In 2003, the British New Testament scholar N.T. Wright published The Resurrection of the Son of God, arguing vigorously that the Resurrection of Christ should be handled purely as a historical event, subjected to historical reason and critical-historical research. Resurrection in Retrospect examines Wright's arguments, demonstrating the flaws in the view that the Resurrection should be understood essentially as Jesus' return from the dead to this world of space and time in a material and physical body, and asserting that it is a 'mystery of God', which must necessarily be appropriated, not by reason alone, but by faith. Evidence relating to a past occurrence can be known only retrospectively, yet Easter faith has to do with apprehending in the present a concretely experienced reality, which Saint Paul called 'the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:2).
An epistemology of the identification of the Spirit in faith as the living presence of Christ can be found in the companion volume: The Reconstruction of Resurrection Belief.