The Resurrection — Historical Event or Theological Claim?
The logical consequences of accepting Jesus as God
The resurrection of Jesus is offered as evidence for his divinity. In his latest article in the discussion on reforming Christianity, Gerald says, “Traditional Christianity lives or dies on the fact of the resurrection.”
In support of the truth of the resurrection, Christian’s offer historical evidence. Anyone who wants to research the historical evidence for the resurrection has plenty of work ahead of them.
A reasonable person would agree we should do this research to make a fair and objective judgment on its truth. It isn’t a whimsical claim, and it’s an event which is said to decide our eternal welfare, so the importance of it’s truth couldn’t be greater.
However, I’ll argue it’s not necessary to research the historical evidence, because even if we grant all the historical events as factual for sake of argument, it’s still insufficient to establish the truth of both the resurrection and Jesus being God.
The inherent unreliability of historical claims
Historical evidence is by its nature unreliable. We only have access to a slim view of events which are both distant in time and culture. We’re necessarily…
