PHIL240 Essay Set 2 101113
ESSAY SET #2
PHIL 240
October 11, 2013
QUESTION ONE
1) Describe the “minimal” facts approach to the resurrection question. Be sure in your answer, to provide a general description and outline of this approach when applied to the resurrection of Christ. Do you agree or disagree with this approach?
When you are attempting to explain the resurrection of Jesus to an unbeliever it is important to stay on topic, and not be sidelined into a discussion on the inerrancy of the Bible. As Christians, we believe in our heart that while this is true, it may be difficult to expect a nonbeliever to hold to these beliefs. In order to stay on topic, we must take the “minimal facts approach”. In this approach, we are discussing information that is so “strongly attested historically that they are granted by nearly every scholar who studies the subject, even the rather skeptical ones” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 44). The data selected for discussion meets two criteria: “They are well evidenced and nearly every scholar accepts them” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 44).
When explaining the resurrection of Jesus, it is important to keep to the “minimal facts approach” by looking at some important facts. The first fact is that Jesus died by crucifixion. This highly evidenced occurrence has kept with the minimal facts approach because it is so widely attested. Not only was the crucifixion recorded in the four gospel accounts as well as a “number of non-Christian sources” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 49).Lucian of Samosata, Mara Bar-Serapion and the central text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Talmud, all illustrate the death of Jesus. A “highly critical scholar of the Jesus Seminar, John Dominic Crossan, writes, “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 49). While the crucifixion of Jesus is the beginning of explain the minimal facts, the more important fact is that Jesus’ disciples believed that he rose and appeared to them.
PHIL 240
October 11, 2013
QUESTION ONE
1) Describe the “minimal” facts approach to the resurrection question. Be sure in your answer, to provide a general description and outline of this approach when applied to the resurrection of Christ. Do you agree or disagree with this approach?
When you are attempting to explain the resurrection of Jesus to an unbeliever it is important to stay on topic, and not be sidelined into a discussion on the inerrancy of the Bible. As Christians, we believe in our heart that while this is true, it may be difficult to expect a nonbeliever to hold to these beliefs. In order to stay on topic, we must take the “minimal facts approach”. In this approach, we are discussing information that is so “strongly attested historically that they are granted by nearly every scholar who studies the subject, even the rather skeptical ones” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 44). The data selected for discussion meets two criteria: “They are well evidenced and nearly every scholar accepts them” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 44).
When explaining the resurrection of Jesus, it is important to keep to the “minimal facts approach” by looking at some important facts. The first fact is that Jesus died by crucifixion. This highly evidenced occurrence has kept with the minimal facts approach because it is so widely attested. Not only was the crucifixion recorded in the four gospel accounts as well as a “number of non-Christian sources” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 49).Lucian of Samosata, Mara Bar-Serapion and the central text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Talmud, all illustrate the death of Jesus. A “highly critical scholar of the Jesus Seminar, John Dominic Crossan, writes, “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be” (Habermas & Licona, 2004, p. 49). While the crucifixion of Jesus is the beginning of explain the minimal facts, the more important fact is that Jesus’ disciples believed that he rose and appeared to them.