Resurrection of Jesus

The resurrection of Jesus is the Christian belief that Jesus Christ returned to life on the Sunday following the Friday on which he was executed by crucifixion. It is a central tenet of Christian faith and theology and part of the Nicene Creed: "On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures".

In the New Testament, after the Romans crucify Jesus, he is anointed and buried in a new tomb by Joseph of Arimathea but God raises him from the dead and he appears to many people over a span of forty days before his ascension to Heaven, to sit at the Right Hand of God. Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, the third day after Good Friday, the day of his crucifixion. Easter's date corresponds roughly with Passover, the Jewish observance associated with the Exodus, that is fixed for the night of the Full moon near the time of the equinox.

The resurrection story appears in more than five locations in the Bible. In several episodes in the Four Gospels Jesus foretells his coming death and resurrection, which he states is the plan of God the Father. Christians view the resurrection of Jesus as part of the plan of salvation and redemption by atonement for man's sin. There are other accounts of the death of Jesus, notably in the Jewish and Islamic traditions. Not all of these accounts include the resurrection.

Skeptical scholars have questioned the historicity of the resurrection story for centuries; for example, "nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century biblical scholarship dismissed resurrection narratives as late, legendary accounts." A number of contemporary scholars express doubts about the historicity of the resurrection accounts and have debated their origin, and some other scholars consider the biblical accounts of Jesus' resurrection as derived from the experiences of Jesus' followers and of Apostle Paul.