An early full formulation of the historical case for the empty tomb of Jesus was compiled by Edward L. Bode in 1970. Bode was a clear influence on William Lane Craig, who cites Bode’s work on 28 pages of his book Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus. Bode’s Read More…
Geza Vermes on the Age of Jesus
I’ve finished reading Geza Vermes’ Who’s Who in the Age of Jesus, which provides a useful overview of the history of ancient Palestine between the Roman conquest of Judaea (63 BCE) and the defeat of the second Jewish revolt (135 CE). The bulk of the book consists of a set of biographical portraits, presented alphabetically, Read More…
The Resurrection Case in 1969
By the late 1960s, following the work of Wolfhart Pannenberg and other post-Bultmanneans, the main elements of the contemporary case for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus began to fall into place. This development is illustrated by an article that appeared in 1969 that was written by a Catholic scholar, Joseph J. Smith, S.J. Read More…
Learning the Basics about New Testament Studies
The problem of the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus is really a subset of “historical Jesus” research, which in turn is a subset of New Testament studies. For anyone seriously investigating the resurrection, it’s essential to have a basic working knowledge of New Testament studies. Not all of us, however, have the time or Read More…
A Second Reboot
As you can see, I’ve been away for a while, but I’ve finally been getting re-started on my resurrection research. I’ve started working my way slowly through the backlog of 300+ articles that I’ve collected on the resurrection, and I’ve been reading through them roughly in chronological order to try to get a better grasp Read More…
The Resurrection and the Pannenberg Group
I’ve been doing some research on the argument for the historicity of the resurrection as it developed prior to the Habermas-Craig-Licona tradition. The contemporary starting point is, of course, with the work of Wolfhart Panennberg in the 1950s and 1960s. A 1971 article by Alan Richardson, “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” which appeared in the Read More…
Resurrection Research Reboot
I’ve been away from my research for a while, but I’m finally getting re-started and should have some new posts over the coming days. In the meantime, I’ve re-designed the Web site, placing the blog on the front page, and I’ve added categories to the existing posts. Plus, I’ve been doing typing drills to improve Read More…
The Resurrection and the Paranormal
One thing that has surprised me about my recent research on the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus is how quickly and deeply it has merged into more general debates about the paranormal, parapsychology, and psychical research. I already knew that Gary Habermas had an interest in near death experiences (NDEs), and somewhere (I Read More…
Dale Allison, William Lane Craig, and the Empty Tomb
I finished reading Dale C. Allison’s Resurrecting Jesus: The Earliest Christian Tradition and its Interpreters. Overall I would say it’s the best treatment I’ve read so far of the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus. Dale tries to be judicious, considers alternative points of view in a serious manner, and attempts to weigh the Read More…
Dale Allison and the Post-Resurrection Appearances
I’m still reading Dale C. Allison’s Resurrecting Jesus: The Earliest Christian Tradition and its Interpreters. In his search for reports of experiences that are in some way analogous to the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, Allison draws heavily from the literature of parapsychology and the investigation of psychic phenomena. In a somewhat apologetic footnote (p. 297), Read More…
First Thoughts on Dale Allison
I’ve been reading Dale C. Allison’s Resurrecting Jesus: The Earliest Christian Tradition and its Interpreters. It’s an odd and fascinating book. Only the second half of it is directly about the resurrection; the first half is comprised of other essays related to the historical Jesus, though they’re interesting in varying degrees in their own right. Read More…
More than the Minimal Facts
I’ve been trying to figure out the inner working of William Lane Craig’s and Michael Licona’s arguments for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. They try to present their arguments – especially in debates – as being essentially simple and straightforward, but there’s actually a lot going on underneath the hood. Take, for example, Read More…
The Problem of Missing Examples
In their presentations of the case for the resurrection of Jesus, Gary Habermas, William Lane Craig, and Michael Licona generally use two parts: a set of supposedly widely accepted basic facts, and a process of historical methodology. The historical methodology itself has three separate elements: methods for determining the basic set of facts, methods for Read More…
The Contemporary Case for the Resurrection: Major Contributors
Is there sufficient evidence to rationally compel one to believe that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact? The issue has been explored in various ways by philosophers, historians, and New Testament scholars. In the contemporary world, the key scholars who have explored the historicity of the resurrection on the side of the Read More…
Beginning the Search
I’ve been researching the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus, so I thought I’d start posting my notes online, in case anyone else might happen to be interested. I first started reading about the historical case for the resurrection in 2010, after I discovered the works of William Lane Craig. I originally encountered Craig’s Read More…