I am convinced that this is THE book to give to anyone who doubts the historical fact of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. What Habermas does in this book is to show all of the historical facts that are agreed on by a majority of scholars. It is shocking once you realize all the facts that are agreed upon by scholars, but that many of these same scholars embrace hypothesis that fit the facts in an extremely ad hoc way just to avoid the resurrection of Jesus. Habermas does all of this by looking at a variety of sources. First, he points out that the New Testament is 27 separate historical documents of which we have more copies than ANY other documents in ancient antiquity by FAR. This by itself is an extremely important point because many people a priori blow off the New Testament. Yet there is no basis in the historical method for doing so. They may a priori be embellished or contain errors, but they are the most well-attested historical documents from ancient antiquity that we have. On top of this evidence, many non-Christian sources are also considered such as Tacitus, Josephus, and Pliny, as well as several others who mention Jesus and/or Christianity. The final set of sources that are almost always overlooked are the non-canonical Christian writings of the first 2 centuries like Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, and even non-canonical gospels like Thomas, which can still give us some insight into the thoughts back in the day. Overall, the document evidence is simply overwhelming. It is a sign of intellectual bankruptcy to claim that Jesus never existed or to be skeptical about his existence.
If you have read some of the other reviews, the most critical claims against Habermas have to do with the legitimacy of the Shroud of Turin, as Habermas spends a chapter discussing that artifact. This is really a moot point because if the shroud were found to be a forgery today, that would do absolutely nothing to undermine all the other evidence that Habermas presents just in the form of ancient documents. That is really where one needs to focus the arguments for the truth of the resurrection; the historical documentation because anything else acts as a smokescreen.
One thing that is very helpful is that Habermas will quote an early document and then expound upon, point by point, all the information that may be gleaned from the quote. While that may seem trivial, he points out many facts in the quote that can easily be overlooked. It is helpful in the sense that we can very easily see many of the same themes, beliefs, and knowledges of the people around the time of Jesus. One example is the exegesis of 1 Cor 15:3-8, the first creed of the early Church. A TON of beliefs can be gleaned from a careful exegesis of this passage. Habermas also demonstrates that this creed is not in the typical style of the way Paul writes, and hence it represents a creed that was known far back, one not original to Paul. From this, we see that belief is a bodily, physical resurrection of Jesus was known to people very close to the time of Jesus' death, much to the chagrin of the Jesus Seminar. That is just a small sample of the kinds of insights this book provides.
This book is definitely a must read and invaluable resource. Highly recommended.
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“39 ancient sources” for Jesus?
I spent $54 on the 1988 out-of-print book “The Verdict of History” just so I could find and investigate the so-called “39 ancient sources” for Jesus. I only learned later that it had since been renamed in 1996 as “The Historical Jesus” and that that was much cheaper, around $14! Oh well. But nonetheless, I can’t believe that no one had investigated the sources before.After 3 months of research, I can finally do an analysis.17 are non-Christian, 13 are early creedal, 5 are non-New Testament Christian sources, and 4 are archaeological.To break it down…5 are seemingly credible, 3 never mention Jesus, 2 only report what Christians believe, 1 I’m not sure about, 4 are Gnostic texts regurgitating Christian beliefs, 5 are Christian writers regurgitating Christian beliefs, 2 are lost with only hearsay remaining, 13 are Bible creeds stating what Christians sincerely believe, 3 of the archaeological are futile, and the last one is the Shroud of Turin.Christians have therefore unknowingly been misleading whenever they bring up the common “39 ancient sources” talking point. It is not at all as potent as people have been led to believe.
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Interesting, detailed, thorough and well written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2013P A Jones (PhD)
An excellent introduction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 10, 2021Stephen v Piper
Well written and accurate
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2016E S T Fakhoury
You can't but believe!.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2019