William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 9: The Sub-Argument for (5c)

 CRAIG'S CASE IS DEAD ON ARRIVAL

Before I evaluate the sub-argument for premise (5c) in Craig's core argument, I would like to reiterate my evaluation of the last two inferences in Craig's core argument:

5c. The best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

THEREFORE:

8. The best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead). 

THEREFORE:

9. It is more likely than not that God raised Jesus from the dead.

The inference from premise (5c) to premise (8) is weak and dubious because we have no good reason to believe that Craig's selection of his three key established historical facts constitutes a good and representative sample of the general collection of established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  Furthermore, in Part 5, I provided a good reason to believe that Craig's selection of three established historical facts was significantly influenced by Confirmation Bias. 

This is a serious problem with the inference from premise (5c) to premise (8) that is sufficient to sink Craig's core argument, and to make his case for the resurrection of Jesus Dead on Arrival.

However, there is also a serious problem with the inference from premise (8) to the conclusion (9). In Part 6, I showed that premise (8) does not logically imply the conclusion (9) and that premise (8) also falls short of providing significant inductive confirmation of conclusion (9).  This final inference is thus also weak and dubious, providing another sufficient reason to reject Craig's core argument, and another good reason to conclude that his case for the resurrection of Jesus is Dead on Arrival. 

Therefore, even if Craig had provided a strong and solid argument for premise (5c), the two weak and dubious inferences at the end of his argument make it a bad argument and cause his case for the resurrection to fail.

CRAIG'S SUB-ARGUMENT FOR PREMISE (5c)

Here is the sub-argument for premise (5c):

3b. IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

4b. IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate.

THEREFORE: 

5c. The best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

The inference here is a modus ponens, so the inference in this sub-argument is a valid deductive inference. Thus, the logic of this sub-argument is fine. If there is a problem with this sub-argument for (5c), it would be a problem with the truth of one or both premises.

INITIAL EVALUATION OF PREMISE (3b) 

Craig provides a sub-argument in support of premise (3b), so we need to consider that argument before we form a final evaluation of premise (3b).  However, at this point my initial evaluation is that (3b) is FALSE. If I am correct on this point, then that would make this sub-argument an unsound argument for premise (5c), and would give us a third good reason to reject Craig's core argument, and to reject his case for the resurrection of Jesus.

Premise (3b) is a conditional statement.  Thus, it asserts that the antecedent of that statement (i.e., IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate.) logically implies the consequent of that statement (i.e., The best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis.)  But it seems clear that the antecedent of (3b) does NOT logically imply the consequent of (3b).

The problem is that the antecedent statement only claims that the resurrection hypothesis is not more implausible than the alternative hypotheses.  That does NOT imply that it is more plausible than the alternative hypotheses.  But an explanation is "the best explanation" only if it is the most plausible explanation of the available alternatives. 

Suppose that the Resurrection Hypothesis and the skeptical alternatives that Craig evaluates all have the same probability:

• There is a 16% chance that the Resurrection Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 16% chance that the Conspiracy Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 16% chance that the Apparent Death Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 16% chance that the Wrong Tomb Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 16% chance that the Displaced Body Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 16% chance that the Hallucination Hypothesis is true.  
• There is a 4% chance that some other hypothesis is true.

Craig assumes that there is a correlation between the relative plausability of alternative explanations and the relative probability of those alternative explanations. Given the above scenario where the Resurrection Hypothesis has the same probability as each of the various skeptical hypotheses, we may infer that they have the same relative plausibility. 

Thus, if Craig's methodology for determining the relative plausibility of alternative hypotheses leads us to a correct evaluation of the relative plausibility of these hypotheses, then using his methodology would lead us to the conclusion that NONE of these hypotheses would be more plausible than the other alternative hypotheses. 

In this scenario, the antecedent of premise (3b) would be true, but the consequent would be false. Although none of the other hypotheses would, in this scenario, be more plausible than the Resurrection Hypothesis, it is also the case that the Resurrection Hypothesis would not be more plausible than any of the skeptical hypotheses. In this scenario, the Resurrection Hypothesis would NOT be "the best explanation" of the relevant facts. 

Therefore, the antecedent of (3b) can be true and yet the consequent of (3b) could be false.  That means that the conditional statement asserted by premise (3b) is false.

Furthermore, in the above scenario, the chance that the Resurrection Hypothesis is true is 16%, which is far smaller than what the conclusion of Craig's core argument asserts.  According to the conclusion (9), the chance that the Resurrection Hypothesis is true is greater than 50%.

Finally, given the above scenario, the chance that one or the other of the five skeptical hypotheses considered by Craig is true is 80% (5 skeptical hypotheses x 16% each = 80%), compared to the small 16% chance that the Resurrection Hypothesis is true.  So, in this scenario, it seems much more reasonable to believe that one or the other of the five skeptical hypotheses is true than to believe that the Resurrection Hypothesis is true.

CONCLUSION

Because Craig has provided a sub-argument in support of premise (3b), we should leave open the possibility that my initial evaluation of this premise is incorrect, at least until we consider the sub-argument for (3b). However, if Craig's sub-argument fails to give us a good reason to believe that (3b) is true, then we ought to conclude that premise (3b) is false, based on the above line of reasoning.

William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 10: The Sub-Argument for (3b)

 A GOOD REASON TO BELIEVE (3b) IS FALSE

In Part 9 of this series, I proposed the initial evaluation that premise (3b) is false.  I argued that (3b) is false because it is a conditional statement and the first part of the conditional (the antecedent) does not logically imply the second part of the conditional (the consequent).

However, because Craig has provided a sub-argument in support of premise (3b), we should consider that argument before making a final determination about whether (3b) is true or false. If his sub-argument fails to provide a good reason to believe that (3b) is true, then we should conclude that (3b) is false on the basis of my initial evaluation, which gives us a good reason to believe (3b) is false.

THE SUB-ARGUMENT FOR PREMISE (3b)

Here is Craig's sub-argument in support of premise (3b):

1b. IF Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be shown to be implausible, THEN IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the best explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

2a. Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be shown to be implausible.

