Tag Archives: Resurrection

He Came For Life!

This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Why Did Jesus Come?

Why did Jesus come? In his own words (John 10:10), The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. This Easter morning we celebrate life—abundant life—once again. He came to give his life for us, but he came to become the victor over …

April 4, 2010 – 6:00 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Knowing God | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Evidences for the Empty Tomb

This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Evidences for the Resurrection

I continue my survey of historical evidences for Jesus’ resurrection with an outline of evidences for the empty tomb. This is part of a continuing set of cumulative evidences, not intended to be complete in itself but to be read as part of the series on Evidences for the Resurrection. I am using William Lane …

October 3, 2009 – 8:49 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Evidences | Tagged , | Comments (155)

The First Easter: Historical Consensus

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Evidences for the Resurrection

The events surrounding the first Easter are not all as hotly disputed nor are they as much in doubt as some think. In a comment on the Independent Attestation thread earlier in this series, Dave noted that the historical tide on NT scholarship is turning. John A. T. Robinson is one example of a scholar …

September 16, 2009 – 11:19 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Evidences | Tagged | Comments (16)

Independent Attestation

This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Evidences for the Resurrection

It seems that some skeptics who complain about the lack of independent attestation for the resurrection have set up the rules this way. (I originally wrote this as a comment and have promoted it now to a blog post for wider discussion.) These seem to be the criteria: The source must be an early document, …

September 8, 2009 – 12:10 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Evidences | Tagged | Comments (189)

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Part One)

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Evidences for the Resurrection

N.T. Wright is an historian of the first century who is convinced the resurrection of Jesus Christ actually happened in history. I have not had opportunity to read his massive The Resurrection of the Son of God. In his shorter — yet provocative — The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is, however, …

September 6, 2009 – 5:43 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Evidences | Tagged , | Comments (51)

“Stand to Reason Blog: Jesus’ Resurrection an Early Belief”

The resurrection of Jesus was not a late developing myth of the second- or third-generation Church: Craig Blomberg reports at Primetime Jesus on some new scholarly research that indicates that belief in Jesus’ bodily resurrection was a very early belief of the new Christian church contrary to claims by liberal scholars and the Jesus Seminar …

December 3, 2008 – 10:13 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Evidences | Tagged | Comments Off

The Resurrection: An Unlikely Ally

Daniel Dennett, one of the four most prominent “New Atheists,” is no proponent of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The hallucination theory to explain Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances is no longer held by many scholars. Nevertheless there are exceptions to this, including Gerd Lüdemann (detailed further here). In Consciousness Explained, however, Dennett says on page 7, …

August 26, 2008 – 8:10 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Evidences, New Atheism | Tagged , , | Comments (13)

More Ironies of Easter

They thought they had Jesus figured out, and they also thought they had him under control. Not so: He [Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor] entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you …

March 23, 2008 – 3:38 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Easter Reprise

First posted on February 1, but made for Easter, for He is Risen! Jesus Christ lived on Earth and displayed a life of perfect love, trust, and worship. His example is incomparably great–and it’s unreachable. Part of the validation of the message of Christ is in its unique combination of reality and perfection in the …

March 22, 2008 – 10:34 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

The Ironies of Easter

The religious and political leaders thought they had Jesus all figured out. I doubt there’s anything in history or literature to match the irony of that. They expected was the kind of thing they usually saw during a trial and execution: fear, self-protection, defensiveness; or possibly something like guilt, regret, or remorse. They thought they …

March 22, 2008 – 4:53 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)