The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave
by Robert M. Price, Jeffery Jay Lowder
Category: Religion

Did the Resurrection actually take place? This is the central question that Price (editor, Journal of Higher Criticism) and Lowder (cofounder, Internet Infidels) pose in their essay collection. Written in response to recent works by Wolfhart Pannenberg, William Lane Craig, Murray J. Harris, and others who offered a defense of the Resurrection on historical and logical grounds, the essays probe the following: What is the most reasonable way to understand the appearance stories? Why would a God resurrect Jesus? Is the Resurrection theologically necessary? Is there enough historical evidence to make the Resurrection plausible or convincing? Did the 'Empty Tomb' really take place? To such questions, the answer is in the negative or is rendered in a nontheistic manner. Interestingly, contributors include not only philosophers, historians, and major nontheists but also New Testament scholars who view the Resurrection as a later church development. Well argued and well written, the essays are certain to stimulate further insight and reflection for both theists and nontheists.... Recommended for academic libraries.--John Jaeger, Dallas Baptist University, Texas, in Library JournalIt is not new for a few lonely, persecuted radicals to deny the resurrection of Jesus. What is new in this book is that such a number of competent, scrupulous scholars are agreeing that it did not happen, and going so far as attacking fundamentalists for propagating false and misleading views of the Bible.--Dr. Barbara Thiering, author of the bestseller Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea ScrollsOne can only hope this valuable collection will result in a renewed commitment to intelligent discourse concerning Christianity's greatest miracle.--Gerd Lüdemann, University of Göttingen, author of The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical InquiryDid Jesus rise from the dead? Although 19th- and early 20th-century biblical scholarship dismissed the resurrection narratives as late, legendary accounts, Christian apologists in the late 20th century revived historical apologetics for the resurrection of Jesus with increasingly sophisticated arguments. A few critics have directly addressed some of the new arguments, but their response has been largely muted. The Empty Tomb scrutinizes the claims of leading Christian apologists and critiques their view of the resurrection as the best historical explanation.The contributors include New Testament scholars, philosophers, historians, and leading nontheists. They focus on the key questions relevant to assessing the historicity of the resurrection: What did the authors of the New Testament mean when they said Jesus rose from the dead? What historical evidence is needed to establish the resurrection? If there is a God, why would He resurrect Jesus? Was there an empty tomb? What should we make of the appearance stories? Apart from historical evidence, is belief in the resurrection justified?The Empty Tomb provides a sober, objective response to arguments offered in defense of Christianity's central claim.Robert M. Price, Ph.D. (Selma, NC), professor of scriptural studies at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is the editor (with Jeffery Jay Lowder) of The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave and the Journal of Higher Criticism. He is also the author of Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today's Pop Mysticisms; The Paperback Apocalypse: How the Christian Church Was Left Behind; The Reason-Driven Life: What Am I Here on Earth For?; The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man; and Deconstructing Jesus; among other works.Jeffery Jay Lowder is the cofounder and past president of Internet Infidels, Inc., an international coalition of nontheists dedicated to promoting and defending a naturalistic worldview on the Internet.