 A. A historical claim C is an established historical fact IF AND ONLY IF historical claim C can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence.

THEREFORE: 

3b. IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

Because (3b) talks about "established historical facts" while premise (1b) and premise (2a) talk about "historical claims", I previously introduced premise (A) in order to bridge the logical gap between the premises of this sub-argument and the conclusion of this sub-argument.

Also, because (3b) talks about "the best explanation" for a specific collection of historical data, while premise (1a) talks about "the preffered explanation", I modified premise (1a), so that version (1b) uses the same terminology as (3b), and now talks about "the best explanation".  I assume that these are just two alternative expressions that Craig uses that have the same meaning.

William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 8: Established Historical Facts

 THE SCOPE OF DATA TO BE CONSIDERED

It should be clear by now that a crucial aspect of thinking critically about the alleged resurrection of Jesus is being clear about the scope of the data that should be considered.

As I showed in Part 3 of this series, William Craig implies that the scope of data that should be considered is this:

established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate

This suggestion seems right to me, or, at least, this suggestion by Craig is a good place to start.  Some further clarification of this scope will probably be helpful to people who want to think critically about this issue.

THIS IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ISSUE 

First, although it is probably the case that most of the relevant information is "historical" evidence, there is some evidence from other fields that is also relevant.  

Medical facts and evidence are clearly relevant to having a good understanding of crucifixion and of Jesus' alleged death by crucifixion.  Here is what Craig says about the skeptical view called the Apparent Death Hypothesis:

The Apparent Death Hypothesis is massively disconfirmed by medical facts concerning what would happen to a person who has been scourged and crucified. (Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed., p.374)

If we limit ourselves to "established historical facts", then Craig cannot make this objection to the Apparent Death Hypothesis in order to try to show that this skeptical view is "implausible".  

Although this claim by Craig has implications for questions about the alleged historical event of the crucifixion of Jesus, and although this claim is based in part on historical assumptions or facts about the nature of Roman crucifixion, this claim also (obviously) requires evidence in terms of medical facts, which are outside the scope of the expertise of ancient historians.  Medical facts come from the field of medicine, NOT from the field of history.

Therefore, Craig undermines his own objections to the Apparent Death Hypothesis by limiting the scope of relevant evidence to just established historical facts.

Psychological facts and evidence are clearly relevant to having a good understanding of the alleged responses of Jesus' disciples to his crucifixion and of their alleged experiences of the risen Jesus. In discussing the Conspiracy Hypothesis, Craig makes the following objection to that skeptical view:

...one cannot plausibly deny that the earliest disciples at least sincerely believed that Jesus was risen from the dead, a conviction on which they staked their very lives.... The transformation in the lives of the disciples is not credibly explained by the hypothesis of a conspiracy. (Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed., p.372)

I grant that this is the sort of reasoning that historians often engage in.  However, it is clear that there are more than just strictly historical assumptions being made here.  When we are talking about "a conviction on which" someone stakes his or her life, and about a significant "transformation in the lives" of a group of people, we are making assumptions about human psychology, assumptions which can be confirmed or disconfirmed by experts and experiments in psychology.

An even clearer reference to the field of psychology occurs when Craig discusses the Hallucination Hypothesis.  Here is an objection to that hypothesis by Craig:

Although Allison makes a great deal out of the alleged similarities between the postmortem appearances of Jesus and visions of the recently departed on the part of the bereaved, the overriding lesson of such fascinating stories is that the bereaved do not as a result of such experiences, however real and tangible they may seem, conclude that the deceased has returned to life--rather the deceased is seen in the afterlife.  (Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed., p.384)

Craig is discussing here the nature of "visions of the recently departed on the part of the bereaved" which is a subject of investigation in the field of psychology. The facts here are facts of psychology, NOT historical facts.  

The "lessons" or implications of those facts are what is discussed and argued by experts in psychology in journals of psychology.  If Craig wants to limit relevant evidence and facts to established historical facts, then he will not be able to draw on the facts and findings of psychologists to support his objection against the Conspiracy Hypothesis.

Philosophical considerations are also clearly relevant to the evaluation of the claim "God raised Jesus from the dead".  One must have a clear idea of what the term "God" means in this sentence, otherwise the conclusion of Craig's core argument is UNCLEAR.  

The probability of the claim "God raised Jesus from the dead" depends on the probability of other philosophical claims, such as "God exists" and "God sometimes intervenes in human affairs"  and "God believes that humans are in need of a divine savior", and "God believes that humans have a great need to hear truth and wisdom from God about God." Such assumptions are crucial in order for a person to logically reach a conclusion about God being the cause of some event.

If there is no God, then the claim "God raised Jesus from the dead" is FALSE.  If the existence of God is very improbable, then so is the claim "God raised Jesus from the dead".  Furthermore, the existence of God does not necessarily imply that miracles happen.  Deists believe that God exists, but they also believe that God does not intervene in human affairs. Even if it was certain that God exists, it might still be very improbable that miracles happen, because God could have a policy of not intervening in human affairs.

CONCLUSION

Although Craig appears to think that the scope of facts and evidence we should consider when investigating the question "Did God raise Jesus from the dead?" is this:

established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate

This scope is clearly too narrow, because it fails to include facts and evidence that are from the medical field, from the field of psychology, and from the field of philosophy.  Historical facts and evidence are of obvious relevance, but the question at issue here is clearly an interdisciplinary one, NOT a strictly historical question.

Here is the scope of information that we should be considering:

established facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate

This includes historical facts, medical facts, psychological facts, philosophical facts, and interdisciplinary facts (that require confirmation from more than just one field of inquiry).

William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 7: Clarification of Premise (5a)

A KEY INFERENCE IN CRAIG'S CORE ARGUMENT 

In Part 4 of this series, I stated that the final inference in Craig's core argument was this:

5a. The preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead). 

