This article has been reproduced from www.Y-Jesus.com.

BODY COUNT:
Did Jesus rise from the dead?
We all wonder what will happen to us after we die. When a loved one dies, we long to see him or her
again after our turn comes. Will we have a glorious reunion with those we love or is death the end of all
consciousness?
Jesus taught that life does not end after our bodies die. He made this startling claim: “I am the
resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live
again.” According to the eyewitnesses closest to him, Jesus then demonstrated his power over death by
rising from the dead after being crucified and buried for three days. It is this belief that has given hope to
Christians for nearly 2000 years.
But some people have no hope of life after death. The atheistic philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote, “I
believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my own ego will survive.”1 Russell obviously didn’t
believe Jesus’ words.
Jesus’ followers wrote that he appeared alive to them after his crucifixion and burial. They claim not
only to have seen him but also to have eaten with him, touched him, and spent 40 days with him.
So could this have been simply a story that grew over time, or is it based upon solid evidence? The
answer to this question is foundational to Christianity. For if Jesus did rise from the dead, it would
validate everything he said about himself, about the meaning of life, and about our destiny after death.
If Jesus did rise from the dead then he alone would have the answers to what life is about and what is
facing us after we die. On the other hand, if the resurrection account of Jesus is not true, then
Christianity would be founded upon a lie. Theologian R. C. Sproul puts it this way:
“The claim of resurrection is vital to Christianity. If Christ has been raised from the dead
by God, then He has the credentials and certification that no other religious leader
possesses. Buddha is dead. Mohammad is dead. Moses is dead. Confucius is dead. But,
according to…Christianity, Christ is alive.”2
Many skeptics have attempted to disprove the resurrection. Josh McDowell was one such skeptic who
spent more than seven hundred hours researching the evidence for the resurrection. McDowell stated
this regarding the importance of the resurrection:
“I have come to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most
wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, OR it is the most
fantastic fact of history.”3
So, is Jesus' resurrection a fantastic fact or a vicious myth? To find out, we need to look at the evidence
of history and draw our own conclusions. Let’s see what skeptics who investigated the resurrection
discovered for themselves.

Cynics And Skeptics

But not everyone is willing to fairly examine the evidence. Bertrand Russell admits his take on Jesus
was “not concerned” with historical facts.4 Historian Joseph Campbell, without citing evidence, calmly
told his PBS television audience that the resurrection of Jesus is not a factual event.5 Other scholars,

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such as John Dominic Crossan of the Jesus Seminar, agree with him.6 None of these skeptics present any
evidence for their views.

True skeptics, as opposed to cynics, are interested in evidence. In a Skeptic magazine editorial entitled
“What Is a Skeptic?” the following definition is given: “Skepticism is… the application of reason to any
and all ideas—no sacred cows allowed. In other words… skeptics do not go into an investigation closed
to the possibility that a phenomenon might be real or that a claim might be true. When we say we are
“skeptical,” we mean that we must see compelling evidence before we believe.”7
Unlike Russell and Crossan, many true skeptics have investigated the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection.
In this article we will hear from some of them and see how they analyzed the evidence for what is
perhaps the most important question in the history of the human race: Did Jesus really rise from the
dead?

Self-Prophecy
In advance of his death, Jesus told his disciples that he would be betrayed, arrested, and crucified and
that he would come back to life three days later. That’s a strange plan! What was behind it? Jesus was
no entertainer willing to perform for others on demand; instead, he promised that his death and
resurrection would prove to people (if their minds and hearts were open) that he was indeed the Messiah.
Bible scholar Wilbur Smith remarked about Jesus:
“When he said that He himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was
crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if He expected longer the
devotion of any disciples—unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any
world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that.”8
In other words, since Jesus had clearly told his disciples that he would rise again after his death, failure
to keep that promise would expose him as a fraud. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. How did Jesus
die before he (if he did) rose again?

A Horrific Death And Then. . . ?

