(CNN) -- As Easter comes into view, the thoughts of billions of Christians turn to Jerusalem, to a sacred weekend that includes the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Of course, people regard these events with various degrees of literalness. But Easter retains its power. It is, in fact, the essential Christian celebration, as the Gospels focus hugely on this part of the Jesus story. They describe in slow motion his entry into Jerusalem and the final week leading up to the crucifixion on Good Friday, the uncertain stillness of Holy Saturday, when the world seems to have slipped into total darkness, then the joy of the Resurrection itself, with a sense that boundaries have been broken -- most aggressively, the membrane between life and death.
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Jay Parini: Easter is Christians' most powerful day. People vary on how literal resurrection is
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The Gospel writings about this are unclear on what happened. They skip that part, he says
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He says in post-Resurrection accounts Jesus appears, but he is not recognizable
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Parini: Differing accounts suggest much was rumor. But Easter rebirth message endures
Many Christians imagine some literal wakening from the dead and refuse to accept the slightest hint that the @placeholder might be regarded as symbolic without denigrating it.