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1 I am using “about AD 30” as the crucifixion date, but if it were 33, as some scholars say, then the dates would simply move forward. While the earlier dates would change, the distances in between would remain the same, up until 1 Corinthians (about 55).
2 For example, second-century historian Lucian of Samosata wrote arguably the only ancient work on the art of historiography, entitled How to Write History (in Lucian in Eight Volumes, trans. K. Kilburn, The Loeb Classical Library, vol. 6 [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959]). Lucian addressed the subject of weeding out subjective factors from the historian's work (6:7–15, 72–73, 39–43), as well as the proper use of eyewitness testimony, unlike the unnamed historian who claimed to be an eyewitness but Lucian decided he plainly was not (6:43–47)!
3 For the best recent example of a critical scholar who defends the use of reliable and even eyewitness traditions behind the Gospels, see R. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).
4 For example, B. D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University, 2000), 43; R. W. Funk, R. W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar, The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus (New York: Macmillan and Polebridge Press, 1993), 128.
5 The best example is N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003). For Wright's conclusions on the Gospel data, see especially chapter 9; for Paul's testimony, see chapters 5–8.
6 For example, Ehrman, New Testament, 44; Funk and Hoover, Five Gospels, 128; H. Koester, Introduction to the New Testament, 2 vols., History and Literature of Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 2:103–4.
7 Koester, Introduction, 2:103–4.
8 Scripture references are from the New International Version (NIV).
9 J. Drane, Introducing the New Testament (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1986), 236–38.
10 See 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11; cf. Titus 1:9.
11 For the best treatment of this subject, see the classic volume by O. Cullmann, The Earliest Christian Confessions, trans. J. K. S. Reid (London: Lutterworth, 1949); cf. J. Jeremias, The Eucharistic Words of Jesus, trans. N. Perrin (London: SCM, 1966).
12 C. H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980, repr.), 16.
13 For examples, see G. R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1996), especially 152–57; “The Resurrection Appearances of Jesus,” in R. D. Geivett and G. R. Habermas, In Defense of Miracles: A Comprehensive Case for God's Action in History (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1997), esp. 263–70.
14 Bauckham, Jesus, 265–66.
15 See W. Farmer, “Peter and Paul, and the Tradition Concerning ‘The Lord's Supper’ in I Corinthians 11:23–25,” Criswell Theological Review 2 (1987): 122–30.
16 Dodd, Apostolic, 16.
17 For these lists, see G. R. Habermas, The Risen Jesus and Future Hope (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), endnotes 75–102, in particular.
18 Koester, Introduction, 2:103.
19 See Paul's efforts to take up offerings on behalf of poor believers (1 Cor 16:1–4; 2 Cor 8:1–15).
20 Dodd, Apostolic, 16.
21 For a number of these passages, see Acts 1:21–22; 2:22–36; 3:13–16; 4:8–10; 5:29–32; 10:39–43; 13:28–31; 17:1–3,30–31.
22 Dodd, Apostolic, 17–31, especially 19, 24, 26, 31.
23 For this agreement between Paul and the other apostles on the nature of the gospel message, see M. Hengel, The Atonement (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981), 38, 69; J. P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (New York: Doubleday, 1987), 118; H. D. Betz, Galatians: A Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Churches in Galatia, Hermeneia Series (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979), 76; B. Meyer, “Resurrection as Humanly Intelligible Destiny,” Ex Auditu 9 (1993): 15; Bauckham, Jesus, 266.
24 H. C. Kee, What Can We Know About Jesus? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 1–2.
25 Such as those listed in endnote 21.
26 G. Lüdemann, The Resurrection of Jesus, trans. J. Bowden (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994), 38.
27 M. Goulder, “The Baseless Fabric of a Vision,” in G. D'Costa, ed., Resurrection Reconsidered (Oxford: Oneworld, 1996), 48.
28 L. W. Hurtado, How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions About Earliest Devotion to Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), esp. 4; cf. Bauckham, Jesus, 264–68, 307–8; Wright, Resurrection, 319, 553–34, 583.
29 J. D. G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered, vol. 1 of Christianity in the Making (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 825 (Dunn's emphasis).
30 For details, see G. R. Habermas, “Experiences of the Risen Jesus: The Foundational Historical Issue in the Early Proclamation of the Resurrection,” Dialog: A Journal of Theology 45 (2006): 288–97.
31 Bauckham, Jesus, 308.