You know what Jesus' last hours of earthly life were like if you watched the movie by road
warrior/brave heart Mel Gibson. If you missed parts of The Passion of the Christ because you were
shielding your eyes (it would have been easier to simply shoot the movie with a red filter on the
camera), just flip to the back pages of any Gospel in your New Testament to find out what you missed.
As Jesus predicted, he was betrayed by one of his own disciples, Judas Iscariot, and was arrested. In a
mock trial under the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, he was convicted of treason and condemned to die
on a wooden cross. Prior to being nailed to the cross, Jesus was brutally beaten with a Roman cat-o’-
nine-tails, a whip with bits of bone and metal that would rip flesh. He was punched repeatedly, kicked,
and spit upon.
Then, using mallets, the Roman executioners pounded the heavy wrought-iron nails into Jesus' wrists
and feet. Finally they dropped the cross in a hole in the ground between two other crosses bearing
convicted thieves.
Jesus hung there for approximately six hours. Then, at 3:00 in the afternoon—that is, at exactly the same
time the Passover lamb was being sacrificed as a sin offering (a little symbolism there, you think?)—
Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (in Aramaic), and died. Suddenly the sky went dark and an earthquake
shook the land.9

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Pilate wanted verification that Jesus was dead before allowing his crucified body to be buried. So a
Roman guard thrust a spear into Jesus' side. The mixture of blood and water that flowed out was a clear
indication that Jesus was dead. Jesus' body was then taken down from the cross and buried in Joseph of
Arimathea's tomb. Roman guards next sealed the tomb, and secured it with a 24-hour watch.
Meanwhile, Jesus' disciples were in shock. Dr. J. P. Moreland explains how devastated and confused
they were after Jesus’ death on the cross. “They no longer had confidence that Jesus had been sent by
God. They also had been taught that God would not let his Messiah suffer death. So they dispersed. The
Jesus movement was all but stopped in its tracks.”10
All hope was vanquished. Rome and the Jewish leaders had prevailed—or so it seemed.

Something Happened
But it wasn't the end. The Jesus movement did not disappear (obviously), and in fact Christianity exists
today as the world's largest religion. Therefore, we’ve got to know what happened after Jesus’ body was
taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb.

In a New York Times article, Peter Steinfels cites the startling events that occurred three days after Jesus'
death: “Shortly after Jesus was executed, his followers were suddenly galvanized from a baffled and
cowering group into people whose message about a living Jesus and a coming kingdom, preached at the
risk of their lives, eventually changed an empire. Something happened. … But exactly what?”11 That's
the question we have to answer with an investigation into the facts.
There are only five plausible explanations for Jesus' alleged resurrection, as portrayed in the New
Testament:
1. Jesus didn't really die on the cross.
2. The “resurrection” was a conspiracy.
3. The disciples were hallucinating.
4. The account is legendary.
5. It really happened.
Let's work our way through these options and see which one best fit the facts.

Was Jesus Dead?

“Marley was deader than a doornail, of that there was no doubt.” So begins Charles Dickens’s A
Christmas Carol, the author not wanting anyone to be mistaken as to the supernatural character of what
is soon to take place. In the same way, before we take on the role of CSI and piece together evidence for
a resurrection, we must first establish that there was, in fact, a corpse. After all, occasionally the
newspapers will report on some “corpse” in a morgue who was found stirring and recovered. Could
something like that have happened with Jesus?
Some have proposed that Jesus lived through the crucifixion and was revived by the cool, damp air in
the tomb–“Whoa, how long was I out for?” But that theory doesn’t seem to square with the medical
evidence. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association explains why this so-called
“swoon theory” is untenable: “Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicated that Jesus
was dead. … The spear, thrust between His right ribs, probably perforated not only the right lung, but
also the pericardium and heart and thereby ensured His death.”12 But skepticism of this verdict may be in
order, as this case has been cold for 2,000 years. At the very least, we need a second opinion.
One place to find that is in the reports of non-Christian historians from around the time when Jesus
lived. Three of these historians mentioned the death of Jesus.

