William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 20: A 3rd Reason Why Craig's Case Fails

 WHERE WE ARE

Although I have given up, for now, on trying to clarify premise (C1) of Craig's sub-argument for the key premise (5c), I have proposed an alternative principle that is focused exclusively on the question "What was Jesus' final fate?" and that seems to be a plausible and acceptable principle, namely premise (C3) in the argument below. This more narrowly focused principle allows me to reformulate Craig's sub-argument for premise (5c):

D1. The Resurrection Hypothesis about Jesus' final fate is a more plausible explanation of Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate than the alternative supernatural hypotheses about Jesus' final fate.

B1. The Resurrection Hypothesis about Jesus' final fate is a more plausible explanation of Craig's three key established historical facts concerning Jesus' final fate than the alternative naturalistic hypotheses about Jesus' final fate.

C3. A hypothesis H about Jesus' final fate is the best explanation of a specific set of facts IF AND ONLY IF hypothesis H about Jesus' final fate is a more plausible explanation of that set of facts than the alternative naturalistic hypotheses and the alternative supernatural hypotheses that either (a) have been mentioned or discussed in books or articles published by Christian thinkers or scholars or by non-Christian or skeptical thinkers or scholars in this century or in the previous century or that (b) are versions of those naturalistic hypotheses in which unnecessary details or complexities have been removed.

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). 

I will now begin to evaluate this reformulated argument for premise (5c). 

EVALUATION OF PREMISE (D1)

Although premise (D1) does not explicitly state the scope of the phrase "the alternative supernatural hypotheses about the final fate of Jesus", in order for (D1) to logically connect with premise (C3), the scope of this phrase in (D1) must be at least as wide as the scope specified in (C3).  That is to say, (D1) will logically connect with (C3) only if the collection of "the alternative supernatural hypotheses about the final fate of Jesus" that are referenced in premise (D1) includes all of the alternative supernatural hypotheses about the final fate of Jesus that are referenced in (C3). 

So, we may reasonably assume that the scope of "the alternative supernatural hypotheses about Jesus' final fate" referenced in premise (D1) are hypotheses that either (a) have been mentioned or discussed in books or articles published by Christian thinkers or scholars or by non-Christian or skeptical thinkers or scholars in this century or in the previous century or that (b) are versions of those naturalistic hypotheses in which unnecessary details or complexities have been removed.

Premise (D1) is dubious, because Craig has given us no reason to believe that premise (D1) is true.  But (D1) is not obviously true nor does (D1) assert a self-evident truth. So, Craig's failure to give us a reason to believe that (D1) is true means it is reasonable to conclude that this premise is dubious; (D1) might well be false.

OTHER SUPERNATURAL HYPOTHESES

How many supernatural hypotheses about Jesus' final fate were discussed by Craig and evaluated in comparison to his favored supernatural hypothesis, the Resurrection Hypothesis? Craig compares ZERO alternative supernatural hypotheses about Jesus' final fate to the Resurrection Hypothesis.  The ONLY supernatural hypothesis about Jesus' final fate that is considered by Craig in Chapter 8 of Reasonable Faith is the Resurrection Hypothesis.  

Is it actually the case that the Resurrection Hypothesis is the ONLY supernatural hypothesis about Jesus' final fate? This is obviously not the case, because the Gospel of Luke suggests a supernatural hypothesis about Jesus' final fate that is an alternative to the Resurrection Hypothesis. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday morning, and appeared to his gathered disciples on Sunday evening:  

36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.  (Luke 24:36-40, NRSV Updated Edition)

 

According to this story, Jesus implied that when he first appeared to his disciples, they initially believed that they were seeing a ghost, the ghost of the dead Jesus. The whole purpose of this specific story appears to be to persuade readers that the skeptical view that appearances of the risen Jesus were simply appearances of the ghost of Jesus is a mistaken view.  

This passage in the Gospel of Luke was written to combat an alternative supernatural hypothesis about Jesus' final fate, namely the hypothesis that: alleged appearances of the risen Jesus to his disciples were simply the appearances of the ghost of Jesus who had died, and who was still dead when these appearances of Jesus to his disciples took place. Let's call this supernatural explanation of the alleged appearances of the risen Jesus the "Ghost Hypothesis".

Craig never evaluates this alternative supernatural hypothesis in comparison with the Resurrection Hypothesis, so he never shows that the Resurrection Hypothesis is a better explanation of his three key alleged historical facts than the Ghost Hypothesis. 

But the Ghost Hypothesis is not only mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, it is also mentioned by many N.T. scholars who have commented on Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke in the 20th century.  For example, in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, the Evangelical N.T. scholar Robert Stein makes this comment about the purposes of the author of the Gospel of Luke in telling the above story about an alleged appearance of the risen Jesus:

Another purpose was to demonstrate the physical reality of the risen Christ. What the disciples experienced was not the immortal soul of Jesus or some ghostlike apparition from the nether world.  Rather they experienced the resurrected Christ, and this involved the resurrection of the body.[1]

In other words, the author of the Gospel of Luke told this story and included the specific details in it, in part in order to combat the skeptical idea that the alleged appearances of the risen Jesus to his disciples were actually appearances of the ghost of Jesus to his disciples. 

Thus, the N.T. scholar Robert Stein references what I have called the Ghost Hypothesis, in his commentary on Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke, a commentary that was published in 1992, near the end of the 20th century. This supernatural hypothesis about the final fate of Jesus was referenced by a Christian scholar in a book published in the 20th century, so this hypothesis falls within the scope of hypotheses circumscribed in premise (C3). 

Because Craig is an NT scholar who is familiar with the Gospel of Luke, and especially with the story of the alleged appearance of Jesus to his disciples found in Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke, Craig has no excuse for his failure to consider the Ghost Hypothesis as an alternative to the Resurrection Hypothesis.

Another supernatural hypothesis about Jesus' final fate is suggested by something Jesus himself taught in the Gospel of Mark:

21 And if anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘Look! There he is!’—do not believe it. 22 False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be alert; I have already told you everything. (Mark 13:21-23, NRSV Updated Edition)

According to Jesus, false messiahs and false prophets can produce "signs and wonders" in order to deceive people.  If that is the case, then it is possible that Jesus was himself a false messiah or a false prophet who caused himself to rise from the dead as a "sign and wonder" in order to deceive his disciples and others. 

Presumably, the supernatural powers of false messiahs and false prophets come from demons or from the devil himself.  Thus, this teaching of Jesus suggests the supernatural hypothesis that: Jesus was raised from the dead by a demon or by the devil, as part of a scheme to deceive Jesus' disciples and other people. Let's call this supernatural hypothesis the Demonic Hypothesis.

Craig does not consider the Demonic Hypothesis in Chapter 8 of Reasonable Faith, and does not attempt to evaluate this supernatural hypothesis in comparison with the Resurrection Hypothesis in Chapter 8 of Reasonable Faith.  So, Craig does not show that the Resurrection Hypothesis is a more plausible explanation of his three key alleged historical facts about Jesus' final fate than the Resurrection Hypothesis. 

Another alternative supernatural hypothesis is suggested by the book of Acts and by the letter of Paul to alkdfja;dlfj.  In the book of Acts, Stephen, the first Christian martyr, has a vision of Jesus as he is being killed:

THIS POST IS STILL IN WORK

END NOTES

1. Robert Stein, The New American Commentary, Volume 24: Luke (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), p.618.