Did the Resurrection of Jesus Happen?

The Resurrection of Jesus, after 2,000 years, still continues to spark debate. Scholars continue to dispute whether it happened as stated in the New Testament or whether it was myth. A debate between two professors holding opposite views on this topic was held at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville Wednesday. The two men debated from two totally different backgrounds. William Lane Craig, defending the historicity of the Resurrection is a theologian and philosophy professor. Richard Carrier, defending the position that the Resurrection did not happen, specializes in Greek and Roman history. Both came at the topic from two different backgrounds, which led them to two opposite conclusions.

Craig argued that existential and historical evidence shows that the Resurrection happened as stated in the Bible. He said that there were four facts that had to be explained by those who did not believe in the historicity of the Resurrection:

--1. The fact that he was buried by a member of the Sanhedrin;
--2. The fact of the empty tomb, never disputed;
--3. The various appearences of the risen Jesus to various people;
--4. The fact that the Disciples believed in a physical literal resurrection.

Craig argued that all of these propositions were corroborated by multiple independent sources. He said that "as long as the tomb is full, there can be no Christianity." But the early sermons of Acts and Paul all established the Resurrection and that Matthew specifically wrote his book to defend against allegations that the Disiples had stolen the body from the tomb. He said that the Resurrection was first discovered by women, which he said were not considered reliable witnesses in the eyes of the Romans. Furthermore, Craig said the fact that it was a member of the Sanhedrin who killed Jesus who buried him combined with the fact that it was women who first witnessed the Resurrection meant that the Gospel accounts were historic works, not literary devices. Craig said that because Mark was "stark in its simplicity" compared to later accounts, that meant that its purpose was to provide a historical narrative. "The early Jewish polemicists presupposed there was an empty tomb," he said. "They had to find a way to explain it in a way that did not involve a resurrection."

Craig said that contrary to arguments claiming that Paul did not accept a resurrected body, he said that in fact, Paul envisioned a transformation from an earthly boy to a glorified transformational body, which Craig said was what happened to Jesus in Pauline theology. In addition, Paul listed many witnesses, including the 500, James, all the apostles, and then Paul himself. And Craig concluded that since Paul's epistles were written just a few years after the resurrection, they could not have been nonhistorical.

"There was multiple independent attestation that Jesus was resurrected from the dead," said Craig in concluding his opening statement. "Their leader was dead, Jewish beliefs precluded such a resurrection, so what could have caused the disciples to have such a powerful transformative experience?" Craig said that the best answer was that Jesus rose from the dead. "It explains the scope, the power of the message, it is plausible, it was not ad hoc or contrived, it was in accord with accepted Christian beliefs, and it far outstrips other theories.

But Carrier said that Craig's two sources, the epistles and the Gospels, had no relevant historical value. "They record myth, but not history," he said. He characterized the accounts of the Resurrection as a "hysterically unbelievable" myth in which even some of the names were fake. For instance, he said that Barnabbas was not a real name and that the accounts of the Gospels contained mythological symbolism. Specifically, Carrier said that the Gospels showed Jesus constantly reversing expectations and that there were coincidences that were "remarkably convenient" for it to be a historical narrative.

For example, instead of James and John on the cross, there were two thieves. The men, who were supposed to follow Jesus to the end, abandoned him while the women stayed with him, following him all the way to the cross and being the first to meet him afterwards. In fact, Carrier characterized Mark as having constructed his book from Old Testament and Roman accounts. Specifically, he said that the Crucifixion scene was borrowed from Psalm 23, while Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Chronicles, and Psalm 24 were other places from which he borrowed his book. As another example, Carrier said that the account on the road from Jerusalem was borrowed from similar Roman tales about their founder, Romulus. Lazarus, the person raised from the dead by Jesus, was "not noted elsewhere" but John, leading Carrier to conclude that it was a myth. Carrier said that the purpose of the Lazarus story in John was to argue against the account of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke and argue that if people were raised from the dead, people would be convinced. Matthew and Mark, said Carrier, were "wildly contradictory," with Matthew borrowing its resurrection account from Daniel in the Lion's Den.

"Histories are not written this way," continued Carrier, who proceeded to give examples and explanations. "There were darknesses and earthquakes at the time of the Crucifixion that nobody else recorded. Entire people and events were made up." Paul's knowledge, he said, was "revealed from Heaven." Referring to passages in Galatians and 1 Corinthians, he said that Paul supposedly derived all his knowledge from God. But Carrier said that "modern science shows" that there were much more naturalistic explanations, such as hallucinations, that explained Paul's revelations. "People all over the world have had these sorts of hallucinations," explained Carrier. "There is no evidence that Paul's experiences were an exception." He said that the writings and experiences of the early Christians were "religiously motivated hallucinations" and that there were many similar mystical Jewish sects that were flourishing at the time. In addition, Carrier said that the Cargo Cults and the Shakers and other such groups also had such religious experiences.

