Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? by William Lane Craig Read Free Book Online

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    APPARENT DEATH
HYPOTHESIS
    Biblical critics floated the Apparent Death Hypothesis early in the nineteenth century. They suggested that when Jesus was taken down from the cross, he wasn’t really dead, but merely unconscious. He revived in the tomb and somehow escaped to convince his disciples he had risen from the dead. Once more, let’s see how this hypothesis fares when assessed by our criteria for the best explanation:

    1. Explanatory scope: The Apparent Death Hypothesis does provides explanations for the empty tomb, post-mortem appearances, and origin of the disciples’ belief in Jesus’ resurrection and so has adequate explanatory scope. That’s a point in its favor.
    2. Explanatory power: Here, the theory begins to break down. Some of the Apparent Death Hypotheses offered by critics were really versions of the old Conspiracy Hypothesis. Instead of stealing the body, the disciples (and sometimes Jesus himself!) were supposed to be part of a conspiracy to fake Jesus’ death on the cross. These versions of the theory therefore share all of the weaknesses of the Conspiracy Hypothesis.

    A non-conspiratorial version of the theory was that Jesus happened to survive the crucifixion by sheer luck. This version of the hypothesis is also saddled with insurmountable problems; for example, how do you explain Jesus’ empty tomb, since a man sealed inside couldn’t move the massive stone lodged over the entrance? How do you explain Jesus’ resurrection appearances, since a half-dead man desperately in need of medical attention would hardly have led the disciples to believe that he was the Risen Lord and conqueror of Death? How do you explain the origin of the disciples’ belief in Jesus’ resurrection, since their seeing him again would lead them only to conclude that he had managed to cheat death, not that he was, contrary to Jewish thought (as well as their own eyes), gloriously risen from the dead?

    3. Plausibility: The Apparent Death Hypothesis is terribly implausible. Roman executioners could be relied upon to make sure that their victims were dead! Since it’s difficult to discern the precise moment of death by crucifixion, Roman executioners sometimes ensured death by a spear thrust into the victim’s side. This is what happened Jesus’ case (John 19:34). Moreover, the scenario that the hypothesis imagines is virtually impossible, medically speaking.
    The Jewish historian Josephus tells how, when three men he knew were crucified, he managed to have them taken down from their crosses. Despite the best medical attention, two of the three died anyway. 17 The extent of Jesus’ tortures was such that he could not plausibly have survived the crucifixion and entombment. And the idea that a man so critically wounded then went on to appear to the disciples on various occasions in both Jerusalem and Galilee is sheer fantasy.
    4. Less contrived: The Apparent Death Hypothesis, especially in its conspiratorial versions, can become unbelievably contrived. We’re supposed to imagine secret societies conspiring to fake Jesus’ death, stealthily administered potions, conspiratorial alliances between Jesus’ disciples and members of the Sanhedrin, and so forth, all with not a scrap of evidence in support.

    5. Disconfirmed by fewer accepted beliefs: The Apparent Death Hypothesis is massively disconfirmed by what biology and modern medicine tell us about the pathology of a person who has been scourged and crucified. The unanimous evidence that Jesus did not continue to live among his disciples after his crucifixion also dis-confirms it.
    6. Exceeds other hypotheses in fulfilling conditions 1—5: The Apparent Death Hypothesis utterly fails this criterion. It has virtually no defenders among New Testament historians today.
     

 

    DISPLACED BODY
HYPOTHESIS
    One of the few modern Jewish attempts to explain the facts concerning Jesus’ fate was Joseph