Several approaches have been put in place in an attempt to contradict the resurrection of Jesus. Since most of the facts regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ are right, most of the efforts are used to manipulate the facts and place them in the different perspective. The essential events denied by these skeptics include the crucifixion, the trial, the guards, the empty tomb, and the Roman seal. Even though historical events powerfully support the facts but the skeptics only argue in the direction that a dead person cannot possibly come back to life (Habermas " Licona, 2004). However, some speculations just suggest that the disciples saw the visions as a result of being mentally distressed over the death of Jesus; others suggest that people later interacted with Jesus because He didn’t die, and some disciples are also believed to guess the resurrection because they could just. This question will thus seek to examine a few theories that contradict the resurrection of Jesus Christ and see if, at all amongst them, others hold water.
The Swoon Theory
Swoon theory is also known as the resuscitation theory. It was proposed by German theologian known as H.E.G Paulus in the year1828. The approach is based on the argument that Jesus did not die but somewhat resuscitated on the cross from shock, pain, and loss of blood. He claimed that Jesus Christ was buried alive. However, the critics suggest that, before Jesus was crucified, He was whipped by the Roman guards until he became so weak that he could not find the energy to carry the cross to the crucifixion. He also had spikes driven through His wrists and was left bleeding on the cross for 6 hours and the spear that was thrust on His side could also signal the death of Jesus Christ. Burial of Jesus was conducted according to the Jews customs, entombed and heavy rock was rolled, and finally, the guards were left to guard the tomb.
However, Paulus suggests in his theory that perhaps after three days, the fresh air in the grave revived the body of Jesus Christ, gained strength and walked away without having any medical care and being noticed by the guards. The most challenging part of the Swoon theory is that it undermines the degree of Jesus’ wounds. Critically Jesus was tortured and even confirmed dead by the Romans before His burial. Texas Attorney Joseph who is a lawyer suggests that “Even in His weakened condition, in a quiet private cemetery, Jesus manages to push back the stone door without any of the guards noticing! Why go half-way? Jesus has been whipped, beaten and stabbed, is hemorrhaging, and hasn’t had any food or drink for at least three days. Does He push the stone open enough to squeeze through? No, He pushes the stone door COMPLETELY out of the way!!!”
The Hallucination Theory
The Hallucination Theory is based on the argument that those individuals who claimed to have witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ only imagined that Jesus resurrected. Hallucination can be brought about by many factors and experienced by only specific people and not everyone. For a person to be considered hallucinated, he is either schizophrenic or under the influence of dangerous drugs. Another vital part of knowing is that hallucination is subjective (Wright, 2001). It comes from within an individual. Dr. Michael argues that “Hallucinations are like dreams. They are isolated occurrences … You could not share a hallucination you were having with someone any more than you could wake up your spouse in the middle of the night and ask him or her to join you in a dream you were having.” This theory can be refuted on the basis that hallucination didn’t result in people changing their beliefs. People believed in the resurrection of Jesus after they had touched His wounds and also talked to him. More than 500 people cannot experience hallucination at the same time.
Conspiracy Theory
The conspiracy theory argues that Jesus did not resurrect, but instead, His disciples stole his body and cooked up the resurrection story (Lawson, 1917). Eusebius, a great historian, explained that this theory was inconceivable and also wondered how the apostles could convince each other to take such a step of motivated each one of them “ Let us band together to invent all the miracles and resurrection appearances which we never saw and let us carry the sham even to death! Why not die for nothing? Why dislike torture and whipping inflicted for no good reason? Let us go out to all the nations and overthrow their institutions and denounce their gods! And even if we don’t convince anybody, at least we’ll have the satisfaction of drawing down on ourselves the punishment for our deceit.”
Q3 Significance of the Apocrypha to New Testament studies
In the New Testament, the number of books referred to as the Apocrypha is not fixed. Apocrypha books are non-canonical writings known as hidden or false writings. However, the best description of the apocryphal books is Early Non-canonical Christian writings. Acts or epistles and, gospel are some of the writing styles for the apocryphal books.
Some of the most famous apocryphal books include the gospel of Thomas which is considered the most famous and the Gospel of James that revolves around the birth narrative. Apart from these two, there are also the Acts of Paul and the Acts of Peter that tells about the work of Paul and the work of Paul respectively (Elliott, 2005). The acts reveal that there are specific correspondences of Paul ad at the same time the Apocalypse of Thomas as well as that for Peter. The relationship in Apocrypha books is that that they are written in the names of famous New Testament Characters. The apocryphal books are written in the genre of the New Testament and dated from the 2nd century onwards.
