This
book provides an original and comprehensive assessment of the
hypotheses concerning the origin of resurrection Christology. It fills a
gap in the literature by addressing these issues using a
transdisciplinary approach involving historical-critical study of the
New Testament, theology, analytic philosophy, psychology and comparative
religion.
Using a novel analytic
framework, this book demonstrates that a logically exhaustive list of
hypotheses concerning the claims of Jesus’ post-mortem appearances and
the outcome of Jesus’ body can be formulated. It addresses these
hypotheses in detail, including sophisticated combinations of
hallucination hypothesis with cognitive dissonance; memory distortion;
and confirmation bias. Addressing writings from both within and outside
of Christianity, it also demonstrates how a comparative religion
approach might further illuminate the origins of Christianity.
This
is a thorough study of arguably the key event in the formation of the
Christian faith. As such, it will be of keen interest to theologians,
New Testament scholars, philosophers, and scholars of religious studies.
