Jesus’ Resurrection: New Testament Testimonies by David P. Scaer. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2026. 168+ vi pages. Hardcover: $34.99
(Disclaimer: I served as one of the editors for this volume)
Every so often, a book arrives that doesn’t simply add to the conversation but re‑centers it. David P. Scaer’s Jesus’ Resurrection: New Testament Testimonies is one of those books. It is not merely another entry in the long debate over the historical Jesus; it is a deliberate effort to restore the resurrection to the place the apostles gave it: the beating heart of Christian proclamation, dogmatics, and hope.
This book is written in the voice of a senior dogmatician who has spent decades teaching future pastors. It assumes familiarity with the New Testament, with the history of doctrine, and with the major figures of modern biblical criticism. Readers accustomed to popular‑level Christian books will find this one more demanding. It is not inaccessible — far from it — but it is not entry‑level. General readers can certainly benefit from it, but they should expect to take their time, pause, reread, and occasionally look up a name or concept. Pastors, theologians, and seminary students will feel immediately at home.
Scaer begins with a sweeping historical survey of the thinkers who have shaped modern skepticism — Lessing, Kant, Semler, Strauss, Schweitzer, Barth, and finally Bart Ehrman, who serves as the contemporary representative of this tradition. Scaer is unsparing but fair. He shows that the doubts circulating today are not fresh discoveries but inherited assumptions, often repeated without awareness of their origins.
The heart of the book lies in Part III, where Scaer turns to the Scriptures themselves. His treatment of the resurrection accounts is crisp, confident, and deeply rooted in the canonical shape of the New Testament. He demonstrates how on the third day, the empty tomb and the appearances form a coherent testimony — not a patchwork of competing traditions. His discussion of Paul’s preaching in Acts 2, Acts 13, and Acts 17 is especially strong: the resurrection is not an add‑on but the center of apostolic proclamation, grounded in the Old Testament and preached as historical reality.
Part IV is classic David Scaer: dogmatics with pastoral punch. The chapters on Christology and the sacraments are worth the price of the book alone. He argues that the resurrection is not merely proof of Jesus’ identity but the very mode of His ongoing presence with the Church. Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the preaching office all derive their meaning from the risen Christ who acts through them. His treatment of the descent into hell is brief, bold, and clarifying.
Readers familiar with Scaer’s earlier works will recognize his voice: sharp, witty, occasionally polemical, always confessional. But this book has a reflective quality that comes only with decades of teaching and writing.
For pastors, this book will be a resource for preaching and teaching. For lay readers who are willing to stretch themselves, it will be a substantive guide to why the resurrection matters. For skeptics, it will be a challenge.
Scaer has given us a book that is both timely and timeless. In an age when the resurrection is often treated as optional, symbolic, or merely inspirational, he reminds us that it is none of those things. It is the event by which God has remade the world — and the event by which He will raise us as well. If you want to understand why the resurrection is the center of everything, this book deserves a place on your shelf.
Availability: The quickest way to obtain the book is directly through Concordia Publishing House, where it is already available. It can also be ordered through Amazon or Barnes & Noble, though those retailers may take longer to fulfill early orders.
Originally posted at What does this mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog
The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack
Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana
