He is Risen!

     On this Easter weekend it pleases me to share with you something of what I’ve learned from Gary Habermas’ On the Resurrection: Evidences (B&H Academic, 2024).

     There is virtual unanimity among scholars, both liberal and conservative, that the details of the events which gave rise to the Gospel story probably happened  – with the sole exception of the empty tomb, which is accepted by “only” a clear majority of scholars.  That is to say, more particularly, that the scholarly community agrees that the disciples believed they had seen the risen Christ, it transformed them from cowering fugitives into on-fire evangelists, and many of them were martyred for it.  None recanted. 

     As to the Resurrection itself, a strong minority of scholars believe Jesus arose.  For those who do not, there are no plausible naturalistic explanations for the events described above.  Their only theory is a hidebound naturalistic prejudice that there is no God and hence no miracles.  But if God exists then naturalism is false and miracles can and will happen whenever God wants them to. 

     Applying well-accepted historiographical criteria for historicity, it would be almost impossible for the evidence for the Resurrection to be any stronger than it is.  Indeed, considering that we are at a distance of 2,000 years, it is astonishing how extensively documented are the events of the New Testament, such that one can only ascribe it to a meticulous providence.  What are those criteria?  (Time permits only a cursory recounting; I hope to flesh out the following in future posts.)

• Early attestation. (Check.)
• Eyewitness testimony.  (Check.)
• Multiple attestation.  (Check.)
• Dissimilarity.  (“[A] particular saying may be attributed to someone . . . if it cannot plausibly be [attributed to] . . . the words or teachings of other roughly contemporary sources.”  Habermas, 47.)  The very idea of imagining the sayings of Jesus as coming from anyone else is ludicrous.
• Palestinian origin.  (Sayings in the Aramaic language, for example.)  The raising of Jairus’ daughter and the cry of dereliction come to mind.
• Embarrassment.  (Frankly acknowledging words or events which place the author or others in a negative light may reflect a commitment to truth-telling.)  Mark and Peter, for example, are unflinching in describing Peter’s repeated failures.
• Enemy attestation. The Jews to this day claim that the body was stolen, which means the tomb must have been empty.

He is risen!