Easter Enigma

As Dr. Wenham states early in his introduction, The story of Jesus' resurrection is told by five different writers, whose accounts differ from each other to an astonishing degree. Wenham begins by setting the scene of Jerusalem and its environs, going on to describe the main actors in the events with particular attention to Mary Magdalene and the five writers themselves, and then examining in detail all the biblical narratives from Good Friday through Easter Day to the Ascension. He concludes that the various accounts as they stand can be satisfactorily reconciled to provide a trustworthy record for the church. Valuable appendices elucidate Wenham's response to the technicalities of gospel criticism.

Although traditionally accepted by the church down through the centuries, the longer ending of Mark's Gospel (16:9-20) has been relegated by modern scholarship to the status of a later appendage. The arguments for such a view are chiefly based upon the witness of the two earliest complete manuscripts of Mark, and upon matters of language and style. This work shows that these primary grounds of argumentation are inadequate. It is demonstrated that the church fathers knew the Markan ending from the very earliest days, well over two centuries before the earliest extant manuscripts. The quantity of unique terms in the ending is also seen to fall within the parameters exhibited by undisputed Markan passages. Strong indications of Markan authorship are found in the presence of specific linguistic constructions, a range of literary devices, and the continuation of various themes prominent within the body of the Gospel. Furthermore, the writings of Luke show that the Gospel of Mark known to this author contained the ending. Rather than being a later addition, the evidence is interpreted in terms of a textual omission occurring at a later stage in transmission, probably in Egypt during the second century.

Two of today's most important and popular New Testament scholars, John Dominic Crossan and N. T. Wright, here air their very different understandings of the historical reality and theological meaning of Jesus' Resurrection. The book highlights points of agreement and disagreement between them and explores the many attendant issues.This book brings two leading lights in Jesus studies together for a long-overdue conversation with one another and with significant scholars from other disciplines.

This book examines the various Johannine narratives found in writings in the period from Papias (early second century) to Eusebius (early fourth century). Dean Furlong argues that the first major revision of the Johannine narrative was the identification of John the Evangelist with John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee, at the beginning of the third century. This in turn initiated a process of reinterpretation, as the previously-separate narratives of the two figures were variously spun into new configurations during the third and fourth centuries. This process culminated with Eusebius’s synthesis of the Johannine traditions, which came to form the basis of what is considered the “traditional” Johannine story. Furlong concludes that in the earliest narrative, found in Papias, John the Evangelist was identified, not with the Apostle, but with another disciple of Jesus known as John the Elder.

Why are there differences in the stories of the gospels? Licona turns to Greek classicist Plutarch for an answer, assessing differences that appeared when Plutarch told the same story more than once in his lives. He suggests the differences in the gospels often resulted from their authors employing the same compositional devices used by Plutarch.

Divided into five parts, A Sense of Presence explores the central thesis that the resurrection of Jesus could be explained as a psychological event involving one hallucination, possibly occurring to Peter, and a hysterical reaction by colleagues, which convinced them that Jesus had appeared to them too. This approach is justified by showing that claims made by often impressionable people to have witnessed supernatural events in more recent times, such as visions of the Virgin Mary or weeping statues, have usually attracted a similar hysterical reaction involving large numbers. Some of these reactions take hold sufficiently strongly to facilitate the development of new sects or movements, which persist even when their credibility is challenged. The remaining four parts set this thesis in context. Part 1 shows that resurrection was already a widely-accepted concept in the socio-cultural world in which Jesus was born. Part 2 deals with the New Testament accounts of the resurrection, showing that they are often contradictory. Part 4 presents and discusses the philosophical problems involved in a psycho-physical person rising from the dead, while Part 5 looks at the historical and theological issues associated with such an event. The argument presented is not intended to be dogmatic, but simply seeks to show that naturalistic alternative explanations to the one generally accepted by believers should be given far more attention than they usually receive. A Sense of Presence invites readers to challenge the status quo and will appeal to those wishing to challenge generally-accepted Christian views.

When Jesus died on the cross, it seemed that all had been lost. Death had won. But after three days in a rich man's tomb, Jesus appeared...alive! The news was so shocking that his followers refused to believe it until they saw him with their own eyes and touched his wounds with their own hands. Then Jesus made an amazing claim: In the future, they too would have resurrected bodies like his, bodies that would never deteriorate, age, or perish. They would have new life without death or pain in the presence of a loving God forever. But can we really believe His promise? For that matter, can we really believe that the promise was made by a man who rose from the dead? In this fascinating look at the claims of the Gospel writers and 2,000 years of believing Christians, bestselling author Josh McDowell and his son Sean examine the compelling evidence and conclude that Jesus Christ conquered death and the grave. In clear, concise, and accessible chapters, Josh and Sean present the facts about the resurrection and what it means for readers today.