Edward Schillebeeckx

Edward Schillebeeckx
1914-2009
(source: Nationaal Archief Fotocollectie Anefo)
no copyright infringement intended

...we should not imagine that the belief of the disciples that Jesus had risen was caused by the empty tomb and the resurrection appearances. It was quite the opposite: A belief in the resurrection, "that the new orientation of living which this Jesus has brought about in their lives has not been rendered meaningless by his death – quite the opposite," gave rise to these traditions. The empty tomb was, in his opinion, an unnecessary hypothesis, since “an eschatological, bodily resurrection, theologically speaking, has nothing to do, however, with a corpse.” That was merely a "crude and naive realism of what 'appearances of Jesus'" meant...

(Edward Schillebeeckx, Jesus: An experiment in Christology)

(Church in America)