Carrier rejected the belief of the empty tomb, saying that there was no knowledge or investgation of a missing body, which would have happened had there been an empty tomb. "Most bodies don't rise from the dead," he said. Carrier said that even if there was a missing body, that still did not mean that it was resurrected. And he said that Jesus' behavior was not consistent with that of a savior who died and was resurrected for our sins. "If that was the case, then he would have appeared to the whole world," he argued. But Carrier said that the more naturalistic and logical explanation was that people who had these sorts of visions were respected as prophets at that time in ancient Jerusalem.

But Craig said that Carrier's views on the Resurrection were "outside the mainstream" of most scholarship, which he said treats the Resurrection as historic. Craig said that the purpose of Jesus appearences was to commission his disciples and that people who didn't hear the Gospel would not be judged on the same standards as those who did. Citing the accounts of the women seeing the risen Christ and the member of the Sanhedrin who buried Christ, he said that they were unlikely to have been included in a mythical work and that the purpose of the book was to describe events as they happened. In addition, Craig argued that there were plenty of events in the life of Jesus with no parallels, such as his anointing, for example.

"There are multiple independent sources attesting to the Resurrection of Christ," said Craig. Specifically, he cited the four Gospel accounts and the sermons of Acts. He said that it was therefore "irrelevant" that Paul learned of the Resurrection by revelation and that Mark was pre-Pauline, meaning that he could not have been influenced by Paul anyway. "I'm sorry, but there was no reversal of expectations," said Craig. "Mark was dominated by the fulfillment of Jesus' expectations. Matthew was written to address the alleged theft of Jesus from the tomb." He said that none of the naturalistic explanations explained the entire picture and that the alleged hallucinations only explained the appearences of Christ and did not explain anything else. "If you hallucinate about a dead person, you still realize that person is dead," said Craig.

But Carrier argued that most bodies that go missing don't do so because they were raised from the dead. He said that the burden of proof was on Craig to rule out naturalistic explanations before accepting a physical Resurrection. He said that there was no scholarly consensus and that Craig had ignored many who were agnostic about the Resurrection. "It was a remarkable coincidence that all these parallel stories appeared in Mark," he said. Referring to Craig's reference to the sermons of Acts, he said that it was common practice in ancient times for writers to make up speeches. For instance, Thucydides, the Greek historian who wrote about the wars between Athens and Sparta between 430 and 405 BC, when he was not physically present at an important political speech, wrote that he had his figures speak "as the occassion demanded of them."

Carrier said that it was "completely false" that women were not regarded as reliable witnesses in ancient Rome. "There was nothing embarrasing about Mark having women find Jesus first," he said. He said that the fact that women found Jesus first symbolized the fact that the least shall be first. "Mark put in the motifs that he wanted to write this," he said. Referring to the dispute about the tomb, Carrier argued that there was no dispute about the tomb because if the body had gone missing, there would have been an investigation and a trial. "We simply don't know what happened to the body," he concluded. He said that the hallucinations he said the early Christians experienced were totally typical behavior from cults wanting to move on from the death of their leader. "This is not psychoanalysis, but a matter of taking actual science into account to determine what happened," said Carrier.

But Craig said that early Christianity never would have arisen without an empty tomb and repeated his assertion that there were multiple indepenent sources attesting to an empty tomb. He said that the only things that women could testify to were their virginity or the fact that they were a widow and that Josepheus characterized women as "too tightheaded" and that they were only used when necessary. Therefore, it could not have been a fictional work and that it was therefore a historical account of what happened. He called Carrier's argument about coincidences "off the rails", said that the "reversal of expectations" theory was "concoted by my opponent", and called Carrier's interpretations of Paul "crank exegesis that no Pauline scholar would accept."

Carrier said that Christians "regularly" hallucinated during those times and asked, "what are the odds that all these coincidences are historical?" He said that there were various allegorical names sprinkled in the New Testament and various coincidences; for instance, Salame, one of the women who was with Jesus until the end, was the feminine name for Solomon. The empty tomb, for instance, he said was similar to the tomb of Asa in the Old Testament. Carrier said the Crucifixion Story was borrowed from Psalms 22-24, citing what he called similar concepts and wording. The story of the naked boy who ran away from the soldiers at the time of Jesus' capture and the messenger at the tomb in Mark, said Carrier, were borrowed from Roman mystery narratives. "It's strange that Jesus just appeared to a few people if he wanted to save the whole world," he said. "There were all these amazing coincidences that my opponent would have you believe as historical facts. These Christians were prone to hallucinations. The Gospels were fabricated on a regular basis. There was no interest in reporting fact." He said that there were multiple independent sources in ancient times telling about the stories of Hercules, but that did not make Hercules a historical figure.