The Historicity of Jesus’ Resurrection

Central to the data about Jesus’ Resurrection is what kind of experience lies behind it on the part of the disciples. This chapter explores three answers to the question of what happened on the first Easter. All three scholars profess belief in Jesus’ Resurrection, but they differ with regard to what they think historians can say about the experience of those who first proclaimed that Jesus is risen from the dead. Edward Schillebeeckx suggests that the Resurrection narratives arose from faith-experiences of the disciples, without requiring us to hold that they saw the glorified body of the risen Jesus. Dale Allison considers that the disciples must indeed have seen Jesus after his death, but that from a historical perspective these sightings are likely to have been hallucinatory visions. Lastly, N. T. Wright thinks that the historical evidence indicates that the disciples had concrete encounters with the risen, tangible Jesus.