WHERE WE ARE
In Part 25 of this series, I showed that Craig's best and strongest evidence for the most important historical claim in his case fails to establish that the historical claim is a historical fact.
Here is the most important historical claim in Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus:
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.
What Craig calls "the best-attested resurrection appearance of Jesus" (RF3, p.378) is the alleged appearance of the risen Jesus described in Luke 24:36-42 and in John 20:19-20. However, the appearance story from the Gospel of John is of little historical significance because the Gospel of John provides a historically unreliable account of the ministry, trials, crucifixion, burial, and teachings of Jesus.
The story of this alleged appearance of the risen Jesus in Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke is insufficient evidence to show that this alleged appearance actually occurred, because this story is contradicted by the Gospel of Mark and by the Gospel of Matthew.
The evidence from Chapter 15 of I Corinthians also fails to establish this alleged appearance, because the claim about an alleged appearance of the risen Jesus to his disciples found in I Corinthians is too vague to confirm the appearance story presented in the Gospel of Luke.
An honest and objective examination of the relevant historical evidence shows that the appearance story that Craig points us to in Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke is probably a fictional story.
CRAIG'S THREE LINES OF EVIDENCE FOR (HC2)
Craig puts forward three lines of evidence in support of (HC2), the most important historical claim in his case:
1. Paul's list of eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection appearances [in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8]... (RF3, pages 378-380)
2. The Gospel accounts provide multiple, independent attestation of postmortem appearances of Jesus. (RF3, pages 380-381)
3. The resurrection appearances were physical, bodily appearances. (RF3, pages 382-384)
We have already begun examination of Craig's first line of evidence for (HC2), the evidence of Paul's list of eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection appearances.
Here are the items Craig includes in that first line of evidence (RF3, pages 378-380):
a) Appearance to Peter.
b) Appearance to the Twelve.
c) Appearance to five hundred brethren.
d) Appearance to James.
e) Appearance to "all the apostles."
f) Appearance to Saul of Tarsus.
Item (b) is what Craig calls "the best-attested resurrection appearance of Jesus" (RF3, p.378). But we have seen that this alleged appearance probably did not occur; the story about this appearance is probably a fictional story.
We still have to consider the five other alleged appearances of the risen Jesus. This other evidence is no better than the appearance to "the Twelve" that was discussed in Part 25.
The Alleged Appearance to Peter
In 1 Corinthians Chapter 15, Paul refers to a Christian tradition about alleged appearances of the risen Jesus. That tradition asserts that there was an appearance of the risen Jesus to his disciple Peter:
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures 4 and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:3-5, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition, emphasis added)
"Simon" was the original name of one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, whom Jesus nicknamed "Cephas":
41 He [Andrew] first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” ... 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called "Cephas" (which is translated Peter). (John 1:41-42, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition)
In Aramaic, "cephas" means "rock" and in Greek, "petros" means "rock". So, when Simon's nickname "Cephas" was translated from Aramaic to Greek, his nickname became "Peter". In Chapter 2 of Galations, Paul sometimes uses the name "Peter" and sometimes uses the name "Cephas" to refer to the disicple of Jesus who was originally named "Simon".
Craig makes an honest admission about the alleged appearance of Jesus to Peter:
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