THEREFORE:

8. The best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead). 

However, in Part 6, I argued that the ultimate conclusion of Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus is actually this:

9. It is more likely than not that God raised Jesus from the dead. 

In Part 5 of this series, I showed that the inference from (5a) to (8) was weak and dubious because Craig's selection of his three key historical claims was significantly influenced by Confirmation Bias. This problem with that inference is sufficient by itself to sink Craig's core argument and thus make his case for the resurrection of Jesus Dead on Arrival.

A PROBLEM WITH THE INFERENCE WAS INTRODUCED BY THE WORDING OF PREMISE (5a)

However, there is another problem with the inference from (5a) to (8) which is the result of how I phrased premise (5a), rather than being a problem in Craig's actual reasoning.  So, I need to revise the wording of (5a), and to revise parts of the argument that support premise (5a), in order to be fair to Craig's core argument.

This other problem with the inference from premise (5a) to premise (8) is that (5a) talks about historical claims, but (8) talks about established historical facts.  That shift in descriptions of the historical information is enough by itself to make this a bad and illogical inference.  But that is not a problem in Craig's reasoning, it is a problem that resulted from how I worded premise (5a), and some of the premises supporting (5a).

At this point in the argument, Craig believes that he has already shown that his three key historical claims are established historical facts and not just historical claims.  That happens with premise (2a):

2a. Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be shown to be implausible.

This premise is a conjunction of two statements.  The first statement asserts that Craig's three historical claims can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence. So, if we accept premise (2a), then later in the argument, Craig believes we should view his three historical claims as being established historical facts.  

I think we need to make this shift from the description historical claims to the description established historical facts more evident by making the following assumption an explicit premise in Craig's core argument:

A. A historical claim C is an established historical fact IF AND ONLY IF historical claim C can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence.

This assumption allows us to shift from use of the phrase "Craig's three key historical claims" to use of the phrase "Craig's three key established historical facts" after premise (2a) appears in the flow of Craig's core argument.

That means that by the time we arrive at premise (5), the description of the relevant historical information has shifted:

5b. The preferred explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

This revised statement of the fifth premise avoids the problem of the shift in descriptions of the historical information from the fifth premise to premise (8).  

The serious problem of Confirmation Bias, however, remains and is sufficient to make the inference from (5b) to (8) a weak and dubious inference, and thus Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus is still Dead on Arrival. 

While I'm clarifying the fifth premise of Craig's core argument, I want to make a couple of other modest revisions.  The phrase "the preferred explanation" appears to be an alternative way of saying "the best explanation", so we should revise the wording of (5b) to make it clearer that (5b) and (8) are both talking about the same evaluation: "the best explanation":

5c. The best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

I also dropped the phrase "ought to be" since it is clear that Craig is asserting that the resurrection hypothesis IS OBJECTIVELY the best explanation. 

Here is how I would modify the premises in the sub-argument supporting premise (5c):

3b. IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

4b. IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate.

THEREFORE: 

5c. The best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

The sub-argument supporting the revised premise (3b) needs to have premise (A) added to the original two premises in that sub-argument, and premise (1a) needs a minor revision to shift it from talking about "the preferred explanation" to talking about "the best explanation":

1b. IF Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be shown to be implausible, THEN IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the best explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

2a. Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be shown to be implausible.

 A. A historical claim C is an established historical fact IF AND ONLY IF historical claim C can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence.

THEREFORE: 

3b. IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the best explanation for Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

REVISED ARGUMENT DIAGRAM 

Here is the revised argument diagram based on the above clarifications of Craig's core argument:

William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 6: The Ultimate Conclusion of Craig's Case

WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE CONCLUSION OF CRAIG'S CASE?

In Part 3 of this series, my initial analysis of the core argument of Craig's case for the resurrection had the following claim as the conclusion of that argument:

5a. The preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

But in Part 4 of this series, I argued that Craig had a stronger and more significant claim in mind that was the actual conclusion of his core argument:

8. The best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead). 

However, the key paragraph that I have been quoting from Craig's book Reasonable Faith is a bit longer than what I have previously quoted, and I now see that the final sentence of that paragraph asserts what is actually the ultimate conclusion of Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus.  Here are the final sentences of that key paragraph:

The significance of this event is then to be found in the religio-historical context in which it occurred, namely, as the vindication of Jesus' own unparalleled claim to divine authority.  I think that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is such that a well-informed investigator ought to agree that it is more likely than not to have occurred.  (Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed., p.360)

The ultimate conclusion of Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus is this:

9. It is more likely than not that God raised Jesus from the dead.

This is clearly an inference that is based upon what I previously thought was the ultimate conclusion of Craig's case, namely, claim (8). 

This does not invalidate my previous analysis and clarification of Craig's core argument; it simply adds one more step to the end of that argument.

THE NEW FINAL INFERENCE OF CRAIG'S CORE ARGUMENT

With this additional step added to Craig's core argument, the final inference in that argument becomes this:

8. The best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead). 

THEREFORE:

9. It is more likely than not that God raised Jesus from the dead.

This is a fairly modest conclusion.  Craig is not trying to prove that God raised Jesus from the dead.  Craig is not claiming it to be an established fact that God raised Jesus from the dead. He is only trying to show that this claim is somewhat probable.  If the probability that God raised Jesus from the dead was merely .51  (if there was a 51% chance of this being true), then the weak claim asserted by (9) would be true.

Craig is here following in the footsteps of the great Christian philosopher Richard Swinburne, who in his masterpiece The Existence of God[1], argued for this very modest conclusion: 

On our total evidence theism [the belief that God exists] is more probable than not. (The Existence of God, 2nd ed., p.342)

Serious scholars and philosophers try not to make claims that are stronger than what they can support with their evidence and arguments.

EVALUATION OF THE NEW FINAL INFERENCE IN CRAIG'S CORE ARGUMENT

My previous criticism of the inference from (5a) to (8) still stands, so Craig has FAILED to provide a good reason to believe that claim (8) is true.  One obvious problem with the final sub-argument is that it is based on a dubious premise, namely, claim (8).

What about the inference from (8) to (9)?  This is not an instance of a valid form of deductive inference.  It is not a modus ponens, nor a modus tollens, nor a disjunctive syllogism, nor is it any other sort of valid inference form.

