Die artikel is vanuit 'n pragmaties-linguïstieke perspektief geskryf wat 'n onderskeid tref tussen die begrippe "tekste", "ko-tekste" en "kon-tekste". Hierdie onderskeid verskaf die raamwerk van 'n ondersoek na die tradisie van die leë graf van Jesus, soos blyk uit die vroeg-Christelike literatuur. Die doel van die artikel is om aan te toon dat die mite ten grondslag van die leë-graftradisie ontwikkelingsfases deurloop het. Hierdie ontwikkeling word as 'n trajek met vyf skakels voorgestel. In die eerste skakel word die skeppingsmotief metafories na aanleiding van 'n fundamentele narratief gebruik. Dit herinner aan die oortuiging dat God uit niks geskep het ("creatio ex nihilo"). In antropologiese en psigologiese terme manifesteer hierdie herinnering op 'n metaforiese wyse deur onderskeidelik na Israel as 'n verdrukte nasie en na individuele martelaars in Israel se geskiedenis te verwys. Die skakels van die trajek ontvou chronologies: eerstens die neerdaal van 'n lyk in die doderyk ("sheol"); tweedens die objektivering van metafore wat op Israel as groep en op individuele martelaars betrekking het; derdens die Helleniserende invloed van die "teologie" van apoteose/vergoddeliking, onsterflikheid en reïnkarnasie op Semitiese voorstellings; vierdens die bemagtiging van geregverdigde sterflike lydendes in hulle deelname aan die nuutgemaakte lewe van opgestane verheerlikte helde; en ten slotte dra al genoemde skakels daartoe by dat die opstandingsgeloof as helend ervaar is binne die kultiese konteks van gelowiges wat in reële of simboliese terme rondom die graf van Jesus vergader.
An investigation of texts, co-texts and con-texts of the empty tomb in the Jesus tradition provides a "situation-specific common background knowledge" (Auer, 1996:18-19) from which perspective this article is written. The article aims to argue that the myth behind the empty tomb in the Jesus tradition deploys a trajectory of five links. Its origin, the first of the five links, is to be found in the metaphorical use of the motif of recreation analogous to the foundational narrative in Israel's historical memoirs of God's "creatio ex nihilo". The foundational narrative consists of a collective anthropological facet and an indivdual psychological facet. The anthropological facet is manifested in the memoir of the suppression of Israel as a downtrodden nation. The individual facet pertains to the martyred heroes in Israel's history. In this article the five links of the trajectory are conceptualised in five chronological phases represented by specific textual evidence. They are, firstly, the descent of a corpse into the sheol; secondly, the objectifying of metaphorical language about the resurrection of the dead, which refers to either Israel as a "corporate personality" or individuals; thirdly, the Hellenisation of the resurrection belief-pattern which existed in the Semitic, Eastern-Mediterranean world, in the light of the theology of apotheosis/divinisation and ideas about immortality and reincarnation; and fourthly, the empowerment of suffering righteous mortals when participating in the renewed life of resurrected/ascended divine heroes. The fifth phase pertains to the period when the other four phases reached an apogee and resurrection belief served as a kind of coping-healing. The article aims to argue that the hermeneutical significance of the empty tomb in the Jesus tradition is to be found in the third phase. The modes in terms of which Jesus' empty tomb were interpreted by the first "Christ-followers" are to be found in phases four and five.
