OK so have you ever heard this statement?
1,280,000 hits. What could be meant by such a statement? What could be wrong with it? How could we redeem it?
On the first point - what does it mean - we encounter an observation that also hits on what is wrong with it: ambiguity. It can mean a variety of things, depending on its context.
In apologetics debates, it seems to be used quite interchangeably with something roughly akin to "Jesus rose again after his death at the cross", sometimes vaguely intertwined with "oh, and miracles really happen" (or happened).
But that cut-paste is very poor indeed. No mention of a loving creator-God, a life centred on His goodness, of a future hope, of many, many things that are at the rather bulky heart of "Christianity", even if we approach the word in a fairly theological sense.
However, just as Kristen Kobes du Mez realised in writing Jesus and John Wayne, theological definitions do not give satisfying explanations of what we observe. In particular, she notes the seemingly impossible mass vote for Donald Trump from evangelicals despite Trumps un-"christian" lifestyle and alternative understanding of truth. The only way to understand such cultural tendencies is to see these groupings (or labels) as fundamentally cultural rather than theological.
So how could we redeem it? Perhaps the vague gesturing is to something much more multicoloured, beautiful and cultural than cold historical events.
Firstly, to consider these rather than other miraculous events (biblical or otherwise) as to be of such central significance is to pay respect to centuries of religious tradition on which the modern believer stands. That is deep, draws individuals into a rich history to which they belong. Secondly, the resurrection story speaks as a validation narrative of the goodness of God as still accessible in believers' difficult lives. Not just a vague goodness, but a concrete, enacted, realised, redeeming goodness. Thirdly, the Christianity is true motif can serve as a bridge between an exciting historical event and the Christian cultural life of a follower. It's actually the glue between the two.