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 • Lucian (c.120–after 180 A.D. referred to Jesus as a crucified sophist (philosopher).13
• Josephus (c.37–c.100 A.D.) wrote, “At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man, for
he was a doer of amazing deeds. When Pilate condemned him to the cross, the leading
men among us, having accused him, those who loved him did not cease to do so.”14
• Tacitus (c. 56–c.120 A.D.) wrote, “Christus, from whom the name had its origin,
suffered the extreme penalty … at the hands of our procurator, Pontius Pilate.”15

This is a bit like going into the archives and finding that on one spring day in the first century, The
Jerusalem Post ran a front-page story saying that Jesus was crucified and dead. Not bad detective work,
and fairly conclusive.
In fact, there is no historical account from Christians, Romans, or Jews that disputes either Jesus’ death
or his burial. Even Crossan, a skeptic of the resurrection, agrees that Jesus really lived and died. “That
he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be.”16 In light of such evidence, we seem to be
on good grounds for dismissing the first of our five options. Jesus was clearly dead, “of that there was
no doubt.”

The Matter Of An Empty Tomb

No serious historian really doubts Jesus was dead when he was taken down from the cross. However,
many have questioned how Jesus’ body disappeared from the tomb. English journalist, Dr. Frank
Morison. initially thought the resurrection was either a myth or a hoax, and he began research to write a
book refuting it.17 The book became famous but for reasons other than its original intent, as we’ll see.
Morison began by attempting to solve the case of the empty tomb. The tomb belonged to a member of
the Sanhedrin Council, Joseph of Arimathea. In Israel at that time, to be on the council was to be a rock
star. Everyone knew who was on the council. Joseph must have been a real person. Otherwise, the
Jewish leaders would have exposed the story as a fraud in their attempt to disprove the resurrection.
Also, Joseph’s tomb would have been at a well-known location and easily identifiable, so any thoughts
of Jesus being “lost in the graveyard” would need to be dismissed.
Morison wondered why Jesus’ enemies would have allowed the “empty tomb myth” to persist if it
wasn’t true. The discovery of Jesus’ body would have instantly killed the entire plot.
And what is known historically of Jesus’ enemies is that they accused Jesus’ disciples of stealing the
body, an accusation clearly predicated on a shared belief that the tomb was empty.
Dr. Paul L. Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, similarly stated, “If all
the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable … to conclude that the tomb in
which Jesus was buried was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence
has yet been discovered … that would disprove this statement.”18
The Jewish leaders were stunned, and accused the disciples of stealing Jesus’ body. But the Romans had
assigned a 24-hour watch at the tomb with a trained guard unit (from 4 to 12 soldiers). Morison asked,
“How could these professionals have let Jesus’ body be vandalized?” It would have been impossible for
anyone to have slipped by the Roman guards and to have moved a two-ton stone. Yet the stone was
moved away and the body of Jesus was missing.
If Jesus’ body was anywhere to be found, his enemies would have quickly exposed the resurrection as a
fraud. Tom Anderson, former president of the California Trial Lawyers Association, summarizes the
strength of this argument:
“With an event so well publicized, don’t you think that it’s reasonable that one historian,
one eye witness, one antagonist would record for all time that he had seen Christ’s body?

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 …The silence of history is deafening when it comes to the testimony against the
resurrection.”19
So, with no body of evidence, and with a known tomb clearly empty, Morison accepted the evidence as
solid that Jesus’ body had somehow disappeared from the tomb.

