Summary: Dr. Joe Martin earned his MA in sociology from Arizona State University, a second MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and his doctorate from Columbia Theological Seminary. He is the academic dean of the Atlanta Bible College and has been professor of Old Testament for almost twenty years. The subject focused on the resurrection of Jesus as well as the coming resurrection of the people of God. Dr. Martin explains the Old Testament underpinnings of the idea of resurrection and demonstrates conclusively that the biblical idea is incompatible with the pagan notion of the immortal soul. By comparing Jesus' death with that of Socrates, we are able to see that, for Christians, death is not a friend to be greeted with kindness, but the bitterest of enemies. Furthermore, Dr. Martin points out that a good deal of modern scholarship is moving in this direction, which means that people are coming to understand with more clarity that God is not planning on destroying the earth, rather his goal is to redeem it at the return of Christ. Therefore, as Christians, believers in the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of the righteous, what sort of people are we to be?
