The Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus as Bereavement Experiences: An Engagement with Gerald O’Collins

Abstract

In recent years, debate has resumed regarding whether or not the post-resurrection appearances may have been hallucinations or delusions on the part of the disciples. A sub-category of this debate is the question of bereavement hallucinations. Was the disciples’ bereaved state in the wake of the crucifixion responsible for their ‘seeing’ Jesus? A few years ago, Gerald O’Collins, in this journal, argued, on the basis of a comparison between the two, that, despite a few similarities, the differences between them are too great to justify the so-called ‘hallucination hypothesis.’ The question remains problematic, however, partly because biblical scholars do not take the contributions of professional psychologists and psychiatrists seriously enough. In the present article I examine O’Collins’s arguments, reaching a different, though undogmatic conclusion from his own.