# Resurrection as Rebellion **Summary.** A reading of Easter in which the resurrection of Jesus is not merely a metaphysical event but a political and ethical act of resistance. Belief in the resurrection commits the believer to oppose the evil, corruption, and oppression that produced the crucifixion. Paula Gooder's formulation is influential in progressive mainline preaching. ## The Gooder Formulation > "Belief in the resurrection is an act of rebellion against the evil, corruption and oppression that can so easily swamp us. Believing in the resurrection allows us to see the world with a long view... it can and should transform not only how we view the world but how we live in it." > — Paula Gooder, quoted at [[2026-04-12 St Johns UCC]] ## Theological Logic 1. **The cross was political.** Rome killed Jesus using its public terror apparatus. Resurrection therefore overturns a political, not merely a metaphysical, verdict. 2. **Resurrection vindicates the victim.** God sides with the one the empire killed. Every subsequent claim to imperial legitimacy that invokes Christian symbols must answer to that siding. 3. **Belief requires embodiment.** Saying "Christ is risen" commits the speaker to a way of living that refuses despair and participates in resurrection now — "peace, not war; creativity, not destruction; empathy, not hate; generosity, not greed; everybody, not just us" (Rev. Caroline Saxton). ## Trauma Transformed, Not Erased A closely related claim in the 2026-04-12 sermon: *"In John's gospel, trauma is not erased. It is transformed."* The risen Christ still bears wounds. Resurrection hope does not require the pretense that harm did not happen. This is pastorally important for survivors of religious and interpersonal trauma. ## Contrast With Other Framings - **Evangelical / substitutionary-atonement focused:** Resurrection primarily secures individual salvation. Political implications are secondary or deferred to an eschatological future. - **NAR / dominionist:** Resurrection authorizes present-tense claims to political power by the church through apostolic and prophetic offices (seven mountains, etc.). Political rebellion is reframed as cultural conquest. - **Liberation theology:** Close ally to "resurrection as rebellion" — God raises the crucified one and thereby identifies with the crucified peoples. - **Progressive mainline:** Resurrection reorients ethics without claiming theocratic authority. Rebellion is against systems of oppression, not for ecclesial rule. > [!contradiction] > **Progressive / liberation reading:** Resurrection commits the church to resist imperial and oppressive power. > > **Dominionist reading:** Resurrection authorizes the church to exercise imperial power in Christ's name. > > Both appeal to the same event. The hermeneutic difference is whether the cross reveals God's solidarity with victims or the devil's temporary victory that Christ's people now reverse through dominion. ## Sources - [[2026-04-12 St Johns UCC]] - [[Paula Gooder]]