Friday, January 06, 2006
EMPTY TOMB: JESUS BEYOND THE GRAVE
Robert M. Price and I co-edited an anthology on the alleged resurrection of Jesus, entitled The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave. The book is a reader of 15 essays on the alleged historicity of Jesus’ resurrection, with a topical bibliography totaling 25 pages. Contributors include Richard Carrier, Robert Greg Cavin, J. Duncan M. Derrett, Theodore Drange, Evan Fales, Peter Kirby, Michael Martin, Keith Parsons, and Robert M. Price.
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5 comments:
You have the vastly unimpressive Ted Drange contributing to a volume on the historical Jesus?
Seriously?
Drange's contribution to the Empty Tomb was concerned with a theological-philosophical issue. He questioned the arguments given by apologists for why the resurrection was necessary. It wasn't a bad article. Wasn't absolutely spectacular, but it was certainly worth attention.
At any rate, Drange's work has its moments, in general. While I'm inclined to agree with you that often his work is not impressive, his book was well done, and he *has* written papers that are praise-worthy in the past.
Drange's article "Why Resurrect Jesus?" is a very interesting and significant article. Although I think there is an important gap in his argument (namely the failure to consider the possibility that the resurrection of Jesus is an important reason or premise in arguments for other Christian beliefs and is thus significant without being either a necessary or a sufficient condition of those beliefs), his points are correct as far as they go. More importantly, he is pointing out the 2,000 year old vacuum of Christian thinking about this question. Christian theologians and apologists have unthinkingly assumed that the resurrection is a central Christian belief, and they have never engaged in serious critical thought about the possbility that it does not have the significance and implications that they assume. Drange has successfully pointed out a huge empty space in the logic and theology of Christianity.
Robert Cavin's article "Is there Sufficient Historical Evidence to Establish the Resurrection of Jesus?" kicks ass. As far as I'm concerned, this article settles the issue--something that rarely happens in philosophical and theological argumentation.
Yeah, Cavin's article was definitely an excellent contribution to the book. Well done.
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