On the Resurrection, Volume 1: Evidences, Gary R. Habermas. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781087778600), 2024.

Summary: Evidence for the resurrection of Jesus based upon a minimal historical facts approach comprehensively researched and documented.

Philosopher and apologist Gary R. Habermas has made a career of arguing for the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Now, fifty years later, he has embarked on what is likely his magnum opus, a projected four volume work On the Resurrection. This work, Volume One, examines the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus based upon a minimal historical facts approach. He offers a comprehensive treatment, surveying theological scholars and historians across the spectrum from evangelical to skeptic, with meticulous and extensive documentation. Consequently, this is a big book, running to 1072 pages. For all that, I was delighted rather than daunted by prose that flowed and by the meticulous way Habermas laid out his material. In this review, I will outline the work of Volume One and offer a few concluding comments.

Part 1: The Nature of Historical Research

Habermas begins by laying the philosophical foundation for his minimal historical facts approach. He begins with a survey of approaches to historiography from ancient historians through logical positivism to post-modernism, concluding that none of these have rejected outright the possibility of historically knowable facts. He discusses the tools of historiography and how the authenticity of sources is assessed. Most important is that sources are early, derived from eyewitnesses, multiple attestation exists, including enemy attestation, there is dissimilarity from other contemporary sources, embarrassing detail that disparages the source, and more. After a defense against post-modern skepticism, Habermas explains his minimal historical facts methodology. This includes his criteria, what is meant by the “vast majority of critical scholars and the breadth of his work. Habermas lists six minimal historical facts strongly supported by critical scholarship and six other facts that enjoy substantial but not as extensive support.

Part 2: Jesus: The Preliminaries

Before coming to the historical facts, Habermas establishes several preliminary facts on which the resurrection of Jesus depends. Most basic is the existence of Jesus. While doubted by some skeptics, Habermas shows that the existence of Jesus is supported by numerous early sources, including hostile sources. He defines the concept of miracle as “a dynamic, specialized event that nature is incapable of producing on its own, that temporarily supersedes (or appears to supersede) the normally known pattern of nature. Such an event would be brought about by the power of God or another supernatural agent for the express purpose of acting as a sign or pointer to verify or draw attention to a person or message.” Finally, he considers the case for Jesus as a healer and the important connection the resurrection has to this healing work

Part 3: The Minimal Historical Facts

Having laid the groundwork, Habermas proceeds to the minimal facts and the considerations that warrant their broad scholarly acceptance. They are:

1. Jesus Death: that he died, how he died and its significance
2. The Disciples Experiences: The appearances and the earliest sources including 1 Cor. 15:3-7.
3. The Earliest Proclamation of the Gospel: Nine layers of early testimony
4. The Disciples Transformations: From flight and despair to bold proclamation and martyrdom
5. The Conversion of James: From skeptical brother to believer after the appearance of the risen Jesus.
6. The Conversion of Paul: From persecutor to apostle after the resurrection appearance.

With each of these six, Habermas delineates the considerations (ten or more for each) that support acceptance as minimal facts. He also surveys scholarly opinion across the spectrum. Perhaps most notable is the support of scholars like Bart Ehrman and John Dominic Crossan for many of these facts. And this despite their own skepticism about the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Part 4: The Other Six Known Historical Facts

Having covered the six minimal facts, Habermas outlines support, substantial, though not as extensive for six other facts:

1. The empty tomb: Over twenty supporting considerations and a shift among recent scholars to support of the historicity of the empty tomb.
2. Jesus burial: While noting dissent from the burial, shows evidence and support including the significance of joseph of Arimathea.
3. The despair and disillusionment of the disciples following the crucifixion.
4. Christian preaching and teaching began in Jerusalem, the site of the events proclaimed.
5. The Church began meeting on Sunday and spread
6. The centrality of the message of Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Part 5: The Gospel Resurrection Data

After considering twelve historical facts, Habermas now considers these in the context of the gospel resurrection narratives. Habermas devotes a chapter to each gospel. Before that, Habermas devotes a chapter to recent gospel studies. He highlights the early creedal foundations behind the gospel and the research on the traditions behind the gospel, especially Richard Bauckham’s work asserting the eyewitness basis for gospel testimony. Also, he includes N.T. Wright’s arguments for early dates for the resurrection material. Finally, Habermas reviews the material from noncanonical Christian authors writing between AD 95 and 160.

Conclusion and Final Comments

It is clear that Habermas believes that the historically supportable facts are best explained by the idea that Jesus actually arose bodily. He briefly discusses alternative explanations that he will address more fully in Volume Two on refutations. He also includes two appendices. The first discusses the evidence for near death experiences as authentic out of the body experiences, including a patient who claimed to have risen out of her body, seeing a red shoe on the hospital roof. A janitor found that shoe. The second appendix outlined the data favoring the minimal facts.

In conclusion, Habermas makes an impressive case for the resurrection. On one hand, he shows the extensive evidence and support for that evidence, growing in recent years, across the scholarly spectrum. At the same time, he deals fairly with contradictory evidence. Above all, he has created a massive reference work for both scholars and apologists. But, as he would admit, this does not compel belief, as is evident among scholars skeptical of the resurrection. But it does mean that skeptics need to either show the facts unsupportable or offer a better account of them.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.