Does claim (8) logically imply claim (9)?  I don't think so, but Craig might think so. He does not explain his understanding of the nature of this inference.

Craig's method of comparing alternative hypotheses does not involve determining specific probabilities for each hypothesis. His method only allows us to make somewhat subjective judgments about the relative "plausability" of various alternative hypotheses. However, it seems reasonable to make some inferences about probability from conclusions about plausibility.  

If hypothesis A is more plausible than hypothesis B, then one might reasonably infer that hypothesis A is more likely to be true than hypothesis B.  If there were no such connection between plausability and probability, then Craig's method of relying on the comparative plausability of hypotheses would be of questionable significance.

In fact, Craig closely associates the degree of plausibility of an explanation with its degree of probability:

Any historical argument for Jesus' resurrection will have two steps, even if these are not clearly delineated: (1) to establish the facts which will serve as historical evidence and (2) to argue that the hypothesis of Jesus' resurrection is the best or most probable explanation of those facts.(Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed., p.350, emphasis added)

My understanding is that the best explanation for a set of facts X, is the most plausible explanation of set of facts X (when we compare the explanatory excellence of various alternative hypotheses in terms of a specific set of criteria used for evaluating explanatory excellence).

Thus, in order for Craig's resurrection hypothesis (God raised Jesus from the dead) to be the best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate, it must be a more plausible explanation than any of the available alternative hypotheses about Jesus' final fate. This in turn implies that the resurrection hypothesis would be more probable than any of the available alternative hypotheses.

The problem I see here is that even if the resurrection hypothesis was more probable or more likely to be true than any of the available alternative hypotheses, it could still be the case that the resurrection hypothesis had a probability of less than .50 (had less than a 50% chance of being true).  If I am correct, then claim (8) does not logically imply (9), and the new final inference is a dubious inference.

A COUNTEREXAMPLE TO THE FINAL INFERENCE

In Reasonable Faith, Craig discusses at least five different hypotheses that are alternatives to the resurrection hypothesis (God raised Jesus from the dead). He does not attempt to assign specific probabilities to any of the five alternative hypotheses. He only attempts to show that each of the skeptical alternatives provides an explanation of the established historical facts (that are relevant to Jesus' final fate) that is less plausible than the explanation provided by the resurrection hypothesis.

I take it that Craig would, on this basis, infer that each of the skeptical alternative hypotheses is less probable, less likely to be true, than the resurrection hypothesis.  Let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that Craig is correct on both points. Does it follow that the resurrection hypothesis has a probability greater than .50 (that it has a better than 50% chance of being true)?  I don't think so.

Consider the following possible scenario:

• There is a 15% chance that the Conspiracy Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 10% chance that the Apparent Death Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 15% chance that the Wrong Tomb Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 15% chance that the Displaced Body Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 20% chance that the Hallucination Hypothesis is true.
• There is a 25% chance that the Resurrection Hypothesis is true.

I'm not asserting that any of these claims are true.  I'm not claiming that there is a good reason to believe any of these claims are true.  I'm just saying that this is a possibility. Furthermore, apart from a careful and in-depth examination of the various hypotheses and consideration of the relevant historical evidence, there is no obvious reason to think that any of the above claims is false.  There is at least a degree of plausibility to this scenario.  Apart from a careful examination of evidence and arguments, each of these claims has some real chance of being correct. None of the above claims is absurd or obviously false.

If these probabilities were true and correct, and if we assume that relative probability corresponds with relative plausibility, then it would be the case that the Resurrection Hypothesis not only has a higher probability than any of the five skeptical hypotheses,  but that it also has a greater plausibility than any of the five skeptical hypotheses, as an explanation for the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate. 

If Craig's methodology works properly, then given this scenario we would end up concluding that the Resurrection Hypothesis was the best explanation for the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate. That is to say, if the above scenario were the case and if the use of Craig's method of determining which hypothesis provides the most plausible explanation of the established facts relevant to Jesus' final fate leads us to a correct evaluation of the relative plausibility of the various hypotheses, then we would arrive at the conclusion that the Resurrection Hypothesis was a more plausible explanation than the alternative hypotheses, and that claim (8) was true.

However, on the above scenario, claim (9) would be FALSE, because on this scenario, the probability that the Resurrection Hypothesis is true would be .25 (it would have a 25% chance of being true).  That is a significantly lower probability than .50. So, not only would claim (9) be FALSE on this scenario, but it wouldn't even be close to being true.

Therefore, it is clear that claim (8) does NOT logically imply the ultimate conclusion of Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus.  Even if claim (8) were true, that would NOT show that claim (9) was true.

Furthermore, because the above imagined scenario is somewhat realistic, is somewhat plausible on its face, and because on that scenario claim (9) was not merely false, but was not even close to being true, premise (8) does not appear to provide significant inductive support for (9).  Therefore, the inference from premise (8) to the ultimate conclusion (9) is a weak and dubious inference.

Finally, in the above scenario, although the Resurrection Hypothesis is the best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate, it is very probable (on that scenario) that one of the skeptical hypotheses is true and that the Resurrection Hypothesis is false.  

On the above scenario, there would be a 75% chance that one of the skeptical hypotheses was true and that the Resurrection Hypothesis was false.  In that circumstance, it is unclear that accepting or believing the Resurrection Hypothesis would be the most reasonable position to take.  It seems more reasonable in that circumstance to take the position that one of the skeptical hypotheses is true, even though we could not be confident about which specific skeptical hypothesis is true. 

CONCLUSION

The final step in the core argument in Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus is this sub-argument:

8. The best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead). 

THEREFORE:

9. It is more likely than not that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Premise (8) is a dubious claim, and the inference from (8) to (9) is a weak and dubious inference. Thus, Craig's core argument FAILS to give us a good reason to believe the ultimate conclusion of his case for the resurrection of Jesus, even though that conclusion was a fairly modest and weak claim in the first place.

William Craig was only trying to show that the resurrection of Jesus is somewhat probable, not that it is an established fact, and not even that it is very probable.  Yet, his argument FAILS to show that this rather modest claim is true.

