Resurrection Then and Now: A Conversation with John Dominic Crossan & Bernard Brandon Scott

Resurrection Then and Now:
A Conversation with John Dominic Crossan & Bernard Brandon Scott

What if our modern understanding of Easter is based on a fundamental historical mistake?

As we approach Easter in a time of deep global uncertainty, the Westar Institute invites you to a rigorous re-examination of the most central—and perhaps most misunderstood—tenet of the Christian tradition. Join world-renowned scholar John Dominic Crossan and acclaimed historian Bernard Brandon Scott for a live, critical conversation on the radical, competing claims of "Resurrection" in history and iconography.

The Conflict of the Empty Tomb

For fifteen years, John Dominic Crossan traveled the world to document a startling divide: while the Western Church depicts a solitary Jesus rising alone from a tomb, the Eastern tradition offers a "Universal Resurrection"—images of a communal Jesus grasping the hands of Adam and Eve, lifting the sick, and pulling humanity out of the abyss.

In this webinar, Crossan argues that by favoring the individualistic Western image, we have gutted the heart of a communal, inclusive ideal that offers renewed hope for our fractured modern society.

Why "Resurrection" is the Wrong Word

Bernard Brandon Scott challenges the very language we use. He argues that the term "resurrection" has become a monolithic "tyrant" that distorts the diverse metaphors early Christians used to express their conviction that Rome had not defeated Jesus.

By examining these stories in chronological order—from Paul’s rejection of a physical body to the later shifts in the Gospels—Scott reveals how a pluralistic movement was flattened into a single, often distorted, dogma.

Discussion Points

• Communal vs. Solitary: How iconography shapes our morality and our capacity for forgiveness.
• The Pauline Challenge: Why the earliest accounts of the resurrection conflict with our modern physical expectations.
• Hope in a Shadowed World: What these ancient, revolutionary metaphors offer us in a "now" defined by conflict and the search for collective justice.

The Program

• 15 min: John Dominic Crossan on the "Universal Resurrection" and Eastern Iconography.
• 15 min: Bernard Brandon Scott on the pluralistic metaphors of the early movement.
• 30 min: A curated conversation between Crossan and Scott.
• 30 min: Live Audience Q&A.

This event is more than a history lesson; it is a direct challenge to the common understanding of resurrection today.

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