The Resurrection Of Jesus
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
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Now we reach the last chapter of the Talpiot Tomb saga. Given the claims of those who think that this is the family tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, how can we account for what history says happened on the first Easter? Answering this question is one of the most difficult for those who support the Talpiot thesis.
From the beginning, we need to be very clear when we address this topic with regard to our use of the New Testament and other ancient documents. We must emphasize that the argument definitely does not assume that the Talpiot Hypothesis must be mistaken just because it disagrees with the Bible, or with Christian tradition, or with Christian beliefs. Unless there are firm reasons for believing these sources, this would be to reject the thesis for the wrong reasons.
Thus we will take a different approach. Almost exclusively, we will make use only of the established historical information that is generally accepted by the vast majority of scholars who study this topic. More crucially, when scholars agree about particular historical data, it is almost always because there are strong reasons for believing this information. This is especially the case when the specialists who agree about these facts disagree concerning what they do with the rest of Christian belief. While I will not be able to argue here how this historical basis is established, I have done so elsewhere in great detail.1
In other words, the responses that represent the most difficulty for the Talpiot claims are those that are drawn from accredited information that is approved by scholars precisely because they have strong reasons for doing so. Therefore, if these historical facts make it very difficult to accept the Talpiot Hypothesis, then this will be a strong hurdle for the thesis to overcome. It will require the advocates to disprove the widespread scholarly basis behind the objections.