END NOTES 

1. Richard Swinburne, The Existence of God, 2nd edition (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004).

William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 5: Other Relevant Facts

BEATING A DEAD HORSE?

I probably come across to many people as a person who likes to beat a dead horse.  I'm not satisfied with finding just one serious problem with an argument presented by a Christian apologist. I always try to find two or three (or more) serious problems with arguments given in support of a basic Christian belief.  I almost always do manage to find two or three (or more) serious problems with such arguments.

Another way to look at this, however, is in terms of that common element in many horror movies, where the monster has just been defeated or knocked down, and the people the monster had been chasing are immediately relieved and then turn their backs on the monster, who is lying on the ground near them.  People are always IDIOTS in horror movies, and they usually fail to put a stake through the vampire's heart, or to cut off the head of the evil creature, or to light the body of Jason on fire to burn him to a crackly crisp.  

I don't want to be like the FOOLS in horror movies, so when I knock down an argument by a Christian apologist, I try to also pound a stake through the heart of the argument, and cut off its head, and then douse it in gasoline, and light it on fire.  This may seem to others like I'm "beating a dead horse", but I consider this to be just a reasonable way of ensuring that the threat will not raise its ugly head ever again.

RELEVANT HISTORICAL FACTS NOT INCLUDED BY CRAIG

Here are some other relevant facts that are not included in Craig's three key historical facts:

1. People who were crucified by the Romans would usually hang on the cross for at least two or three days before dying.

2. The authors of the Gospels believed that Jesus was removed from the cross after hanging on the cross for less than half of a day (i.e., for somewhere between 2 hours and 10 hours).

3. Three friends of the Jewish historian Josephus were crucified, and hung on crosses for a few hours and then were removed from their crosses while they were still alive.  Two of the crucified people died hours or days later while under the care of a physician, but one survived and recovered.

4. There are a number of different medical theories about how Roman crucifixion caused people to die; we don't actually know how Roman crucifixion caused death. 

 5. Victims of Roman crucifixion were usually burried in mass graves and were not permitted to have an honorable burial. 

6. The authors of the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew believed that the first appearances of the allegedly risen Jesus to his male disciples took place in Galilee about a week or more after Jesus was crucified. 

7. The authors of the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John believed that the first appearances of the allegedly risen Jesus to his male disciples took place in Jerusalem about 48 hours after Jesus had been crucified and buried. 

8. Jesus was a sexist, who worshipped and obeyed Jehovah, the sexist god of the Israelites.

9. Jesus worshipped and obeyed Jehovah, the genocidal god of the Israelites, who (according to Moses) commanded the massive slaughter of men, women, children, and babies of the inhabitants of Palestine.

10. Jesus worshipped and obeyed Jehovah, the god of the Israelites who (according to Moses) commanded the theft of land from the inhabitants of Palestine.

11. Jesus worshipped and obeyed Jehovah, the god of the Israelites who (according to Moses) demanded that they practice slavery.

12. Jesus believed and taught that the end of the world would take place sometime in his generation (i.e., within a few decades of his death).

13. Jesus believed that mental illness and physical disabilities were often caused by demons. 

14. Jesus believed that Adam and Eve were the first humans to exist, and that Adam and Eve lived a few thousand years before his time.

In my view, these are all established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate. Yet NOT ONE of these historical facts is included in Craig's three historical claims, and NOT ONE of these historical facts is included in the twelve historical claims that Gary Habermas focuses upon in his latest case for the resurrection of Jesus.

The first seven historical facts above are obviously relevant to Jesus' final fate.  However, some people might question the relevance of the last seven historical facts in the above list.  

Those other facts are relevant to Jesus' final fate, because they provide evidence that Jesus was a morally and intellectually flawed human being, and thus NOT the Son of God, NOT God incarnate, and that the beliefs and values of Jesus did NOT come from clear communication between God (who is all-knowing and perfectly good, by definition) and Jesus. 

If Jesus was a morally and intellectually flawed human, and thus Jesus was NOT the Son of God and NOT God incarnate, then it would have been a great deception by God to have raised Jesus from the dead, because such a miracle, as Christian apologists themselves assert, would be an indication from God that Jesus was a true prophet, the Messiah, and the Son of God or God incarnate (assuming Jesus had claimed be the Son of God or God incarnate). God, if God exists, is all-knowing and perfectly good, so God would not ever perform a miracle that would cause a great deception.

Therefore, historical facts that provide evidence for the claim that Jesus was a morally and intellectually flawed human are historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.

Why is it that NONE of the fourteen historical facts above are included in Craig's three key facts? Why is it that NONE of the fourteen historical facts above are included in the list of twelve key facts referenced by Habermas in his most recent case for the resurrection of Jesus?  

It seems fairly obvious that the reason why Craig and Habermas don't consider these to be key historical facts is that these facts tend to run against the conclusion that they firmly believe and that they are trying to promote.  

In short, none of the above fourteen historical facts are included in Craig's three key facts because his selection of historical facts was influenced by confirmation bias.  The same reason explains why none of the above facts are included in the twelve key facts focused on by Habermas.

CONCLUSION

In Part 4 of this series, I pointed out a problem with Craig's core argument that I believe means his case for the resurrection of Jesus is Dead On Arrival.  

Specifically, we have no good reason to believe that Craig's three key historical facts are a good or accurate representation of the larger body of established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  

Therefore, the final inference of his core argument from premise (5a) to the conclusion (8) is a weak and dubious inference, because it is based on a very questionable assumption:

5a. The preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

THEREFORE:

8. The best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead). 

Now it is no longer a mere possibility that Craig's selection of just three historical facts was influenced by confirmation bias. I have provided more than a dozen established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate, and NONE of those facts were included in Craig's three key historical claims or facts.  

This evidence indicates that Craig's selection of his three key historical claims was significantly influenced by confirmation bias, and that Craig's three key facts are NOT a good and accurate representation of the full set of established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.

Therefore: 

Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus is indeed Dead On Arrival.

Nevertheless, I will continue my effort to put a stake through the heart of Craig's core argument, and to cut off the head of his argument, and then to douse it in gasoline and light it on fire, in order to burn it to a crackly crisp. 

