- pears to be urged by Christ Himself in Matt., xxii, 23; the second reminds one of the words of St. Paul, I Cor., XV, 19, and II Thess., i 4. Besides urging the foregoing arguments, the Fathers appeal also to certain analogies found in revelation and in nature itself, e. g. Jonas in the whale's belly, the three chil- dren in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lions' den, the carrying away of Henoch and Elias, the raising of the dead, the blossoming of Aaron's rod, the pres- ervation of the garments of the Israelites in the desert, the grain of seed dying and springing up again, the egg, the season of the year, the succession of day and night. Many pictures of early Christian art express these analogies (Kraus, "Encycl. .\rchaol.", 8. V. Auferstehung ; Northcote and Brownlow, "Roma Sotterranea"). But in spite of the fore- going congruities, theologians more generally in- cline to the opinion that in the state of pure nature there would ha\-e been no resurrection of the body.
B. Characteristics of the Risen Body. — .\11 shall rise from the dead in their own, in their entire, and in immortal bodies; but the good shall ri.se to the res- urrection of life, the wicked to the resurrection of iudgnicnt. It would destroy the very idea of resur- rection, if the dead were to rise in bodies not their
own. Again, the resurrection, like the creation, is
to be numbered amongst the principal works of God;
hence, as at the creation all things came perfect
from the hand of God, so at the resurrection all
things must be perfectly restored by the same
omnipotent hand. But there is a difference between
the earthly and the risen body; for the risen bodies
of both saints and sinners shall be invested with
immortality. This admirable restoration of nature
is the result of the glorious triumph of Christ over
death as described in several texts of Sacred Scrip-
ture: Is., xxv, 8; Osee, xiii, 14; I Cor., xv, 26;
Apoc., ii, 4. But while the just shall enjoy an endless
felicity in the entirety of their restored members,
the wicked "shall seek death, and shall not find it,
shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them"
(.\poc., ix, 6).
These three characteristics, identity, entirety, and immortality, will be common to the risen bodies of the just and the wicked. But the bodies of the saints shall be distinguished by four transcendent endow- ments, often called qualities. The first is "impassi- bility", which shall place them beyond the reach of pain and inconvenience. "It is sown", says the Apostle, "in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption" (I Cor., XV, 42). The Schoolmen call this quality impassibility, not incorruption, so as to mark it as a peculiarity of the glorified body; the bodies of the damned will be incorruptible indeed, but not impas- sible; they shall be subject to heat and cold, and all manner of pain. The next quality is "brightness", or "glory", by which the bodies of the saints shall shine like the sun. "It is sown in dishonour," says the .\postle, "it shall rise in glory" (I Cor., xv, 43; of. Matt., xiii, 43; xvii, 2; Phil., iii, 21). All the bodies of the saints shall be equally impassible, but they shall be endowed with different degrees of glory. According to St. Paul: "One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, another the glory of the stars. For star differeth from star in glorj'" (I Cor., .XV, 41-42). The third quality is that of "agility", by which the body shall be freed from its slowness of motion, and endowed with the capa- bility of moving with the utmost facility and quick- ness wherever the soul pleases. The Apostle says: "It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power" (I Cor., XV, 43). The fourth quality is "subtility", by which the body becomes subject to the absolute dominion of the soul. This is inferred from the words of the Apostle: "It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body" (I Cor., xv, 44). The body participates in the soul's more perfect and spiritual life to such an extent that it becomes itself like a spirit. We see this quality exemplified in the fact that Christ passed through material objects.
Not to mention the pertinent cliapters in our current apologetic and theological treatises, or the commentaries on the principal passages of Sacred Scripture cited in the course of the article, we shall only indicate a number of monographs on the questions implied in the dogmas of the Resurrection of Christ and of the general resurrection: Celuni, Gti uUimi capi del Tetranwr/o e la critica Tazionalistica, cioh Varmonia dei quaitro Evangeli (Rome, 1906); Dentler. Die Auferstehung Jesu Chrisli nach den Be- richlen dea NT. in NiKEL and Robr, Biblische ZeUfragen, I (Miin- ster, 190S). 6; Kcllmaxn, Die Wachl am Grabe Chrisli und die Leugner seiner Auferstehung (W^Qrzburg, 1887): .ScHULTE. Das Osterwunder in der neueren Theologie in Theologie und Glaube (1909) : Ladeuze, La rHurrection du Chri.it detant la critique contemporaine: Maxoenot, a series of articles in Revue "pratique d'apologetique (1908-9): Prat. La theologie de S. Paul (Paris, 1908), 185-94: Bautz, Die Lehre rom Auferstehungsleibe (1877); Atzberoer, Die christliche Esrhalologie (1890); Wilhelm and SCANNELL. Manual of Catholic Theology. II (London, 1898). 179, 53.5 sqq.; MiLLlGAN. The Resurrection of Our Lord {\joaAon, 1884); Cox. The Resurrection (London. 1890); Williams. Our Lord's Resurrection (London, 1882); Westcott, The Gospel of the Resurrection (London. 1884); Plummer. I Corinthians, in the International Critical Commentary (New York. 1911), 328-87; Simpson, The Resurrection and Modern Thought (London. 1911).
A. J. Ma AS.
Resurrection, Congrecation op the, founded in Pari.s, 1836, by Bogdan Jadski, Peter Semenenko,