Grave Robbing?
As Morison continued his investigation, he began to examine the motives of Jesus’ followers. Maybe the
supposed resurrection was actually a stolen body. But if so, how does one account for all the reported
appearances of a resurrected Jesus? Historian Paul Johnson, in History of the Jews, wrote, “What
mattered was not the circumstances of his death but the fact that he was widely and obstinately believed,
by an expanding circle of people, to have risen again.”20
The tomb was indeed empty. But it wasn’t the mere absence of a body that could have galvanized Jesus’
followers (especially if they had been the ones who had stolen it). Something extraordinary must have
happened, for the followers of Jesus ceased mourning, ceased hiding, and began fearlessly proclaiming
that they had seen Jesus alive.
Each eyewitness account reports that Jesus suddenly appeared bodily to his followers, the women first.
Morison wondered why conspirators would make women central to its plot. In the first century, women
had virtually no rights, personhood, or status. If the plot was to succeed, Morison reasoned, the
conspirators would have portrayed men, not women, as the first to see Jesus alive. And yet we hear that
women touched him, spoke with him, and were the first to find the empty tomb.
Later, according to the eyewitness accounts, all the disciples saw Jesus on more than ten separate
occasions. They wrote that he showed them his hands and feet and told them to touch him. And he
reportedly ate with them and later appeared alive to more than 500 followers on one occasion.
Legal scholar John Warwick Montgomery stated, “In 56 A.D. [the Apostle Paul wrote that over 500
people had seen the risen Jesus and that most of them were still alive (1 Corinthians 15:6ff.). It passes
the bounds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached
it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus.”21
Bible scholars Geisler and Turek agree. “If the Resurrection had not occurred, why would the Apostle
Paul give such a list of supposed eyewitnesses? He would immediately lose all credibility with his
Corinthian readers by lying so blatantly.”22
Peter told a crowd in Caesarea why he and the other disciples were so convinced Jesus was alive.
We apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Israel and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by
crucifying him, but God raised him to life three days later…. We were those who ate and drank with him
after he rose from the dead. (Acts 10:39-41)
British Bible scholar Michael Green remarked, “The appearances of Jesus are as well authenticated as
anything in antiquity. …There can be no rational doubt that they occurred.”23

Consistent to the End

As if the eyewitness reports were not enough to challenge Morison’s skepticism, he was also baffled by
the disciples’ behavior. A fact of history that has stumped historians, psychologists, and skeptics alike is
that these 11 former cowards were suddenly willing to suffer humiliation, torture, and death. All but one
of Jesus’ disciples were slain as martyrs. Would they have done so much for a lie, knowing they had
taken the body?

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The Islamic martyrs on September 11 proved that some will die for a false cause they believe in. Yet to
be a willing martyr for a known lie is insanity. As Paul Little wrote, “Men will die for what they believe
to be true, though it may actually be false. They do not, however, die for what they know is a lie.”24
Jesus’ disciples behaved in a manner consistent with a genuine belief that their leader was alive.
No one has adequately explained why the disciples would have been willing to die for a known lie. But
even if they all conspired to lie about Jesus’ resurrection, how could they have kept the conspiracy going
for decades without at least one of them selling out for money or position? Moreland wrote, “Those who
lie for personal gain do not stick together very long, especially when hardship decreases the benefits.”25
Former “hatchet man” of the Nixon administration, Chuck Colson, implicated in the Watergate scandal,
pointed out the difficulty of several people maintaining a lie for an extended period of time.
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men
testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, and then they proclaimed that truth for
40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison.
They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most
powerful men in the world—and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling
me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”26
Something happened that changed everything for these men and women. Morison acknowledged,
“Whoever comes to this problem has sooner or later to confront a fact that cannot be explained away.
…This fact is that …a profound conviction came to the little group of people—a change that attests to
the fact that Jesus had risen from the grave.”27

Were The Disciples Hallucinating?

People still think they see a fat, gray-haired Elvis darting into Dunkin Donuts. And then there are those
who believe they spent last night with aliens in the mother ship being subjected to unspeakable testing.
Sometimes certain people can “see” things they want to, things that aren’t really there. And that’s why
some have claimed that the disciples were so distraught over the crucifixion that their desire to see Jesus
alive caused mass hallucination. Plausible?
Psychologist Gary Collins, former president of the American Association of Christian Counselors, was
asked about the possibility that hallucinations were behind the disciples’ radically changed behavior.
Collins remarked, “Hallucinations are individual occurrences. By their very nature, only one person can
see a given hallucination at a time. They certainly aren’t something which can be seen by a group of
people.”28
Hallucination is not even a remote possibility, according to psychologist Thomas J. Thorburn. “It is
absolutely inconceivable that…five hundred persons, of average soundness of mind…should experience
all kinds of sensuous impressions—visual, auditory, tactual—and that all these…experiences should rest
entirely upon… hallucination.”29
Furthermore, in the psychology of hallucinations, the person would need to be in a frame of mind where
they so wished to see that person that their mind contrives it. Two major leaders of the early church,
James and Paul, both encountered a resurrected Jesus, neither expecting, or hoping for the pleasure. The
Apostle Paul, in fact led the earliest persecutions of Christians, and his conversion remains inexplicable
except for his own testimony that Jesus appeared to him, resurrected.