William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 4: The Conclusion of Craig's Core Argument

THE FINAL INFERENCE OF CRAIG'S CORE ARGUMENT 

According to my analysis of the core argument in William Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus (in Part 3 of this series), the final inference of that argument is this:

3a. IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

4a. IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate.

THEREFORE: 

5a. The preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

THE REAL CONCLUSION OF CRAIG'S CORE ARGUMENT 

However, this conclusion seems somewhat anti-climactic and unimpressive.  This is especially the case given my previously mentioned concern about the potential problem of confirmation bias in Craig's selection of his three key historical claims.  

Since Craig is a devout Christian believer, and since he is the person who selected the three historical claims, it might well be the case that those three claims leave important historical facts out of the picture.  In that case, even if the resurrection hypothesis were the best explanation of Craig's three historical claims, it might well NOT be the best explanation for a more complete set of relevant historical facts.

In short, claim (5a) seems to be a significantly weaker claim than what Craig actually wants to establish. Furthermore, Craig makes a somewhat different claim at the beginning of the key paragraph where he lays out a summary of his core argument, and that claim is a bolder and stronger claim than (5a):

In my estimation the hypothesis "God raised Jesus from the dead" furnishes the best explanation of the historical data relevant to Jesus' final fate. (Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed., p.360) 

Note that Craig here is talking about the best explanation of "the historical data relevant to Jesus' final fate."  This scope of historical facts, as we have seen, is broader than just Craig's three key historical claims. This is the same scope of facts that I pointed out in Part 3 of this series:

established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate

This scope of the facts that we should consider seems right to me, but it is clear that Craig's three key historical claims constitute only a portion of this larger collection of facts.  Therefore, the ultimate conclusion of Craig's core argument is actually this stronger claim:

8. The best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).  

Because Craig's core argument is clearly aimed at supporting claim (5a), the ultimate conclusion of the core argument is presumably based upon (5a).

THE REVISED ARGUMENT DIAGRAM 

Given that claim (8) is the actual conclusion of Craig's core argument, we need to revise the argument diagram representing the core argument:

THE NEW FINAL INFERENCE IN CRAIG'S CORE ARGUMENT

Here is the final inference in the above revised representation of Craig's core argument:

5a. The preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

THEREFORE:

8. The best explanation of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate is the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead). 

This is NOT a formally valid deductive inference, because it is not an instance of any valid deductive form.  For example, it is not a modus ponens, nor a modus tollens, nor a disjunctive syllogism, nor is it an instance of any other valid deductive form.

Also, premise (5a) does NOT logically imply the conclusion (8) for the reason that I mentioned previously.  It is clear that Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate do not encompass ALL of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  

Thus, it is quite possible that some of the relevant facts that are not included in Craig's three key historical claims could change the outcome so that the resurrection hypothesis was no longer the best explanation, and so that some alternative skeptical hypothesis was actually the best explanation of the full set of relevant historical facts. 

There is also no obvious inductive inference to be made from (5a) to (8).  Furthermore, even if we declare this inference to be an inductive inference, it is clearly a very weak and dubious inference, because apart from further argument and explanation, we have no reason to believe that the three historical claims selected by Craig are somehow representative of the entire collection of the established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  

Perhaps, Craig has done a great job of selecting just a few historical claims that somehow nicely represent the entire body of relevant historical facts, but it also might well be the case that he has done a lousy job of this, and that cognitive bias has led Craig to ignore important facts that go against the conclusion that he desires to establish.  

I am unaware of any argument or explanation by Craig that gives us a good reason to rely upon his ability to select just a few historical claims such that they accurately represent a significantly larger body of relevant historical facts.  This is especially problematic, given that confirmation bias is a strong and widespread tendency of human thinking.   

CONCLUSION  

Although I plan to continue to examine other parts of Craig's core argument in his case for the resurrection of Jesus, it seems to me that his core argument is Dead On Arrival.  The core argument FAILS if the final inference from (5a) to (8) is a weak and dubious inference, and at this point, it certainly appears to be a weak and dubious inference.

It is clearly NOT a valid deductive inference; it also does not appear to exemplify any standard sort of legitimate inductive inference, and the inference appears to be based upon a very questionable assumption.

If, as I suspect, Craig makes no effort to justify or explain why we should believe that the three historical claims that he has chosen to focus on are somehow representative of the full collection of established historical facts that are relevant to the final fate of Jesus, then Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus FAILS in the final inference from premise (5a) to the ultimate conclusion (8).  This is true even if his argument in support of premise (5a) is a strong and solid argument.

William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 3: The Rest of the Core Argument

SEVEN CLAIMS IN CRAIG'S CORE ARGUMENT

In Part 2 of this series, I showed that the core argument of Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus was a deductive argument that consists of at least the following claims:

1. IF these three facts can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for these three facts can be shown to be implausible, THEN IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for these three facts, THEN the preferred explanation for these three facts ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

2. These three facts can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for these three facts can be shown to be implausible.

3. IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for these three facts, THEN the preferred explanation for these three facts ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

4. IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for these three facts.

5. The preferred explanation for these three facts ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

6. These three facts can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence.

 7. Alternative naturalistic explanations for these three facts can be shown to be implausible.

THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SEVEN CLAIMS 

The following argument diagram shows the logical relationships between these claims in Craig's core argument: 

The seven claims constitute three sub-arguments and three inferences in the core argument of Craig's case. The three inferences are represented by the red arrows in the above argument diagram, and they are all valid deductive inferences.

However, this is not the complete content of the core argument, because each of the above seven claims includes the phrase "these three facts" and this phrase has no meaning outside the context of the paragraph in which the seven claims were asserted by Craig.

