ABSTRACT
This chapter concludes that a memory approach supports the interpretation that Jesus rose bodily from the dead and that Paul and the early Christians would have vividly remembered the risen Jesus as resurrected with a transformed physical body. For the early Christians, Jesus' resurrection was unforgettable. The study's contributions include the development of the memory approach by utilizing a more comprehensive range of memory studies than previously applied in the New Testament (NT) field and being the first NT study to draw upon insights from the philosophical considerations of (1) forgetting and (2) the theories of remembering, as well as from psychological studies on (1) memory conformity, (2) memory and age, and (3) the effects of health on memory. Moreover, the present study has also contributed to the oral transmission models by pointing out a fourth model of “formal uncontrolled”—having an identified teacher but without intentional memorization of the material and not identifying it as tradition. Finally, this is the first study to use a memory approach to examining Jesus' resurrection in First Corinthians, thereby demonstrating the relevance of applying this approach to Pauline studies and the topic of Jesus' resurrection.
