The Divine Universe

You can say, that the resurrection is impossible, therefore it didn’t happen, or you can say it happened, therefore it must be possible. Most Christians would say the latter, but we tend to say it is a miracle beyond our comprehension. However, there are Christian scientists who are seriously exploring the bodily resurrection from a scientific perspective. I don’t mean the psychological theories that effectively deny any bodily resurrection. Robert Russell is professor of physics and of theology at UCLA, Berkeley. He has begun a new program of research, based on the theory that Jesus’ bodily resurrection marks a major step in the evolution of the universe, equivalent to the emergence of the first stars, of living organisms or of self-conscious humans.

Professor Russell emphasises that his research is only just beginning but, whatever he discovers, we would all agree, I think, that, 2000 years ago, the universe changed. It began a new phase; something new emerged. Of course, the universe is changing all the time in routine ways – an old star explodes as a supernova here, another star is snowballing into existence from gas and dust somewhere else, a planetary system is forming round another star. But the universe is also evolving; real changes are taking place in its nature and structure. Jesus’ bodily resurrection marked a very major change. We may, like Professor Russell, see it in evolutionary terms but, in any case, it was the first appearance of a new kind of human being.

Until Jesus, humans had a limited period of existence, from conception to death. There was speculation, but no evidence of life after death. In Jesus we have a person who appeared to his disciples after his death in a new body, possessed of new features  - he could walk through locked doors for example. St Paul wrote of a ‘spiritual body’ (1 Cor. 15:44).

Luke’s story of Jesus sharing food with his friends at Emmaus (Luke 24:13ff) emphasises strongly the bodiliness of Jesus’ risen state after his death. He was not a disembodied spirit: a ghost. And, when he showed them his wounds, it was clear that this new body was that of the same person the disciples had known, although Luke says the two disciples on the road to Emmaus failed to recognise him.

This leads me to reflect that death will not obliterate all my faults and failings – the unhealed wounds of my defeats in the battle of life. I know I am forgiven, but I am still selfish and lazy. I don’t expect suddenly to be magically made perfect at my death. I accept that there is still work to be done before I can be absolutely happy. Maybe I have to become less individualistically me – merge into the greater wholeness. Paul said that Christ does this, living in all of us. I believe that life after death will not mean instant total bliss but is part of an ongoing process.

But let’s get back to the story. The disciples had not only been thoroughly confused by the events of the previous week, they were fearful. Mark says that Peter and another disciple were scared when they found the empty tomb. There was no Easter celebration at first. There was a new dawn of hope but also uncertainty as to what exactly that hope might reasonably be.

The disciples didn’t have the richly developed and theologised doctrine that developed later. Jesus had to spell out for them at length how his tragic death was predicted by Isaiah and others. Christians have been taught to recognise the suffering servant in Isaiah (Ch 53) as a prediction of Messiah’s own suffering and humiliation. In the lives of prophets and saints, ancient and modern, we see the suffering of righteous people in a similar way. However, the scriptures also predicted that the righteous would ultimately be justified. Jesus’ resurrection is a clear sign of that.

 Although the Church has produced a full doctrine of the resurrection, largely based on Paul’s reflections, there are still ambiguities. It is not entirely clear whether it was the resuscitation of Jesus’ dead body or something else. The empty tomb suggests the former but, if we include the ascension, as we must, are we to imagine the risen Jesus in a physical body like ours in some extra-terrestrial location, waiting to be beamed down to earth again some day?

Paul and the author of the fourth Gospel didn’t see the risen Jesus that way. They both saw Christ as physical, but as a cosmic being in whom all things exist (John 1:1-14. Col. 1:15ff). Christ is embodied, incarnate in the whole universe. Jesus gave a hint of this when he told his disciples that whatever they did to anyone they did it to him (Matt. 25:40). If Christ is divine, as the Church asserts, then the universe is the embodiment of God. This makes sense since the Church also asserts that the universe was created out of nothing, ex nihilo. God has nothing to make the universe of but himself.

The universe is not an inert entity, nor is it a machine. It is clear from twentieth scientific discoveries that the universe is a living organism, growing, decaying and regenerating itself continuously, evolving to greater and greater states of complexity. A generation of stars dies, but the matter is not destroyed, it gathers again under gravity to form a new generation. Resurrection is part of the cosmic process. We can hardly speculate what humankind may be like a million or even a billion years from now, if we have not self-destructed or become extinct by then, superseded by a future species with a higher level of consciousness than ourselves.

Many theologians believe that, as the universe evolves, it becomes more fully an expression of the mind of God. Philosopher of science, Alfred North Whitehead and others believe that not only life, but mind also is an inherent property of the universe. Its continuing evolution, no matter how dependent it may be on random quantum events, suggests also that the cosmic mind has an intention: there is a cosmic will.

Professor Brown sees a stage of human evolution before Jesus, and a subsequent stage, after Jesus where humankind acquired a new potential. The resurrection seems like cosmic will-power pushed through an inertial boundary. Cosmic evolution has taken a definite step forward but, as in every previous case, this occurred first uniquely in one location. Perhaps no one, not even the Gospel writers, knows exactly what happened. Professor Brown doesn’t either. But he offers a perspective that deserves to be take seriously.