Here is the previous part of the paragraph that provides the context for understanding what the phrase "these three facts" means:

In my estimation the hypothesis "God raised Jesus from the dead" furnishes the best explanation of the historical data relevant to Jesus' final fate.  The inductive grounds for the inference of this explanation consist primarily of the evidence of three independently established facts: (1) the tomb of Jesus was found empty by a group of his women followers on the first day of the week following his crucifixion, (2) various individuals and groups thereafter experienced on different occasions and under varying circumstances appearrances of Jesus alive, and (3) the first disciples came sincerely to believe in Jesus' resurrection in the absence of sufficient antecedent historical influences from either Judaism or pagan religions. ... (Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed., p.360) 

In the context of this paragraph, the phrase "these three facts", which occurs repeatedly in the rest of the core argument, refers to the following three historical claims that are asserted in the above quotation[1]:

HC1:The tomb of Jesus was found empty by a group of his women followers on the first day of the week following his crucifixion.

HC2: Beginning on the first day of the week following Jesus' crucifixion, various individuals and groups experienced on different occasions and under varying circumstances appearances of Jesus alive. 

HC3: The first disciples of Jesus came sincerely to believe in Jesus' resurrection in the absence of sufficient antecedent historical influences from either Judaism or pagan religions.

Premise (1) uses the word "facts" in a confused and misleading way:

IF these three facts can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence...

If those three historical claims cannot be "historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence", then those three historical claims are NOT historical facts! So, the wording of premise (1), and the closely related premise (2) need to be revised to avoid this confused and misleading use of the word "facts".  

This problem with the term "facts" will be eliminated later in this post by my proposal about how to clarify the phrase "these three facts".

The Meaning of the Phrase "These Three Facts"

To state the obvious, there are billions of facts, not just three! That is part of the reason the phrase "these three facts" is unclear and problematic.  In this context, however, we can specify the scope of "facts" with some qualifications.  First, Craig is concerned with "historical data", so his three facts are historical facts.  

Craig also uses the qualification "established". This term seems a bit redundant, because one should clearly distinguish between a historical claim and a historical fact, and this distinction corresponds directly to the question of whether the historical claim in question has been firmly established on the basis of evidence or not. If a historical claim has NOT been firmly established on the basis of evidence, then that claim does NOT constitute a historical fact.  Thus, the qualification "established" is redundant.  

However, this redundancy is a good reminder of the crucial distinction between historical claims and historical facts, so I am going to retain Craig's phrase "established facts" and just add the qualification "historical" to narrow down the general kind of facts that Craig has in mind: 

established historical facts

Nevertheless, it still remains the case that there are millions or billions of "established historical facts", so there is still something unclear and problematic about the phrase "these three established historical facts".

The context indicated in the first sentence of the key paragraph that we have been closely examining provides a further narrowing of the scope of "established historical facts":

In my estimation the hypothesis "God raised Jesus from the dead" furnishes the best explanation of the historical data relevant to Jesus' final fate. (Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed., p.360) 

Craig is focused on "the historical data relevant to Jesus' final fate." Some established historical facts are relevant to Jesus' final fate, and other established historical facts are NOT relevant to Jesus' final fate.  It is the former collection of established historical facts that Craig is interested in for the purpose of evaluating "the hypothesis 'God raised Jesus from the dead'".  So, the scope of facts to be considered has been narrowed to this:

established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate

HOW MANY SUCH FACTS EXIST? 

Because there are millions or billions of "established facts", the phrase "these three facts" is both unclear and problematic.  However, we have narrowed the scope of facts that should be considered down to these: established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  

This narrowing of the scope helps to reduce the number of  facts that we need to consider, but it is still the case that there might well be hundreds or thousands of facts that fall within this scope.

Does Craig believe that there are ONLY THREE CLAIMS that constitute established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate? This assumption seems very dubious, especially in terms of the multitude of historical claims and beliefs of Christian apologists concerning the trials, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus, etc.

In a draft chapter of my book Thinking Critically about the Resurrection of Jesus, Volume 2: The Resuscitation of the Swoon Theory, I critically analyze and evaluate some objections by William Craig against the Swoon Theory.  In that chapter, I point out that one of Craig's objections to the Swoon Theory involves at least 45 different historical claims![2]

Perhaps Craig would say that those 45 historical claims were not all established historical facts.  But clearly, he would assert that they are more than just historical guesses or historical hunches; otherwise, they would provide a rather weak basis for his argument against the Swoon Theory. 

At the very least, he would have to say that each of those 45 historical claims was probably true, and I suspect he would claim that each of those 45 historical claims was (at least) very probable.  Craig might well claim that several of those 45 historical claims were established historical facts.  

Obviously, if those 45 historical claims are all relevant to the evaluation of the Swoon Theory (which is a skeptical theory that is an alternative to the hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead), then those 45 historical claims are all relevant to Jesus' final fate.

Two other Christian scholars and apologists, who are major defenders of the view that God raised Jesus from the dead, also make a case for the resurrection that focuses on just a few key historical claims that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  In their book The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus[3] (hereafter: CRJ), Gary Habermas and Michael Licona use what they call a "minimal-facts approach" to making their case for Jesus' resurrection (CRJ, p.44), implying that the key historical claims of their case are established historical facts:

MF1. Jesus died by crucifixion. (CRJ, p.48-49)

MF2. Jesus disciples sincerely believed He rose from the dead and appeared to them. (CRJ, p.61-63)

MF3. Paul, a persecutor of Christians, converted to Christianity because he firmly believed that he experienced an encounter of the risen Jesus. (CRJ, p.64-66)

MF4. James, a brother of Jesus who had been skeptical about Jesus being the Son of God, converted to Christianity. (CRJ, p.67-69)  

MF5. The tomb where Jesus body had been placed on Friday evening after his crucifixion was empty on the Sunday morning of the next week.[4]

Clearly, Habermas and Licona don't believe that there are only three established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  They believe that there are at least five such historical facts.

Note that (MF5) corresponds roughly with one of Craig's "three facts", namely with (HC1), and that (MF2) corresponds roughly with the remaining two facts of Craig's "three facts", namely (HC2) and (HC3). That leaves us with three additional historical claims: (MF1), (MF3), and (MF4). Habermas and Licona would assert that those additional claims are established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  

I strongly suspect that Craig would agree with that way of characterizing those three additional historical claims. That means that there are at least six different historical claims that are (according to Habermas, Licona, and probably also Craig) established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.

