Licona and Martin Talk about the Physical Resurrection of Jesus

In today’s episode, we have a Religion Soup dialogue from Acadia Divinity College between Dr. Mike Licona and Dr. Dale Martin on whether Jesus physically rose from the dead. Dr. Licona presents a positive historical case for physical resurrection based on the following five historical facts:

1. Paul was an eyewitness to the risen Jesus.
2. Paul knew the apostles personally.
3. Paul checked with Peter and other apostles to verify that he was preaching their gospel.
4. Both individuals and groups reported experiences that they believed were encounters with the risen Jesus.
5. These encounters were of a physical Jesus.

Dr. Martin argues against this, asserting that the resurrection cannot be historically established. He cites the vast differences among the recorded appearance accounts and that the tomb of Jesus did not become a place of veneration for the early Christians. Martin contends the resurrection involved a “pneumatic” body and cites scripture frequently recounting people not recognizing Jesus when he appeared to them as support for this view.