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How do we know that Jesus really existed, was crucified and died?
Dr Paula Gooder discusses the historical evidence for Jesus’ existence.
Dr Gary Habermas on the evidence for Jesus’ life and death.
Dr Mike Licona outlines some evidence for Jesus’ crucifixion.
Is it rational to believe that Jesus rose from the dead?
Dr. William Lane Craig’s presentation “Evidence for the Resurection.”
Gabriel Fluhrer’s Alive, How the Resurrection of Christ Changes Everything.
N.T Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God, Volume Three of Christian Origins and the Question of God.
Charles Colson, who was part of the Watergate scandal and later converted to Christianity, said this about the resurrection:
“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, 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.”
How can we trust what Jesus’ disciples reported?
N.T Wright discusses the issue.
Dr. Theodore Cabal on the plausibility of the disciple’s claims.
What are the other possible explanations?
Gabriel Fluhrer’s Alive, How the Resurrection of Christ Changes Everything.
Dr Gary Habermas on the available evidence.
Dr. William Lane Craig’s presentation “Evidence for the Resurection.”
What are the primary sources?
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities18.63-64. Translation by Louis H. Feldman, Loeb Classical Library vol.433. Harvard University Press. 1996.
Pliny, Letters 10.96, manuscript stored in The Morgan Library (East 36th Street, New York).
Tacitus, Annals 15.44, translation by John Jackson Loeb Classical Library vol.322. Harvard University Press. 1999.
Biblical Sources
For an easy and engaging discussion of the historical reliability of the four Gospels, read Peter Williams’ Can We Trust the Gospels?
Additional Resources
Barton, Stephen C. The Cambridge Companion to The Gospels (Stephen C. Barton ed.). Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Bond, Helen. Jesus: A Very Brief History, SPCK, 2017
Burridge, Richard. What are the Gospels: A Comparison With Graeco-Roman Bios, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, second edition, 2004.
Ehrman, Bart. Jesus : Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. Oxford University Press, USA, 1999.
Feras Al Saif; Yasir Al Khalili, Shared Psychotic Disorder, Stat Pearls Publishing, 2020.
Grabbe, Lescter. ‘Jesus Who Is Called Christ’: References to Jesus outside Christian Sources in Thomas L. Thompson & Thomas S. Verenna (Eds.) ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’ The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus, Routledge, 2014.
Holmen, Tom and Porter, Stanley. (Eds.), Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus, vol.3, Brill.
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.63-64. Translation by Louis H. Feldman, Loeb Classical Library vol.433. Harvard University Press. 1996.
Licona, Michael. The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, IVP Academic, Illinois, 2010.
Meier, John. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking The Historical Jesus. The Anchor Bible Refer- ence Library, Doubleday, 1991.
N.T Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, Volume Three of Christian Origins and the Question of God, SPCK, London, 2003, Part V: Belief, Event and Meaning.
Pliny, Letters 10.96, manuscript stored in The Morgan Library (East 36th Street, New York).
Resurrection Research from 1975 to Present: What are Critical Scholars Saying? Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, Vol. 3.2.
S.J Kiraly, Foile A Deux: ‘A Case of ‘Demonic Possession Involving Mother and Daughter,’ in Canadian Psychiatric Journal, Vol. 20, No.3, 1975.
Spensley, James, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease: p288-290, 1972.
Tacitus, Annals 15.44, translation by John Jackson Loeb Classical Library vol.322. Harvard University Press. 1999.
Tuckett, Christopher ‘Sources and Methods’ in Marcus Bockmuehl (Ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Jesus, 2000.
Van Voorst, Robert E. (2010). ‘Jesus Tradition in Classical and Jewish Writings’. In Tom Holmen & Stanley Porter (Eds.), Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus, vol.3, Brill.
Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian’s Reading of the Gospels. Vol 1. William Collins Sons & Co, 1973.
The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV), Zondervan, Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, 2002: The Gospel of Matthew, The Gospel of Mark, The Gospel of Luke, The Gospel of John.