Veritas Books: Did the Resurrection Happen?: A Conversation with Gary Habermas and Antony Flew
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
In 2004 philosopher Antony Flew, one of the world's most prominent atheists, publicly acknowledged that he had become persuaded of the existence of God. Not long before that, in 2003, Flew and Christian philosopher Gary Habermas debated at a Veritas Forum at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Habermas, perhaps the world's leading expert on the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus, made the case for rational belief on the basis of the reliability of the evidence. Flew argued for alternative understandings of the evidence presented. For two-and-a-half decades Flew and Habermas have been in friendly dialogue about the plausibility of the resurrection and the existence of God. This book presents the full content of their third and final debate, as well as transcripts of the Q A session with the audience afterward. Also included are a 2004 conversation between Habermas and Flew shortly after Flew's much-publicized change of position, as well as editor David Baggett's assessment and analysis of the full history of Habermas and Flew's interactions. Here is your opportunity to listen in on a conversation with two of the greatest thinkers of our era about one of the most pivotal events in human history. Follow the evidence wherever it leads. And decide for yourself whether it's believable that a man could rise from the dead.
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Top Highlights
“And I don’t believe in the objectivity of the appearances. I can see that we have a claim that the body was resurrected, but the claim to the resurrection seems to me based on the appearances.” (Page 38)
“And I don’t think those appearances are an adequate basis for it. In all this, I think one ought to notice that any experiences of claims to what is nowadays called the paranormal—what used to be investigated by what was called psychical research—any claims to the genuineness of such occurrences have to be founded, if they’re to be believed, on an extraordinary amount of evidence. Anything that is conceived to be miraculous falls into this category, because one must approach any question about an alleged miracle with a pretty stubborn presumption that it didn’t really happen, because its extraordinariness depends on its being a unique event.” (Page 39)
“I think that the best witness to Jesus’ burial may well be the fact that, in all four Gospels, it was the women who were the first to discover on Sunday morning that the tomb no longer held Jesus’ body. Although there were exceptions, in the Mediterranean world in general, female testimony was normally avoided wherever possible in courts of law, especially in crucial issues, and it was often disbelieved. My point is, if you’re fabricating the account of the burial, then don’t allow the case for the disappearance of the body to rely on female testimony. Obviously, that would invite ancient listeners to reject the story from the outset.” (Pages 29–30)
“In fact, most critical scholars think we can date Paul’s reception of this testimony to A.D. 35, which is only five years after the cross. This isn’t the date of the events themselves, but his trip to Jerusalem, where he received this testimony.” (Page 35)