William Craig's Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Part 21: Craig's Either/Or Fallacy

 WHERE WE ARE

In Part 20 of this series, I argued that Craig failed to give us a good reason to believe premise (D1) of the reformulated sub-argument for his key premise (5c).  This means that we may reasonably reject this sub-argument, which gives us a third good reason to conclude that Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus fails.

However, this problem with Craig's case reveals a deeper problem that impacts not only Craig's case, but also other cases for the resurrection of Jesus by other Christian apologists.  Specifically, Peter Kreeft's case for the resurrection of Jesus and Josh McDowell's case for the resurrection of Jesus are both Dead on Arrival because their cases involve the Either/Or Fallacy, also referred to as a False Dilemma. Craig's case for the resurrection of Jesus is also Dead on Arrival because his case commits the Either/Or Fallacy.

THE EITHER/OR FALLACY IN PETER KREEFT'S CASE

Let's begin with Peter Kreeft's case for the resurrection of Jesus.  Peter Kreeft uses a diagram to lay out the various logical possibilities in relation to alternative hypotheses about Jesus' final fate[1]:

According to Peter Kreeft, there are only five possible hypotheses about the final fate of Jesus. The five hypotheses are listed on the right side of the above diagram. 

Notice that only the "Christian" hypothesis is a supernatural hypothesis. The Christian Hypothesis here is the same as Craig's Resurrection Hypothesis.  And just as Craig discusses and evaluates only ONE supernatural hypothesis about Jesus' final fate, so does Kreeft discuss and evaluate only ONE supernatural hypothesis about Jesus' final fate.

Kreeft's case for the resurrection of Jesus is Dead on Arrival, because his reasoning can be summarized as follows: 

(EO1) EITHER there is a plausible naturalistic hypothesis that explains the relevant facts about Jesus' final fate OR the supernatural explanation of the Christian Hypothesis is correct.

(EO2) There is no plausible naturalistic hypothesis that explains the relevant facts about Jesus' final fate.

THEREFORE:

(EO3) The supernatural explanation of the Christian Hypothesis is correct.

Premise (EO1) is false, because there are alternative supernatural hypotheses about Jesus' final fate besides just the Christian Hypothesis (i.e. the Resurrection Hypothesis).

Peter Kreeft's diagram of the logical possibilities is clearly mistaken because it fails to take into account the fact that there are other supernatural hypotheses about Jesus' final fate besides the Christian Hypothesis (or the Resurrection Hypothesis).  In Part 20 of this series, I pointed out that there are at least three such alternative supernatural hypotheses.  Kreeft's case for the resurrection is based on an Either/Or fallacy.  Premise (EO1), in the above summary of Kreeft's reasoning, asserts a False Dilemma.

THE EITHER/OR FALLACY IN JOSH MCDOWELL'S CASE

Now let's take a look at Josh McDowell's case for the resurrection of Jesus.  McDowell also uses a diagram to lay out the various logical possibilities in relation to alternative hypotheses about Jesus' final fate[2]:

McDowell divides all hypotheses about Jesus' final fate into two broad categories: Occupied Tomb hypotheses and Empty Tomb hypotheses.  Unlike Kreeft and Craig, McDowell does consider one supernatural hypothesis in addition to the Resurrection Hypothesis.  Among the Occupied Tomb hypotheses, McDowell considers and evaluates the Spiritual Resurrection Hypothesis:

A fourth 'occupied tomb' theory is that Christ's body decayed in the grave and that His real resurrection was spiritual.[3]

This hypothesis accepts that there was a resurrection miracle, but that the miracle did not involve Jesus' physical body.  God returned Jesus to life after death, but did not do so by giving Jesus an immortal physical body.  After his death, Jesus became a spirit or an angel, and his physical body remained in the tomb where it had been buried, according to the Spiritual Resurrection Hypothesis.

Because McDowell does consider at least this one supernatural hypothesis about Jesus' final fate, the reasoning that I used to summarize Kreeft's case does not accurately represent McDowell's reasoning. 

However, if we focus on the general category of "Empty Tomb" hypotheses, McDowell does commit a similar Either/Or Fallacy and thus his case for the resurrection of Jesus is Dead on Arrival:

JM1. EITHER there is a plausible naturalistic hypothesis that explains the Empty Tomb and other relevant facts about Jesus' final fate, OR the supernatural Resurrection Hypothesis is correct.

JM2. There is no plausible naturalistic hypothesis that explains the Empty Tomb and other relevant facts about Jesus' final fate.

THEREFORE:

JM3. The supernatural Resurrection Hypothesis is correct.

Premise (JM1) is false because there are alternative supernatural hypotheses besides the Resurrection Hypothesis that explain the empty tomb.  For example, McDowell does not mention or evaluate the Demonic Hypothesis.  Later in this post, I will discuss another supernatural hypothesis that would also explain the empty tomb.

Josh McDowell's diagram of the logical possibilities is clearly mistaken because it fails to take into account the fact that there are other supernatural hypotheses about Jesus' final fate that explain the empty tomb besides the Christian Hypothesis (or the Resurrection Hypothesis).  

McDowell's case for the resurrection is based on an Either/Or fallacy.  Premise (JM1), in the above summary of McDowell's reasoning, asserts a False Dilemma.

END NOTES

1. Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), p.182.

2. Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor (Milton Keynes, England: Authentic Media, 2005), p.114.

3. Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor (Milton Keynes, England: Authentic Media, 2005), pp. 90-91.