Another significance can be detected from the materials and events covered by the books. For instance, in the early chapters of the Gospel of Thomas, we find a story of Jesus and the birds of clay a scenario where Jesus and other two boys are busy making birds out of earth though only a single bird managed to fly. Another situation is found in the Apocalypse of Peter. He has tours of both heaven and hell by seeking for punishments from his earthly misdeeds. Other materials of significance included Paul’s handkerchief could heal and, Peter’s shadow could also heal as well. There is existing evidence in the use of these writings in the Early Church despite the efforts made to authorize set of books because several books were existing leading to the expansion of their markets worldwide from century to century (Evans, 1992). In history, the Gospel of Thomas only survived a single Coptic manuscript while the Gospel of James survived one hundred papers written in Greek and also in the Coptic language.
The book of the Gospel of James talks about the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Gospel talks about Mary’s parents appearing by the time Mary was being presented to the temple. Mary’s ascension into the heaven is associated with the assumptions of the doctrines and her virginity that continued even after the birth of Jesus. Mary is regarded as ever virgin lady throughout her lifestyle from the Gospel of James.
The Apocrypha writing, the virtue of celibacy is promoted. The Acts of Thomas reveals that Jesus preached about being pure and avoids sexual intercourse claiming that most children are good for nothing and unprofitable. From this incident, Peter is being praised for allowing his daughter to remain paralytic instead of becoming temptations to men. John is fasting and praying with a single coat renouncing beauty, wealth and possessions. The significance is seen when Jesus reappeared to His disciples in a natural figure as opposed to what readers expected as there is no clear distinction between the disciples and risen Christ.
Another significant theme that dominates the Apocrypha writings is the theme of anti-Judaism. The Gospel of Peter declares the Jews as the people who are responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus by torturing and making Him suffer. From this incident, Christian began having interest for the veneration of the relics. This incident is associated with the scenario from the Gospel of Thomas chapter 170 a scenario that demonstrated how the tomb opened for the king who placed some dust around the neck of his son.
The Apostle Creed states that Jesus descended into hell according to I Peter 3.19 that is not clear. But, in the Gospel of Nicodemus, it indicates that Jesus preached for the departed spirits between death and resurrection. Jesus is seen to break the big gates of Hades and picks on Adam first followed by patriarchs and finally prophets (Gamble, 2002). The same incident is outlined from the story of Saddlers in the York Mystery plays.
Q4 the events and decisions that were made in the formation of the “Canon” of the New Testament
Canon is a Greek term meaning the standard through which things are measured. It can also refer to the norm or rule that guides decision making.
Along Time in Coming
Along Time in Coming refers to the first list that names twenty-seven writings in the New Testament. The list appears in a letter known as Easter letter of Athanasius. Even before the time of Athanasius, the church had already had a plan of including the Canon in the “New” Testament a century earlier. A letter by Paul is believed to have been collected from different geographical areas by various churches. The evidence is seen when Peter makes references in Paul’s message (Ehrman, 2000).
The earlier dates also reveal that some Christians were making collections of some Jesus’ sayings and stories about him. Gospel Q is a summary of sayings while Signs Gospel underlined the gospel of John and was described as the collection of beautiful deeds. These collections were then mixed into the narrative doctrine. The doctrines were then rearranged by the authors to form endless stories. Various churches for assortments collected the letters of Paul alongside other gospel. The church produced a small library even though the list was not made official at this stage.
Marcion and the first Canon
Marcion initiated the first significant move towards the creation of the Christian Canon. He encouraged the Church to embrace the new canon that composed of only two scriptures Paul and Luke and reject the Jews scripture. His proposals were shocking to many people during those days. His actions were referred to as heterodox-heretical since they required a response from the church so it forced the church to determine which of his writings could be regarded as canonical and why.
The First List
After the church had met Marcion, a consensus was reached that twenty more books to be included in the new collection of sacred writings to be called New Testament. Eusebius' list divided the books into three major groups (Metzger, 1997). The “acknowledged,” “disputed” and “rejected.” Besides, he also recognized two more books Revelation and the Shepherd of Harmers making the total number of books to be 22.
Four Gospel, One Gospel
Marcion proposed only a single gospel, but later, the separate doctrine was further splintered into four namely Mathew, Mark, and Luke and, John after the original gospel had been harmonized.
