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The Resurrection of the Dead

Athenagoras of Athens

Chapter 4

About this work

A philosophical defense of bodily resurrection arguing from God’s power and purpose, the unity of human body and soul, moral judgment, and the intended end of human creation.

Author: Athenagoras of Athens
Date: Late 2nd century
Origin: Athens (traditional)
Genre: Theological Treatise

Its relationship to Athenagoras and to the Plea is traditional but has received scholarly discussion.

Chapter IV.—Objection from the Fact that Some Human Bodies Have Become Part of Others.

These persons, to wit, say

‹ Chapter 3 Chapter 5 ›

that

many

bodies

of

those

who

have

come

to

an

unhappy

death

in

shipwrecks

and

rivers

have

become

food

for

fishes

,

and

many

of

those

who

perish

in

war

,

or

who

from

some

other

sad

cause

or

state

of

things

are

deprived

of

burial

,

lie

exposed

to

become

the

food

of

any

animals

which

may

chance

to

light

upon

them

.

Since

,

then

,

bodies

are

thus

consumed

,

and

the

members

and

parts

composing

them

are

broken

up

and

distributed

among

a

great

multitude

of

animals

,

and

by

means

of

nutrition

become

incorporated

with

the

bodies

of

those

that

are

nourished

by

them

,

—

in

the

first

place

,

they

say

,

their

separation

from

these

is

impossible

;

and

besides

this

,

in

the

second

place

,

they

adduce

another

circumstance

more

difficult

still

.

When

animals

of

the

kind

suitable

for

human

food

,

which

have

fed

on

the

bodies

of

men

,

pass

through

their

stomach

,

and

become

incorporated

with

the

bodies

of

those

who

have

partaken

of

them

,

it

is

an

absolute

necessity

,

they

say

,

that

the

parts

of

the

bodies

of

men

which

have

served

as

nourishment

to

the

animals

which

have

partaken

of

them

should

pass

into

other

bodies

of

men

,

since

the

animals

which

meanwhile

have

been

nourished

by

them

convey

the

nutriment

derived

from

those

by

whom

they

were

nourished

into

those

men

of

whom

they

become

the

nutriment

.

Then

to

this

they

tragically

add

the

devouring

of

offspring

perpetrated

by

people

in

famine

and

madness

,

and

the

children

eaten

by

their

own

parents

through

the

contrivance

of

enemies

,

and

the

celebrated

Median

feast

,

and

the

tragic

banquet

of

Thyestes

;

and

they

add

,

moreover

,

other

such

like

unheard

-

of

occurrences

which

have

taken

place

among

Greeks

and

barbarians

:

and

from

these

things

they

establish

,

as

they

suppose

,

the

impossibility

of

the

resurrection

,

on

the

ground

that

the

same

parts

cannot

rise

again

with

one

set

of

bodies

,

and

with

another

as

well

;

for

that

either

the

bodies

of

the

former

possessors

cannot

be

reconstituted

,

the

parts

which

composed

them

having

passed

into

others

,

or

that

,

these

having

been

restored

to

the

former

,

the

bodies

of

the

last

possessors

will

come

short

.