The Resurrection and Bereavement Experiences

Abstract

This article presents and evaluates an analogy between the appearances of the risen Christ to his disciples and the experiences that many widows and widowers have of their deceased spouses. After his pioneering work on such bereavement experiences (published in 1971), Dr Dewi Rees produced further publications in this area, and in Pointers to Eternity (2010) he has proposed the case for the analogy in detail. This article argues that there are too many dissimilarities for the analogy to be acknowledged as close and illuminating, but recognizes how the work of Rees and his successors can serve to confirm Easter faith and hope for some people, especially the bereaved who experience their dead spouses.