(My claim: There is no large Christian tradition which does not insist that the bodily resurrection did actually happen. I agree with your comment in general, although there are plenty of Schools of Divinity at respected universities whose staff still believes in the usual fairytale. Many atheists know their bible quite well, yet I wouldn’t count that as Christians not believing in the bodily resurrection.)
Believing in no bodily resurrection was the heresy of Docetism and a common belief of various Gnostic sects. Since these sects were rather effectively stamped out in the first Millennium, it’s certainly true today that this isn’t a common belief of orthodox, Nicean Creed Christians. Almost by definition if you don’t believe in the bodily resurrection, you’re not a Christian; or at least not a Christian as defined by the Nicean Creed.
Within schools of divinity and theology departments, there are indeed likely many faculty who believe in Jesus’s magical powers. My claim is that amidst the subset of those faculty who specialize in the New Testament and the history of the early church, you will find a much smaller percentage who believe in Jesus’s magical powers than in the general population of Christians, or even than in the general population of divinity school faculty.
(My claim: There is no large Christian tradition which does not insist that the bodily resurrection did actually happen. I agree with your comment in general, although there are plenty of Schools of Divinity at respected universities whose staff still believes in the usual fairytale. Many atheists know their bible quite well, yet I wouldn’t count that as Christians not believing in the bodily resurrection.)
Believing in no bodily resurrection was the heresy of Docetism and a common belief of various Gnostic sects. Since these sects were rather effectively stamped out in the first Millennium, it’s certainly true today that this isn’t a common belief of orthodox, Nicean Creed Christians. Almost by definition if you don’t believe in the bodily resurrection, you’re not a Christian; or at least not a Christian as defined by the Nicean Creed.
Within schools of divinity and theology departments, there are indeed likely many faculty who believe in Jesus’s magical powers. My claim is that amidst the subset of those faculty who specialize in the New Testament and the history of the early church, you will find a much smaller percentage who believe in Jesus’s magical powers than in the general population of Christians, or even than in the general population of divinity school faculty.