Easter Sunday

"Where, O Death, is thy sting? Where, O Hades, is thy victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:55

"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15:22

"Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead." Holy Saturday liturgical prayer

 

 

Following up on my Good Friday post, there are three data which reach the level of 'historical bedrock' concerning the end of Christ's life.  These three data are accepted by the vast majority (90% or more) of New Testament scholars from all across the theological spectrum, i.e. atheist, agnostic, moderate, liberal, and conservative. The first, as I already shared, is Christ's death by crucifixion. The next two are as follows:

- Very soon after Jesus died, His disciples had experiences that they believed were appearances of the resurrected Christ

- A few years later, Saul of Tarsus (high-ranking Jewish religious leader who zealously persecuted the early Christians before converting to Christianity) also experienced what he thought was a post-resurrection appearance of the risen Jesus

Now, obviously, this does not mean that all of these scholars accept the traditional Christian, philosophical interpretations derived from these data. It merely means that, independent of any particular theological paradigm, these data are considered to be well-established by the standard rules of historical scholarship. 

Coincidentally, while this particular datum does not quite rise to the level of historical bedrock, the historicity of Christ's empty tomb is accepted by 2/3 to 3/4 of all New Testament scholars.

To learn more, you can read this article published in the Southeastern Theological Review in 2012.