In fact Rahner goes on to stress the pecu liar nature of the apostles Easter experience, an experi ence that is strictly sui generis. Even if Rahner does not cite the relevant scriptural pas sages, he clearly has the New Testament on his side when he insists on the special nature of the Easter appearances. Kessler musters this and further evidence from the New Testament to conclude that the Easter appearances were episodes limited to the original witnesses who set Christianity going. Kessler explores our final possibility that the appear ances of the risen Jesus were imaginative, mystical visions produced by God. Kessler argues against seeking help from mysticism to illuminate the Easter encounters.
Imaginative visions depend much more on the ongoing life of the mystics themselves.
As Kessler explains, they are not on a par with those radically and qualitatively new interventions of God that the Easter ap pearances were in the lives of the disciples. Kessler might have added two further arguments. They are not restricted to the opening phase of Christianity but can be repeated inde finitely. Besides, genuine mystical experiences can be found outside the special story of Christianity. As an ongo ing and general phenomenon of Christian and human life, mysticism cannot be expected to illuminate greatly the Easter encounters, which were reserved to a brief and spe cial period of history.