Eusebius, Advisor to Emperor Constantine
Eusebius asked whether his writings conformed well to other books that were made earlier, whether the content of his writings was consistent with the established orthodoxy and finally whether the style matched the writings known to have been written in early history. If the writings were not confined to these qualifications, then the books would be rejected.
Athanasius' Easter Letter
The list of Athanasius’ survived the antiquity. The list names twenty-seven books that comprise of the New Testament. However, six books have since remained in the canon from the time of Athanasius and current world.
The Bible and Political Intrigue
This stage shows what happened between the time of Athanasius and Eusebius ad also reflects how the church decided of finally settling of other books while rejecting others (Hartono, 2006).
An Open-Ended Bible
Considered to be the most durable stage though it is not regarded to be final however much it is universal.
Q5Nature of the apocalyptic literature in the Revelation of John
Apocalyptic is one of the five major pieces of writing that were keenly observed by the ancient Jewish people. However, apocalyptic was the last amongst the five parts of literature that reached maturity. The Apocalypse of John in the New Testament belongs to the five classes the writing. This can be realized from the viewpoint, style, method and the eschatological ideas in the scripture. The apocalyptic content of the book is similar to those of the Jewish writings and their tradition. The text of Daniel and the publication of John are the two books of the bible that marks the watermark for the two generations. The rise of Christianity shows that apocalypse is the mode of thought between the Judaism and the new generation (Collins, 2016). The apocalyptic ideas enlightened the Jewish Christians and right from the apocalypse Paul and John in the bible.
God revealed secrets of the future differently through apocalyptic literature to different people. Sometimes, such secrets can be communicated through a dream or vision while in other circumstances, the seer is transported to supernatural areas for direct encounters. Apart from that, there is also an essential aspect of the apocalypse that is associated with the love of images, symbols and even symbolic numbers. Smoke, ice, fire, darkness, precious stones, clouds, mountains, trees, wind, angels, animals could be used as symbols for unfolding the dramas (Beale, 2010).
The visionary writing originated from the Old Testament in the book of Daniel, Enoch, and Ezra. It is believed that the Book of Daniel (q.v.) provides the prototype for this literary form and that apocalyptic writings arise out of a context of renewed Jewish nationalism, beginning with the Maccabean revolt. In the New Testament, the apocalyptic writing styles are used in books like Mathew, Revelation, Mark and, John. However, the New Testament books do not use mythological associations and literary forms. The symbols that can be traced to be used in Revelations involves women to represent people or a city, horn to represent authority, trumpets to represent superhuman, eyes representing understanding and, the crown to represent dominion. Another manifestation of apocalyptic styles involves the use of color whereby white color would serve victory; the back color will symbolize death and purple will symbolize kingship. In the New Testament, numbers are also used to signify specific happenings (Collins, 2016). The number seven would symbolize perfection or fullness; twelve symbolizes the eschatological fulfillment of the people of God, four would symbolize the visible world and angels are mentioned sixty-seven time and visions are said fifty-four times.
References
Beale, G. K. (2010). The use of Daniel in Jewish apocalyptic literature and in the Revelation of St. John. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Collins, J. J. (2016). The apocalyptic imagination: An introduction to Jewish apocalyptic literature. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
Ehrman, B. D. (2000). The New Testament: A historical introduction to the early Christian writings. Oxford University Press, USA.
Elliott, J. K. (Ed.). (2005). The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation. Oxford University Press on Demand.
Evans, C. A. (1992). Noncanonical writings and New Testament interpretation. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers.
Gamble, H. Y. (2002). The New Testament canon: Its making and meaning. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Habermas, G. R., " Licona, M. R. (2004). The case for the resurrection of Jesus. Kregel Publications.
Hartono, W. (2006). Canon of the New Testament. URL:< http://webusers. anetstl. com/~ nosmo/canonnew. htm.
Lawson, J. D. (Ed.). (1917). American State Trials: A Collection of the Important and Interesting Criminal Trials which Have Taken Place in the United States, from the Beginning of Our Government to the Present Day: with Notes and Annotations (Vol. 8). Thomas Law Books.
Metzger, B. M. (1997). The Canon of the New Testament: its origin, development, and significance. Oxford University Press on Demand.
Smalley, S. S. (2015). The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse. InterVarsity Press.
Wright, N. T. (2001). Jesus and the resurrection. Meyer, M " Hughes, C (reds). Jesus then and now. Images of Jesus in history and Christology. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 54, 71.
