Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond The Grave

by Robert M. Price (Editor), Jeffery Jay Lowder

Did 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 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.

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Ebooks, Christianity, Atheism

554 pages, Hardcover

First published April 5, 2005

About the author

Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.

A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Reviews

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

To atheism what many modern apologists are to Christianity. The authors in this book give some very good — and some very awful — arguments for their side. Some good philosophical argumentation and lots of confirmation bias.

[Eric Wojciechowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most interesting thing about this book, “The Empty Tomb”, is that it had to be written at all. What I mean, is that you'd never see an anthology of essays put together regarding whether or not the Labors of Hercules actually took place. If the story of Hercules is a myth, there's no reason to analyze the Labors historically. Likewise, if the story of Jesus is also a myth, then so is the resurrection and to study it as something that happened in history is just silly.

So why concentrate on just the resurrection? Why not look at the New Testament and supplemental materials? If you find that the story of Jesus is a myth, then everything discussed in the present volume is kind of useless.

That's why first, I'd recommend for a fuller analysis of the historicity question is to read Richard Carrier's, “On the Historicity of Jesus”. The conclusion, is that more than likely, we're not even talking about a historical figure here. And with that, the resurrection goes into the realm of myth with it.

However, if you're inclined to still believe there's a historical person behind the layers, “The Empty Tomb” demonstrates rather well that the resurrection never happened, not like today's believers think it did. If there was a historical Jesus, the original belief was that the dead Jesus took on a second body after death. One like noted in 2 Corinthians 5. In other words, there was no empty tomb. Just mythology or, if one is inclined to lean historically, then euhemerism at best.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, partly for it's extremely narrow focus - the ressurection story in the New Testament and analysing the various arguments that it is historical. I think a christian would get less out of this than a non christian, though not necessarily. You can have an open look at the source material, and put aside circular reasoning and double standards without abandoning basic beliefs, but it did show, that the arguments of people like william Lane Craig that the evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of historicity are bogus.
For such a narrow topic, it had a suprising number of essays, arguing a number of different possibilities and even going into the state of jewish law at the time and how well the story as told, and as intepreted by the evangelicals fits with what we know from other sources. Interestingly, the mythicist argument wasn't even addressed, even though Richard Carrier, one of the authors is now a leading mythicist.

[Justin Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some authors were more interesting than others. Given the length of the book, and style of composition, I'd say this book is more useful if one is interested specifically in the field of resurrection debates. It wouldn't be the most pleasant or interesting of a read otherwise, due to, in my opinion, the very analytical approach of some authors, and others point by point refutation of resurrection believing Christians.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where to begin?

Let's start out with the most negative thing I can say about this book: If you come to it expecting to read writers with the communication skills of Bart Ehrman, you will be very disappointed. No offense to the various authors but perhaps it would help them to read how Professor Ehrman writes. To say these authors were dry is like saying the Pacific is a bit moist.

Having said that, if you want to delve deeply into scriptural criticism and understand why sophisticated theologians reject the physical resurrection of Jesus, this book is priceless. But do not try, as I did, to read it as narrative. Heavily referenced, profoundly researched, and (sadly) extremely academic in style, The Empty Tomb is almost a reference book on how to debate and discuss the single most important "fact" in Christian mythology.

The authors of the various essays are all either noted intellectuals or, in the case of one, a well-respected internet blogger (co-editor of the collection) whose essay I am pleased to say is the most readable of the collection. The most fascinating thing about these essays is how disparate they are. They span history, philosophy, textual criticism, mythography, and "replies" to noted Christian apologists (notably Swinburne and William Lane Craig).

Structurally, this is not a cohesive collection. Each author's essay(s) is/are works unto themselves though the multiple contributions by Richard Carrier and Robert Price do refer back to each author's previous essays.

If I were to pick just two essays that are essential to grasping the central arguments, they would be "Is There Sufficient Historical Evidence to Establish the Resurrection of Jesus" by Robert Greg Cavin, and "The Spiritual Body of Christ and the Legend of the Empty Tomb" by Richard Carrier. The Carrier essay is itself nearly book-length and requires the reader to be extremely fluent in the history of the New Testament's composition and in early Christian beliefs (specifically the distinction between Pauline Christianity and the growth post-gospel). That I see this essay as essential in no way makes it an easy read. The Cavin essay, by contrast, is shorter and highly educational on the use of truth-functional calculus (a.k.a. logic) to make the case against the physical resurrection. If the reader absorbs Cavin's arguments AND his methodology, several of the essays in the book become easier to understand and the proofs lain out in later essays become legible to the non-mathematician.

Several of the essays touch on topics familiar to atheist or well-read Christian readers: Jewish traditions of the messiah, the arguments against Mark's account of the resurrection being in the original, the absence in Pauline writings of reference to the bodily resurrection, and some sideline points regarding other plausible explanations relating to culture. I would recommend reading the two essential ones listed above, then come back to the other essays later.

To rehash, the essays are largely academic, many of the authors should consider Bart Ehrman's approach, there is a great deal of good information for the reader who makes the effort to explore the essays and their citations, and two of the essays make the whole book worth reading.

[Stephie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another topic which was the idea that the resurrection was not necessary for the theology of the new testament. Others focus on arguing against apologists William Lane Craig, Alvin Plantings, and Richard Swinburne. These chapters offer point by point refutations on these apologists arguments for the empty tomb. I found it almost laughable that Plantinga consider knowledge by the holy spirit to be veridical. A simple rebuttal is that often two people have opposite messages from the holy spirit, which would make their knowledge contradictory. This doesn't sseem to work. There was one more approach done by one of the authors. It was analysing the story in economic terms. What was the payoff for the disciples of the empty tomb.

This book defintely challenges the assumed truth of the empty tomb and its necessity in christian doctrine. I found it to be pretty good overall. There was some repetition in the different chapters, and one of Richard Carrier's chapters was possibly too long. My suggestion for potential readers is that is a good book in protraying a part of the Jesus myth. If your like me, an atheist with a large dose of curiosity and skepticism, you will find the book enriching. If you are a christian, your view on the truth of the gospels will be challenged. Either way I highly recommend it.

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of atheist positions against the resurrection. It is important to allow yourself to be challenged by contrary positions to this vital Christian doctrine. After all Paul says if the resurrection is not true, 'our faith is in vain!' Warning: Your faith may be challenged by reading this book but rest assured every position can be refuted by being a faithful exegete of the primary resurrection texts in the NT and by utilizing evidential resources such as, Dr. Michael Licona's, "The Resurrection of Jesus; A Historiographical Approach."

[Victor Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Price is too technical and at times boring...but he is an undeniable scholar of the highest caliber