6.1 scientific and historical-critical challenges Flashcards
What are the different views on the resurrection?
- the resurrection as experience
- the resurrection as fiction
- the resurrection as myth
What is meant by the resurrection as experience?
- after the body had been moved/disappeared the disciples effectively in their fervour hallucinated the resurrection appearances (hallucination hypothesis)
What is meant by resurrection as fiction?
- it’s fiction in the sense that there were a series of errors that led to the disciples falsely attributing a resurrection narrative to events that had another perfect;ly reasonable explanation
What are the two hypotheses part of the view that the resurrection is fiction?
- theft hypothesis
- swoon hypothesis
What is meant by the theft hypothesis?
- Jesus’ disciples stole his body to make believe the resurrection had taken place
What is meant by the swoon hypothesis?
- Jesus didn’t die on the cross, he just passed out and later recovered in the tomb
What is meant by resurrection as myth?
- the resurrection was a mythological story by the ECC who couldn’t face that their spiritual leader was guilty of sorcery and wasn’t the son of God
- they drew too heavily on Jewish prophecy and myths (SS)
What is a criticism of the view of resurrection as myth?
- it’s difficult to imagine how such a myth would occur when there were seemingly so many eyewitnesses and so many testimonies about the resurrection appearances
What does Bultmann add to the view of resurrection as myth?
- the resurrection is a story that needs to be interpreted to reveal the symbolic meaning for scientific-thinking people
How is the empty tomb used in the resurrection narratives?
- as evidence to show the resurrection occures, not as a theological foundation for the resurrection
How does Frank Morison approach his study of the resurrection accounts?
- he takes a historical and rationalist approach
How many possible hypotheses does Morison consider?
6
What is Morison’s background?
- he grew up agreeing with the (then) new challenges to Christianity from German critics and decided to write a book exposing the resurrection as myth BUT whilst researching, he came to the opposite conclusion
What are the six naturalistic explanations Morison explores?
- Joseph of Arimathea removed the body
2+3. the authorities(Roman/Jewish) removed the body - Jesus didn’t really die
- The women made a mistake
- the grave wasn’t visited by the women
What can the resurrection be explained by Joseph of Arimathea?
- placing Jesus’ body in his tomb was only a temporary arrangement and Joseph later moved the body to another place
How does Morison refute the explanation of Jospejh of Arimathea removing the body?
- he would’ve removed the body before dawn otherwise he’d have been seen by the women
- if we assume Joseph was motivated to bury Jesus as a pious member of the Sanhedrin, then why didn’t he take the other two theives?
How does Morison refute the explanation that either the Roman or Jewish authorities removed the body?
- Pilate was a ’very obstinate man’ and most unlikely to change his mind about Jesus’ burial
- if they’d moved it, they could’ve refuted the resurrection by producing the body
How does Morison refute the explanation that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross?
- it ignores the deadly character of crucifixion
- references Strauss = a half dead body couldn’t have convinced the disciples that he had ‘conquered death’
How does Morison refute the explanation that the women made a mistake?
- if it was so dark that they went to the wrong tomb, it’s unlikely that the gardener would be working
- it would be strange for the disciples to leave the women alone
How does Morison respond to the explanation that the grave wasn’t visited by the women?
- it’s the only logical alternative to the resurrection
What kind of approach does Wilson take in his study of the resurrection?
- a historical approach and he investigates the resurrection as if it’s a mystery to be solved
What is Wilson’s aims in his analysis of the empty tomb?
- to identify the real tomb of Jesus through looking at archaeological evidence
What are the two possibilities Wilson considers for ythe empty tomb?
- the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- The Garden Tomb
What does Wilson find about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?
- it is nothing like the original as:
- a pagan temple had been built on top of it
- when it was rediscovered the excavations were badly done
- centuries of conflict in this part of the world means nothing is left of it
What does Wilson find about the Garden Tomb?
- it is more authentic looking BUT there is little evidence to suggest this was the real tomb
How does Wilson conclude his analysis of the empty tomb?
- he deems it inconclusive and so moves on to consider the evidence for what happened to Jesus’ body
How can Wilson’s approach be argued to be sceptical?
- he notes a number of discrepancies between the Gospel accounts: the different women mentioned who visited the tomb, the various figures seen at the tomb
What does Wilson liken the inconsitencies in the narrative to?
- ‘the garblings and inconsistencies have the same quality as the memories of witnesses after a road accident’
What are the six hypotheses that Wilson explores?
- the women went to the wrong tomb
- unknown to the disciples, some independent person removed the body and invented the whole story
- the disciples themselves removed the body + invented the whole story
- the disciples saw not the real Jesus, but hallucinations
- Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross, but was resuscitated, or in some other way survived
- Jesus really did rise from the grave
