There is remarkably little dispute about the teachings of Jesus as found in the list above.^5 That Jesus’ central message was the Kingdom of God and the entrance requirements is rarely questioned, even by critics. That this is his chief theme is
4 For a detailed case arguing for Jesus’ unique claims concerning his deity and their corroboration, see Miethe and Habermas, chapter 27.
5 See Norman Anderson, The Teachings of Jesus(Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1983).
significant in light of his resurrection, for if Jesus was raised from the dead, confirmation is provided regarding the truthfulness of his most important teaching.^6
The Death of Jesus
Of all the events in Jesus’ life, more ancient sources specifically mention his death than any other single occurrence. Of the 45 ancient sources, 28 relate to this fact, often with details. Twelve of these sources are non-Christian,^7 which exhibits an incredible amount of interest in this event.
Not only is Jesus’ death by crucifixion of major concern to these authors, but 14 of the 28 sources give various details about the crucifixion, from medical observations to political information concerning the current rulers, to historical specifications of the times in which Jesus died, to religious details about the reason for his death. These data witness to the facticity of Jesus’ death by crucifixion, regarding both the reality of the event itself, as well as numerous details surrounding it. It is fair to assert that this is one of the best-attested facts in ancient history.
After Jesus’ death, he was buried. This fact is not only strongly confirmed by five different sources,^8 but is generally a normal consequence of dying. The Resurrection of Jesus
At this point in our evaluation we arrive at the crucial issue that brings us face to face with a miracle-claim. Again, it is not our purpose in this volume to make a judgment as to whether the resurrection is an actual miracle, as an act of God, but to evaluate whether it was an actual historical event. An examination of the details provides us with an affirmative answer—the facts demonstrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead according to the canons of history.
Of our 45 sources, 18 specifically record the resurrection, while an additional eleven more provide relevant facts surrounding this occurrence. Even if we were only to use the known facts that are accepted as historical by critical scholars, we still arrive at three major categories of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.
First, alternative theories that have been hypothesized by critics to explain the resurrection on naturalistic grounds have failed to explain the data and are refuted by the facts. Combinations of these theories also fail on these grounds. This is further illustrated by the refutation of David Hume’s thesis concerning miracles (as well as other related approaches), by the nineteenth century liberal critiques of each of these naturalistic theories, and by the twentieth century rejection of them as a whole.
6 For details on this message and its centrality, see Habermas, The Resurrection of Jesus: An Apologetic, chapters 4–5, Appendix 3, and Habermas and Moreland, chapter 9, for more on the confirmation of this theme.
7 Of the remaining sources on the death of Jesus, twelve are from creedal texts, including the important traditions in the book of Acts.
