THE CONVERSION OF PAUL: THE MOST DRAMATIC EVIDENCE
Dr. Michael Licona, associate professor of theology at Houston Baptist University & resurrection scholar“Paul’s conversion is one of the most historically certain facts about early Christianity. He was a zealous persecutor of Christians who, by his own testimony, encountered the risen Jesus and was transformed into the movement’s greatest missionary — ultimately dying for that claim. No hallucination theory, no legend theory, accounts for this. Something real happened to Paul.” Paul’s conversion is particularly significant because it is self-attested in his own letters — the earliest documents in the New Testament — written within 20 years of the crucifixion. Evidence: Self-attestation in Galatians 1 and 1 Corinthians 15, corroborated by three independent accounts in Acts and confirmed by his willingness to die for the claim. [Ontology: Jesus > The Resurrection Response]+ Read More
File Under: The Resurrection
Cross Reference: The Cumulative Case
THE HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR AND THE TESTIMONY OF THE EVANGELISTS
Simon Greenleaf, Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University & co-founder of Harvard Law School“After applying the rules of legal evidence to the testimony of the four evangelists, I am satisfied that they pass every test of credibility that the law requires of witnesses. Their accounts are those of honest men reporting what they saw. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is, in my judgment, one of the best-attested events in ancient history.” Greenleaf — the 19th century’s foremost authority on the law of evidence — began his examination as a skeptic and concluded that the Gospel witnesses would satisfy any court of law. Evidence: Application of Anglo-American rules of legal evidence to the Gospel resurrection accounts, published in The Testimony of the Evangelists. [Ontology: Jesus > The Resurrection Response]+ Read More
File Under: The Resurrection
Cross Reference: The Cumulative Case
THE ATHEIST PHILOSOPHER ON THE RESURRECTION EVIDENCE
Antony Flew, philosopher & former world-renowned atheist leader“The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is better than the evidence for any other miracle in history. I have to say that the resurrection of Jesus is more probable than not. The historical case — the empty tomb, the appearances, the transformation of the disciples — is a serious argument that deserves a serious answer from any honest inquirer.” Flew’s late-life acknowledgment that the resurrection evidence is historically serious — from the man who spent 50 years as the world’s most prominent atheist philosopher — represents one of the most significant intellectual concessions in modern religious debate. Evidence: Historical assessment of the empty tomb, post-mortem appearances, and the disciples’ transformation, evaluated by standard historical criteria. [Ontology: Jesus > The Resurrection Response]+ Read More
File Under: The Resurrection
Cross Reference: The Cumulative Case