Class 03
The Resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection is the hinge of the Christian claim. This class examines the facts most historians grant, the main natural explanations offered for them, and how they compare.
The animated video for this class is in production. The written case below is complete and free to read now.
Evidence 01
Facts a broad range of historians accept
Independent of belief, most scholars who work on the period grant a core set of facts: Jesus died by crucifixion, his followers soon reported seeing him alive, and those reports transformed doubters and even opponents. The question this class asks is which explanation best accounts for that shared data.
Common objections
- ObjectionCouldn’t the disciples have hallucinated?
- Response
Individual grief experiences are well documented, but group experiences of the same detailed event are not, and hallucination cannot explain the reported change in skeptics or the empty tomb. It accounts for part of the data at best.
- ObjectionIsn’t "they made it up" simpler than a miracle?
- Response
Fabrication struggles with the willingness of the earliest witnesses to suffer for the claim and with the awkward details they preserved. Simplicity matters, but an explanation also has to fit all the evidence — that is the comparison the class works through.
Discussion
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Teaching materials