All four canonical gospels identify the resurrection of Jesus, yet none detail the exact moment of its happening. The absence of this narrative detail was hotly contested in the second century, when critics derided a resurrection account without credible witness. Thus, the discovery of the Akhmim fragment at the end of the 19th century, which purports to provide exactly that detail, is a huge and surprisingly under-utilised addition to Biblical scholarship of the Apocryphal gospels. Johnston examines both the impact of this discovery on the scholarship at the time, and argues for the dating of the fragment to the second century AD. He identifies shared characteristics with other documents from this period, including a rise in anti-semitic feeling, and developments in concepts of the afterlife, and makes a claim for this fragment being the text that aided the development of these movements.The Second Century was the key time in which the non-canonical Biblical texts were established. It was also the era in which theologies which would become 'orthodox' in the third century were penned and defined. The significance, then, of dating the Akhmim fragment to the second century AD is huge. This work will be of great use to scholars of Second Temple Judaism, and those with an interest in the creation of the ideas that surround scholarship of the Bible.

Dedication Table of Contents List of Abbreviations Foreword Series Editors' Preface Acknowledgments Chapter One: Introduction Chapter Two: A Resurrection Narrative Unearthed from an Ancient Tomb: The Discovery of the Akhmîm Codex Chapter Three: Scope, Purpose, and Primary MaterialsChapter Four: Post-Mortem Beliefs in the Hebrew Bible Chapter Five: The Emergence of the Concept of Resurrection in Late Second Temple Judaism: Raised to Life or Damned to HellChapter Six: Resurrection in New Testament Texts: From Resuscitation to Resurrection Chapter Seven: Putting the Akhmîm Gospel Fragment in its Place I:Polemic and Apologetics Chapter Eight: Putting the Akhmîm Gospel Fragment in its Place II: Narrative and Imagination Chapter Nine: Summary and Conclusions BibliographyIndex