Book Review: Case for the Resurrection of Jesus
Gary Habermas and Michael Licona have co-authored a very unique book, the aim of which is to prepare the believer to, as the verse goes, "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you...." (I Peter 3:15). The book is, essentially, a guide and/or tutorial for Christians on what evidence exists for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how this evidence should be presented to non-Christians. We noted that Publisher's Weekly whines about the book being "poorly written" because of its format; aparently the PW staff is too enamored of having something they can read while on the pot to care about thought being performed in a systematic fashion. The format is just fine for the book's purpose; it's not a reading joyide and those who want one should go read something less serious and more in line with their sense of personal responsibility. Included with the book is a CD with pertinent information as well as quizzes that are designed to test the reader's grasp of the information presented throughout the book. That inclusion itself should have told PW that this book was educational!
Following a brief introduction regarding the importance of the evidential approach, particularly regarding the Resurrection, within evangelism, the authors briefly discuss 5 historical principles (e.g. multiple attestation) that they will go on to use in making the case for the Resurrection. Next, the authors introduce what they call "The Minimal Facts Approach," the criteria for which is 1) data with substantial supporting evidence and 2) data accepted by virtually all scholars, Christian and non-Christian alike. After this, Habermas and Licona present their "Minimal Facts" case for the Resurrection by appealing to 4 facts accepted byvirtually everybody, plus one that is granted by a sizeable majority of scholars, yet not as much so as the other 4. These are 1) Jesus died by crucifixion; 2) Jesus' disciples believed that he rose and appeared to them; 3) Paul, an enemy of Christianity, was suddenly changed; 4) James, a skeptic during Christ's earthly ministry, suddenly changed; 5) and the one accepted by, according to Habermas, 75% of scholars (not virtually all like the other four; pg. 70), the empty tomb. On each of these points, the authors summarize the evidence as to why each of these facts enjoy acceptance widely in New Testament scholarship, despite the problems that #s 2-5 cause for the skeptic (as they go on to show). Chapters 5-8 are reserved for the discussion, and debunking, of objections and alternative theories to Christ's resurrection. In chapter 9, the authors discuss the nature of the resurrection body (i.e. physical vs. spiritual) as it is presented in the Bible. Next, a brief discussion of the self-understanding of Christ ensues, considering the evidence from the "Son of Man" and "Son of God" titles that Christ used. Afterwards, a chapter is devoted to presenting a few lines of evidence for "Intelligent Design," since demonstrating that the existence of God is plausible, if not probable, serves as an indirect augmentation of the evidence for Christ's Resurrection. In the next to last chapter, "Some Final Issues," Habermas and Licona discuss a few other objections to Christ's resurrection. Finally, in chapter 13, the authors devote some space on suggestions about how the believer should use this information, and how it should be presented.
The strengths of the book vastly outweigh its weaknesses. First of all, in chapter 1, there is a very helpful (although brief) summary of the evidence that Christ predicted His Resurrection from the grave. The five facts appealed to by the authors to make their case for the historicity of the Resurrection are adequately evidenced, documented, and compelling. I personally found the evidence supporting "minimal fact #2" very helpful. The authors demonstrated how well-attested the persecution of the early Christians (including the disciples) is based on the numerous sources, inside and outside of the Bible. Additionally, a compelling argument, based on ancient sources, is made in favor of the historicity of the martyrdoms of a few of the apostles. Three reasons for the empty tomb are given. This certainly could have been expanded, but given that the authors discussed dozens of topics in a book just over 200 pages in length, it is understandable that space restrictions played a factor. Perhaps the best part about this book is that the average reader will find that virtually every objection and alternate theory that he/she has ever heard, and then some, are dealt with in this book on at least some level. This includes the classics like the "Swoon Theory," hallucinations, and fraud down to the even more desperate alternative theories like "Jesus was a space alien"! Typical objections posed by naturalists are discussed in some detail as are objections based on science and history. The arguments in favor of the fact that the Bible claims that Christ's resurrection was in bodily form (as opposed to spiritual) are adequate, as are the supplementary chapters on Christ's self-understanding and evidence for the existence of God. Finally, the advice on how to present this evidence seemed very logical as well, and may even hit home for some.
Only two limitations come to mind regarding this book. One is that discussions of certain topics could have been dealt with in more detail, although this is probably to be expected in a book trying to address dozens of different topics. The book is a gateway; there are notes that have a great deal more depth beyond that, and as a popular work it should not be expected to clean out every nook and cranny. However, the authors gave satisfactory detail in far more topics than they did not, and even those that were sparse were still helpful in the information that was provided. Secondly, one major factor regarding the Resurrection that would have added even more complexity to naturalistic alternatives was left out of the authors' work, and that was the disciples' belief in the resurrection itself, in a milieu that did not anticipate any kind of resurrection by only one man and in the middle of time (so to speak). Given this data, an empty tomb and a naturalistic explanation for the appearances to all of the disciples (e.g. hallucinations) would have most likely led to the belief that Jesus had ascended to heaven in the manner of Enoch and Elijah rather than being resurrected. However, to this it should be noted that the authors, in our opinion, satisfactory debunked all of the naturalistic theories regardless of the absence of this piece of data.
This certainly is a great book for beginners, and probably even intermediates.