“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” - John 11:25

Under the watchful gaze of portraits of the present and former cardinals of New York, international scholars gathered at St. Joseph’s Seminary to discuss the Christian belief that God raised Jesus from the dead.

The 17 scholars talked about whether the resurrection can promote social justice by giving people hope in God’s plan, or whether looking ahead to the next life causes a loss of urgency to improve life now.

They talked about how a shared belief in the resurrection can lead to greater Christian unity, and how a resurrection theology can respond to contemporary issues from violence to women’s rights.

Most of all, however, they talked about how important the belief Jesus rose from the dead is to the Christian faith.

For tens of millions of Americans who celebrated the resurrection at Easter services last Sunday, the conclusions of scholars here are hardly shocking.

But in an age of scholarly disbelief and best-selling books on the “historical Jesus” that treat the belief that Jesus rose from the dead as a myth, the Resurrection Summit was noteworthy.

For one thing, O’Collins said, the gathering shows there are scholars who take belief in the resurrection seriously. The summit papers will be compiled into a book expected to be released by next Easter.

For most Americans, particularly the faithful, there is a strong belief in the statement in the Apostles Creed that Christ died, was buried and rose from the dead. In a 1984 Harris Poll, 87 percent of respondents said they believed Jesus was raised from the dead.

Participants at the summit also held up the profound importance of the resurrection both in the early Christian community and today.

Pheme Perkins, a theology professor at Boston College, said the idea the early Christians made up the resurrection is not convincing when one considers the conviction required for the enormity of the task they undertook.