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From Lie To Legend
Some unconvinced skeptics attribute the resurrection story to a legend that began with one or more
persons lying or thinking they saw the resurrected Jesus. Over time, the legend would have grown and
been embellished as it was passed around. In this theory, Jesus’ resurrection is on a par with King
Arthur’s round table, little Georgie Washington’s inability to tell a lie, and the promise that Social
Security will be solvent when we need it.
But there are three major problems with that theory.
1. Legends rarely develop while multiple eyewitnesses are alive to refute them. One
historian of ancient Rome and Greece, A. N. Sherwin-White, argued that the
resurrection news spread too soon and too quickly for it to have been a legend. 30
2. Legends develop by oral tradition and don’t come with contemporary historical
documents that can be verified. Yet the Gospels were written within three decades of
the resurrection.31
3. The legend theory doesn’t adequately explain either the fact of the empty tomb or the
historically verified conviction of the apostles that Jesus was alive.32

Why Did Christianity Win?

Morison was bewildered by the fact that “a tiny insignificant movement was able to prevail over the
cunning grip of the Jewish establishment, as well as the might of Rome.” Why did it win, in the face of
all those odds against it?
He wrote, “Within twenty years, the claim of these Galilean peasants had disrupted the Jewish church.
… In less than fifty years it had begun to threaten the peace of the Roman Empire. When we have said
everything that can be said … we stand confronted with the greatest mystery of all. Why did it win?”33
By all rights, Christianity should have died out at the cross when the disciples fled for their lives. But the
apostles went on to establish a growing Christian movement.
J. N. D. Anderson wrote, “Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated
cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no
persecution could silence—and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more
convincing than a miserable fabrication. … That simply wouldn’t make sense.”34
Many scholars believe (in the words of an ancient commentator) that “the blood of the martyrs was the
seed of the church.” Historian Will Durant observed, “Caesar and Christ had met in the arena and Christ
had won.”35

A Surprise Conclusion

Morison reviewed the evidence he had discovered:

• Jesus’ death is a well established fact of history

• Jesus’ heavily guarded tomb was discovered empty
• Over 500 eyewitnesses said they saw the resurrected Jesus
• Jesus’ disciples proclaimed he rose at the cost of their lives
• Christianity’s sudden rise is evidence Jesus’ resurrection was real

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With myth, hallucination, and a flawed autopsy ruled out, with incontrovertible evidence for an empty
tomb, with a substantial body of eyewitnesses to his reappearance, and with the inexplicable
transformation and impact upon the world of those who claimed to have seen him, Morison became
convinced that his preconceived bias against Jesus Christ’s resurrection had been wrong.

He began writing a different book—entitled Who Moved the Stone?—to detail his new conclusions.
Morison simply followed the trail of evidence, clue by clue, until the truth of the case seemed clear to
him. His surprise was that the evidence led to a belief in the resurrection.

In his first chapter, “The Book That Refused to Be Written,” this former skeptic explained how the
evidence convinced him that Jesus’ resurrection was an actual historical event. “It was as though a man
set out to cross a forest by a familiar and well-beaten track and came out suddenly where he did not
expect to come out.”36

Morison is not alone. Countless other skeptics have examined the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, and
accepted it as the most astounding fact in all of human history.

Paul the apostle was also a skeptic who formerly had persecuted Christians. Later, he saw the risen
Christ and was converted. In his letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul cites a creed dating to within a
few years of Jesus’ death, proving that the very first Christians believed in his resurrection.37 This early
Christian creed reads,

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on
the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”

Paul also testifies to the Corinthians that the risen Jesus was seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses,
including himself. Paul lays out this eyewitness testimony to the Corinthians,

“He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his
followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James
and later by all the apostles. Last of all…I also saw him.”38

As Morison concluded, the only rational explanation for the all-out commitment of Paul and the other
apostles is that they truly believed Jesus had risen. That conviction is best stated by Paul in these words:

“If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case,
all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more
to be pitied than anyone in the world.”39

As Paul argues here, the only reason he and the other apostles were willing to endure torture and
martyrdom was because of their firm conviction that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. That
conviction in the resurrected Christ assured them that when this life was over, they would have eternal
life with him.

