Section 10
Pull a pillar, the roof falls
Every naturalistic alternative to the resurrection fails to explain at least three of the six facts.
Hallucination: group hallucinations of identical content are unprecedented in clinical literature. Paul had no grief substrate. James had not been a follower. Hallucinations do not produce empty tombs.
Swoon: Roman crucifixion was a perfected death method. The spear thrust, the centurion’s verification, the burial. David Strauss, a 19th century skeptic, decisively refuted swoon theory.
Stolen body: people die for sincerely held beliefs, not for known lies. Wrong tomb: the authorities would have produced the body. Legend: the 1 Cor 15 creed dates within five years.
The agnostic type of form criticism would be much more credible if the compilation of the Gospels were much later in time. The tempo of myth making in the ancient world was much slower than form criticism has suggested.
A. N. Sherwin White (Roman historian), Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, 1963, pp. 188 to 191.
By the numbers
- Alternatives examined
- hallucination, swoon, theft, wrong tomb, legend
- Facts each fails to explain
- at least 3 of 6
- 1 Cor 15:6 witnesses at one time
- 500+
Strongest counter position
The strongest current alternative (Dale Allison) is a "complex hallucination" model with social dynamics. The site engages this in the knowledge base; the objections (Paul, James, the empty tomb) still apply.
What this does not prove
Naturalistic alternatives are not silly. They are seriously argued by serious people. Each has explanatory gaps the resurrection hypothesis does not.
Citations
- David Strauss, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, 1835.
- A. N. Sherwin White, 1963.
- Habermas and Licona, 2004, ch. 7.
- William Lane Craig, The Son Rises, 1981.
Goes deeper