# Do Christians who believe in a non-literal Bible; do they believe in Jesus' resurrection?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christians-who-believe-in-a-non-literal-bible-do-they-believe-in-jesus-resurrection/659844>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 1, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christians-who-believe-in-a-non-literal-bible-do-they-believe-in-jesus-resurrection/659844 "2013-06-01T05:45:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 50

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christians-who-believe-in-a-non-literal-bible-do-they-believe-in-jesus-resurrection/659844/50 "2013-06-02T19:47:17Z")

</div>

> [@monstro](#):
>
> Progressive Quakers can believe just about anything they want. But there is an expectation that everyone believe that there was something special about Jesus. This doesn’t necessarily mean you believe he performed miracles and rose from the dead. But you do have think to believe Jesus was more than just an awesome guy.

Not in my experience. I have never known a Committee for Clearness to probe a prospective member’s beliefs re: Jesus, and that’s among several yearly meetings. Given how non-creedal Quakers are, it’s not like we can just check the instruction manual, but the closest I see in PYM’s Faith and Practice are:

> [@](#):
>
> For generations of Friends, membership has been an outward sign of an inward experience of Christ, the “true light which gives light to everyone” (John 1:9)

and

> [@](#):
>
> From the Christian tradition, Friends have taken as a standard the life and teaching of Jesus, not only as recorded in the New Testament, but even more importantly as revealed inwardly, as we seek God’s truth and its expression through our lives today.

There’s an acknowledgement of the historical relevance of Christian tradition. As for the resurrection, Jesus’ divinity or lack thereof, blood sacrifice cleansing us of sins we never committed, Mary’s status, etc., it’s my experience that most folks in these meetings don’t give a fuck. I don’t. My religion, to me, as about my relationship with God. The rest is window dressing for schlubs who need that flavor of woo (I need a different flavor). If they need it, fine, but it really doesn’t concern me. I don’t reject it. It just doesn’t matter.  
The Nicene Creed has never been mentioned in any meeting I’ve participated in.

Here’s a Ph.D thesis from a few years back exploring British Quaker beliefs: [PDF](http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/682/1/Mellor10MPhil.pdf). It’s not the most amazing work, but it’s a quick read. \>70% of respondents consider themselves Christian, and \>70% would describe Quakerism as a Christian faith. Note that 66% answered “No” to “Do you believe Jesus died for Atonement (in other words to save your soul)?” The study did not address the resurrection, but I’m guessing most would find it irrelevant.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christians-who-believe-in-a-non-literal-bible-do-they-believe-in-jesus-resurrection/659844)._