Do you have that same hope spoken of by Paul? Do you have assurance that after you die you will live
again with him? Jesus said that you can. He had much to say about what happens after we die, and how
his death and resurrection can bring meaning and hope to each of us.

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 Did Jesus Say What Happens After We Die?

If Jesus really did rise from the dead, then he must know what is on the other side. What did Jesus say
about the meaning of life and our future? Are there many ways to God or did Jesus claim to be the only
way? Read the startling answers in “Why Jesus?” Find out what Jesus said about life after death at www.Y-
Jesus.com/why_jesus1r.php.

Endnotes

1. Paul Edwards, “Great Minds: Bertrand Russell,” Free Inquiry, December 2004/January 2005, 46.
2. R. C. Sproul, Reason to Believe (Grand Rapids, MI: Lamplighter, 1982), 44.
3. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life,
1999), 203.
4. Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1957), 16.
5. Joseph Campbell, an interview with Bill Moyers, Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, PBS TV
special, 1988.
6. Michael J. Wilkins and J. P. Moreland, eds, Jesus Under Fire (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995),
2.
7. “What Is a Skeptic?” editorial in Skeptic, vol 11, no. 2), 5.
8. Wilbur M. Smith, A Great Certainty in This Hour of World Crises (Wheaton, ILL: Van Kampen
Press, 1951), 10, 11
9. Historian Will Durant reported, “About the middle of this first century a pagan named Thallus …
argued that the abnormal darkness alleged to have accompanied the death of Christ was a purely
natural phenomenon and coincidence; the argument took the existence of Christ for granted. The
denial of that existence never seems to have occurred even to the bitterest gentile or Jewish opponents
of nascent Christianity.” Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, vol. 3 of The Story of Civilization (New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1972), 555.
10. Quoted in J. P. Moreland interview, Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
1998), 246.
11. Peter Steinfels, “Jesus Died—And Then What Happened?” New York Times, April 3, 1988, E9.
12. William D. Edwards, M.D., et al., “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” Journal of the American
Medical Association 255:11, March 21, 1986.
13. Lucian, Peregrinus Proteus.
14. Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of the Jews, 18. 63, 64. [Although portions of Josephus’ comments
about Jesus have been disputed, this reference to Pilate condemning him to the cross is deemed
authentic by most scholars.]
15. Tacitus, Annals, 15, 44. In Great Books of the Western World, ed. By Robert Maynard Hutchins, Vol.
15, The Annals and The Histories by Cornelius Tacitus (Chicago: William Benton, 1952).
16. Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids,
MI: Kregel, 2004), 49.
17. Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone? (Grand Rapids, MI: Lamplighter, 1958), 9.
18. Paul L. Maier, Independent Press Telegram, Long Beach, CA: April 21, 1973.
19. Quoted in Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1981), 66.
20. Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), 130.
21. John W. Montgomery, History and Christianity (Downers Grove, ILL: InterVarsity Press, 1971), 78.
22. Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway, 2004), 243.
23. Michael Green, The Empty Cross of Jesus (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1984), 97, quoted in
John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Knowing the Truth about the Resurrection (Eugene, OR: Harvest
House), 22.
24. Paul Little, Know Why You Believe (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1967), 44.
25. J. P. Moreland, Scaling the Secular City, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2000), 172.
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26. Charles Colson, “The Paradox of Power,” Power to Change,
www.powertochange.ie/changed/index_Leaders.
27. Morison, 104.
28. Gary Collins quoted in Strobel, 238.
29. Thomas James Thorburn, The Resurrection Narratives and Modern Criticism (London: Kegan Paul,
Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1910.), 158, 159.
30. Sherwin-White, Roman Society, 190.
31. Habermas and Licona, 85.
32. Habermas and Licona, 87.
33. Morison, 115.
34. J. N. D. Anderson, “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Christianity Today, 12. April, 1968.
35. Durant, Caesar and Christ, 652.
36. Morison, 9.
37. Morison, 9.
38. Gary Habermas, The Historical Jesus (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Co., 1996). 153-154.
39. 1 Corinthians 15: 3-9 NLT
40. 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 NLT

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