- The Christian Resurrection -
Thus far, in the cumulative case argument, we have suggested that a significant list of historical sources supports the Christian resurrection narrative. Last time, we suggested that while having more sources is almost always better, the evidence from the available sources is more than enough to justify putting forward a robust response to the three minimal bedrock facts: 1) Jesus died by crucifixion; 2) the disciples had experiences they believed to have been appearances of the risen Jesus; 3) a few years later Paul had an experience he interpreted to have been an appearance of the risen Jesus to him. Any competing resurrection story must answer these three minimal bedrock facts concerning the resurrection of Jesus. If you recall, we looked at “swoon theories,” whereby Jesus was actually taken down from the cross early and was later resuscitated in the tomb, as possible theories about what happened to Jesus after the crucifixion. However, we also said that these theories fail to address at least one of the three bedrock facts.
