Minimal Fact #1

Minimal Fact #1 of Jesus' Resurrection:*

Jesus died by crucifixion.

This might seem like an odd place to start. We're talking about Jesus' resurrection, and the first piece of evidence is that he died?

Well, in fact this is an important place to begin. Every reputable scholar in the field, both Christian and skeptic, agree that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and died on a Roman cross. John Dominic Crossan, one of the founders of the liberal Jesus Seminar and no friend of conservative Christianity, said, "Jesus’ death by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate is as sure as anything historical can ever be. For if no follower of Jesus had written anything for one hundred years after his crucifixition, we would still know about him from two authors not among his supporters. Their names are Flavius Josephus and Cornelius Tacitus" (Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, p. 145).

From Jesus' death, we can infer a couple of things. 1) Jesus actually existed. In order to die, you have to be alive, right? No credible scholar on the planet disputes that Jesus of Nazareth was a real human being who walked the Earth. The only ones who do deny it are the internet loons. 2) A popular explanation of the resurrection is called the "Swoon Theory," where Jesus is said to have been taken down from the cross still alive and then revived in the tomb. The problem is that historians universally agree that Jesus really died. So the Swoon Theory is not taken seriously in scholarly circles, even among scholars who don't believe in the bodily resurrection.

So there we are: Minimal Fact #1 says that Jesus really died. Stay tuned for Minimal Fact #2.

*Adapted from The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, by Habermas & Licona.