For thousands of years, the concept of resurrection has been around for people to believe.  Even older is the concept of reincarnation.  The modern view of resurrection is that of a person coming out of their grave in order to live again at the last judgment.  Most people who hold this view would be surprised to learn that this concept originated with the Persian religion called Zoroasterianism.  This concept entered the world at a time when reincarnation was the dominant belief.  It is clear from scripture that Jesus taught reincarnation.  But it is also said that he rose bodily from the grave.  This leads to an apparent contradiction:  Do people reincarnate or do they resurrect?  The answer is found when doing a simple study of Jewish, Christian, Gnostic and Catholic origins.  The following pages will give you a high level understanding of these origins and how they defined the concept of resurrection.