Resurfaced sermons from the Rev. Jim Rigby show the longtime pastor and spiritual mentor of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico questioning the historicity of the Resurrection and likening the Lord's Supper to breastfeeding from a Gnostic goddess. Rigby, who has pastored St.
Andrew's Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) near Austin, Texas, for nearly 40 years, claimed in his sermon on Easter Sunday in 2023 that while "it's very possible" that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, "it's also possible that His body was stolen." "It's possible the disciples stole [the body] to keep the Romans from getting a hold of it," Rigby said in the sermon, which has gone viral on X in recent days.
"It's possible the Romans took it because they were afraid of the resurrection on the third day." Echoing a theory he has espoused before that the Resurrection is a mythological symbol for deeper truths, Rigby continued: "The question I want to ask you is: do you want to live your life based on a maybe?
Do you want to just bet your entire life that [sic] what somebody a long time ago told you, because somebody told them that? Or is it possible that the symbols are calling you to a deeper understanding of the human condition?" Texas U.S.
Senate candidate James Talarico’s pastor (PCUSA) preaches during his Easter sermon that Jesus NEVER rose bodily from the dead and that he does NOT believe in a literal resurrection. pic.twitter.com/Z6ZH7hMJXg Earlier in the sermon, Rigby based his line of reasoning on the fact that the earliest Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark end at Mark 16:8, which recounts Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, fleeing from the tomb in terror after "a young man … clothed in a long white garment" tells