Furthermore, in his most recent book defending the resurrection of Jesus[5], Habermas spells out six "minimal historical facts" (in "Part 3: The Minimal Facts"), and then he goes on to provide another list of six more historical facts (in "Part 4: The Other Six Known Historical Facts"), all of which Habermas believes to be established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.  I strongly suspect that Craig would have no objection to this characterization of those twelve historical claims put forward by Habermas.

That means that Habermas, and probably Craig as well, believes that there are at least one dozen historical claims that constitute established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate.

THE PROBLEM OF CONFIRMATION BIAS

As I stated earlier, the context of the paragraph in which Craig summarizes his case for the resurrection makes it clear that the phrase "these three facts" refers to the specific historical claims asserted in (HC1), (HC2), and (HC3).

We now see that the three historical claims asserted in those premises are believed by Craig to fall into this general category of claims:

established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate 

We now also see that Habermas, and probably also Craig, believe there are at least a dozen such historical claims, and that it is quite possible that they believe there are dozens or even hundreds of such claims (e.g., Craig asserts at least 45 different historical claims in just one of his arguments against the Swoon Theory). 

Even if we know that the phrase "these three facts" refers to only the historical claims asserted in (HC1), (HC2), and (HC3) of the core argument in Craig's case, there remains a serious concern about the potential of a major problem in Craig's argument, a problem called Confirmation Bias. 

Craig has selected just three facts out of a wider collection of established historical facts that are relevant to Jesus' final fate. That wider collection might well contain dozens or even hundreds of historical facts.  Perhaps Craig has focused on a few facts that favor his belief that God raised Jesus from the dead, and perhaps Craig has also ignored many facts that run against his belief that God raised Jesus from the dead.  If so, then Craig's core argument suffers from the very common problem of confirmation bias.

WHAT IS CONFIRMATION BIAS?

Google AI provides a good explanation of confirmation bias, so I will present a part of that information here:

The complete Google AI response on confirmation bias is included in an endnote below.[6] 

CLARIFICATION OF CRAIG'S CORE ARGUMENT  

My concern with the potential problem of confirmation bias in Craig's core argument relates to doing an evaluation of this core argument.  But for right now, my main focus is on the analysis of this argument, and specifically the need for clarification of the problematic phrase "these three facts" which occurs repeatedly in the premises in Craig's core argument.

I propose that instead of the phrase "these three facts", we use the following more accurate and more descriptive phrase:

Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate

Here are the revised premises: 

1a. IF Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be shown to be implausible, THEN IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

2a. Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence AND alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be shown to be implausible.

3a. IF IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate, THEN the preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

4a. IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT the resurrection hypothesis (i.e. God raised Jesus from the dead) has been shown to be more implausible than the alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate.

5a. The preferred explanation for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate ought to be the resurrection hypothesis (i.e., God raised Jesus from the dead).

6a. Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be historically established with a reasonable degree of confidence.

7a. Alternative naturalistic explanations for Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate can be shown to be implausible. 

I do not think that we need to add any further claims to the above seven claims in order to accurately represent Craig's core argument.  

However, we should clarify the newly added phrase by means of a definition:

A claim C is one of Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate  IF AND ONLY IF claim C is equivalent to either (HC1) or (HC2) or (HC3).

Of course, we also need to specify the claims represented by the abbreviations in this definition:

HC1:The tomb of Jesus was found empty by a group of his women followers on the first day of the week following his crucifixion.

HC2: Beginning on the first day of the week following Jesus' crucifixion, various individuals and groups experienced on different occasions and under varying circumstances appearances of Jesus alive. 

HC3: The first disciples of Jesus came sincerely to believe in Jesus' resurrection in the absence of sufficient antecedent historical influences from either Judaism or pagan religions.

Given the above revisions of the seven claims, and given this clarification of the meaning of the newly added phrase ("Craig's three key historical claims concerning Jesus' final fate"), we can keep the same analysis of the logical structure of Craig's deductive core argument; we just need to revise the numbers designating the claims (by adding an "a" after the number of each revised premise) in the argument diagram: 

I believe we have completed the initial analysis and clarification of Craig's core argument, so we should be able to begin evaluation of that argument in the next post. 

END NOTES

1. Craig asserts that these are "independently" established facts, but it is not clear what he means by this, and it is not clear why this is significant.  So, I have dropped that qualification for now.  If at some point in Craig's presentation of his case, he explains what he means by this term and why this is significant, then we might need to add this qualification back into the clarified statement of his core argument. 

2. You may download a PDF of the relevant DRAFT chapter here:

The Case Against the Swoon Theory by William Craig

3. Gary Habermas and Michael Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2004).

4. Although Habermas and Licona argue in support of "the empty tomb" in CRJ (pages 69-74), they do not bother to state or specify the historical claim they have in mind! This is very sloppy reasoning and writing by Habermas and Licona. 

In his most recent book defending the resurrection of Jesus, Habermas provides something more like an actual historical claim: "...the tomb in which Jesus was buried was later found empty." (On the Resurrection, Volume 1: Evidences, p.598).  

However, even this claim is a bit too vague. WHEN was Jesus body placed into the tomb? WHEN was the tomb found empty? What does the word "later" mean? If Jesus' tomb was found empty two years after the crucifixion of Jesus, would that be of any real significance? I don't think so.  I don't think that would help make the case for the resurrection of Jesus. 

My assumption is that Habermas believes that Jesus' tomb was "found empty" on Sunday morning following the burial of Jesus in that tomb on Friday evening when Jesus was (allegedly) removed from the cross, which is the standard Christian belief.  My assumption is that when Habermas uses the vague word "later" about the discovery of the empty tomb, he has in mind the historical claim that the tomb was found empty early on Sunday morning (about 6am), about 36 hours after Jesus was placed into the tomb on Friday evening (about 6pm).

5. Gary Habermas, On the Resurrection, Volume 1: Evidences (Brentwood, TN: B&H Academic, 2024).

6. Here is the complete Google AI response to the question "What is confirmation bias?":