The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond The GraveRobert M. Price Did Jesus rise from the dead? Although 19th- and early 20th-century biblical scholarship dismissed the resurrection narratives as late, legendary accounts, Christian apologists in the late 20th century revived historical apologetics for the resurrection of Jesus with increasingly sophisticated arguments. A few critics have directly addressed some of the new arguments, but their response has been largely muted. The Empty Tomb scrutinizes the claims of leading Christian apologists and critiques their view of the resurrection as the best historical explanation.The contributors include New Testament scholars, philosophers, historians, and leading nontheists. They focus on the key questions relevant to assessing the historicity of the resurrection: What did the authors of the New Testament mean when they said Jesus rose from the dead? What historical evidence is needed to establish the resurrection? If there is a God, why would He resurrect Jesus? Was there an empty tomb? What should we make of the appearance stories? Apart from historical evidence, is belief in the resurrection justified?The Empty Tomb provides a sober, objective response to arguments offered in defense of Christianity''s central claim. |
Contents
Acknowledgments | 7 |
Is There Sufficient Historical Evidence | 19 |
The Resurrection as Initially Improbable | 43 |
Why Resurrect Jesus? | 55 |
1 Corinthians 15311 | 69 |
LEGEND OF | 155 |
The Case Against the Empty Tomb | 233 |
Carrier | 258 |
Financial Aspects of the Resurrection | 393 |
The Attempts | 411 |
Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli on the Hallucination Theory | 433 |
The Spiritual Body of Christ and the Legend of the Empty Tomb | 450 |
Swinburne on the Resurrection | 453 |
Reformed Epistemology and Biblical Hermeneutics | 469 |
Carrier 105 | 491 |
Index of Ancient Sources | 511 |
The Sign ofJonah in Matthew | 307 |
THE SPIRITUAL BODY OF CHRIST | 339 |
The Plausibility of Theft | 349 |
The Burial ofJesus in Light ofJewish | 366 |
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Common terms and phrases
angel anointing apologetic appearance argues argument from silence believe biblical burial hypothesis buried Jesus Christ claim Corinthians corpse Craig’s argument crucified crucifixion dead death disciples empty tomb story Evan Fales event evidence explain fact faith flesh Galilee God’s Gospel Gospel of Mark Gospel of Peter grave graveyard hallucination heaven historical holy honorable burial Ibid Jerusalem Jesus was buried Jewish law Jews John John Dominic Crossan Joseph of Arimathea Josephus legend legendary Lüdemann Luke Mark Mark’s Markan Matt Matthew means Midrash miracles Mishnah myth mythemes narrative ofthe passion Passover Paul Paul’s Peter Philo Pilate plausible polemic pre-Markan probably Psalms reason religious relocation hypothesis resurrection hypothesis Resurrection of Jesus risen Roman Sabbath Sanhedrin says scholars simply social spirit Swinburne Talmud Testament theft theological theory things tion Tosefta tradition truth University Press urrection verse William Lane Craig women Wright