Books about evidence for the Resurrection

[Tous_Logous]

I’m wondering if anyone can provide me some book titles for the evidence of the Resurrection, or the “Passion” in general.

I know that Raymond E. Brown and N.T. Wright did a series of books about Jesus and the evidence for his historicity (as well as the Resurrection)…are these highly recommended? From what I have seen they are quite “meaty” books (700-900 pages). I enjoy highly detailed books if they’re easy to understand. Being somewhat familiar with Brown’s works (An Introduction to New Testament Christology) and Wright’s (his Bible study series, at least) I am wondering if there are some more general titles out there that aren’t as colossal in terms of being nearly 1,000 pages.

Does Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s “Jesus of Nazareth” book titles go into evidence for the historicity of Jesus and evidence for his Resurrection? I read some of the first volume in this series and at least from what I read, he talked about the historical-critical method. Didn’t get to far into that book so I don’t know how it compares to the other volumes in the series.

The closest “general apologetics” book I could find at the bookstore about the existence of Jesus/evidence for the Resurrection was “The Case for Christ” by Lee Stroebel. Is this book worth a read?

 

[edarlitrix]

I think Case for Christ is worth a read, but I also recommend “The Case Against the Case for Christ” in order to balance things out.

The Son Rises by William Lane Craig might be interesting. WLC is a pretty intelligent guy (most of the time).

Regarding N.T. Wright: I have his first book in the series, and I haven’t read it yet, but I have heard great praise for his work and even know of an atheist who was reading his stuff (Luke Muehlhauser, created website commonsenseatheism.com).

 

[jerrythetrucker]

I’m wondering if anyone can provide me some book titles for the evidence of the Resurrection, or the “Passion” in general.

I know that Raymond E. Brown and N.T. Wright did a series of books about Jesus and the evidence for his historicity (as well as the Resurrection)…are these highly recommended? From what I have seen they are quite “meaty” books (700-900 pages). I enjoy highly detailed books if they’re easy to understand. Being somewhat familiar with Brown’s works (An Introduction to New Testament Christology) and Wright’s (his Bible study series, at least) I am wondering if there are some more general titles out there that aren’t as colossal in terms of being nearly 1,000 pages.

Does Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s “Jesus of Nazareth” book titles go into evidence for the historicity of Jesus and evidence for his Resurrection? I read some of the first volume in this series and at least from what I read, he talked about the historical-critical method. Didn’t get to far into that book so I don’t know how it compares to the other volumes in the series.

The closest “general apologetics” book I could find at the bookstore about the existence of Jesus/evidence for the Resurrection was “The Case for Christ” by Lee Stroebel. Is this book worth a read?

 

[jerrythetrucker]

Lee Strobel is a good read. Try 'Life Is Worth Living ’ by Bishop Fulton Sheen.
Also evidencetobelieve.net History of Jesus, Roman history and Jewish history also there.

 

[patrick457]

A word of advice.

What can only be really proven as historical fact is that, from early on, there where people who claimed and apparently sincerely believed that Jesus rose from the dead and was glorified by God the Father, and that some of them claimed they saw said resurrected Jesus for themselves. Virtually all serious scholars - no matter where in the spectrum they are - will agree with this. Now a handful of scholars might dispute whether Jesus was really buried, but most do take the NT documents at their word and believe that an empty tomb was also involved in the claim.

But whether the claims valid or not - i.e. whether Jesus really did rise from the dead and whether it was really the resurrected Jesus these people saw - is ultimately a philosophical/theological issue. After all, an empty tomb by itself is not automatic proof of resurrection. The Abrahamic God or Jesus Himself are not exactly ‘available for interview’. Supposed sightings of the risen Jesus, like apparitions in general, can’t really be tested by historical method. And even the ‘Christians were ready to die for their faith’ bit is not sure guarantee that the Resurrection did happen: it just meant that Christians sincerely believed in their claim to the point that they were willing to hand themselves over to death for said claim. (People of other religions can die or kill for their faiths as well - that does not necessarily mean their beliefs are true. And we have no way of scientifically verifying for sure whether their religious beliefs - such as their ideas of God/gods/no gods - are true. As in our case, it’s a theological issue.)

That’s really as far as you can go with history: historians can only show when a given idea or claim arose, and something of the circumstances under which it arose. But in the case of the Resurrection, there’s no real way to verify or falsify the claim. The only historically-verifiable things someone can tell you in honesty is that someone in 1st-century Judaea called Jesus suffered crucifixion under Pontius Pilate and was (probably) buried; that after His death a number of people went around proclaiming that He did not stay dead - He was actually raised back to life and even appeared to them, and that some of these folks believed in it so much to the point they were willing to die for it. So I don’t think a historian is what you should be looking for in this case - you want a theologian or an apologist.

 

[thistle]

I’m wondering if anyone can provide me some book titles for the evidence of the Resurrection, or the “Passion” in general.

I know that Raymond E. Brown and N.T. Wright did a series of books about Jesus and the evidence for his historicity (as well as the Resurrection)…are these highly recommended? From what I have seen they are quite “meaty” books (700-900 pages). I enjoy highly detailed books if they’re easy to understand. Being somewhat familiar with Brown’s works (An Introduction to New Testament Christology) and Wright’s (his Bible study series, at least) I am wondering if there are some more general titles out there that aren’t as colossal in terms of being nearly 1,000 pages.

Does Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s “Jesus of Nazareth” book titles go into evidence for the historicity of Jesus and evidence for his Resurrection? I read some of the first volume in this series and at least from what I read, he talked about the historical-critical method. Didn’t get to far into that book so I don’t know how it compares to the other volumes in the series.

The closest “general apologetics” book I could find at the bookstore about the existence of Jesus/evidence for the Resurrection was “The Case for Christ” by Lee Stroebel. Is this book worth a read?

peterkreeft.com/topics-more/resurrection-evidence.htm