Re: Schools and NOMA (was Re: [asa] Atheist finds God thru Behe's books....)

Any claim that "science" shows that Jesus was not raised bodily is in the
last analysis just Hume's argument: We know of no resurrections of the dead
so the resurrection of Jesus, contradicting the "firm and unalterable
experience" of humanity, must be rejected. & Hume's formal error is quite
obvious.

Of course this does not mean that belief in the resurrection is immune from
scientific investigation, but that investigation requires serious engagement
with the data with which the Bible & early Christian history provide us
about the putative resurrection. (& here, as Gregory will certainly point
out - correctly - we can't limit "science" to just the "natural" sciences.)

& it's important to add that when I speak of the biblical data I mean not
just the accounts of resurrection appearances & the empty tomb but the whole
story of Jesus as part of the history of Israel. We aren't concerned with a
supposed resurrection of "someone" but of a person whose life & message -
even if we bracket the resurrection - have much more significance that those
of the average Joe Schmoe or Susie Q.

Shalom
George
http://home.roadrunner.com/~scitheologyglm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ted Davis" <TDavis@messiah.edu>
To: "asa" <asa@calvin.edu>; "Cameron Wybrow" <wybrowc@sympatico.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 2:49 PM
Subject: Re: Schools and NOMA (was Re: [asa] Atheist finds God thru Behe's
books....)
........................

> My own answer to the indirect question in the first sentence of the
> paragraph just quoted is as follows. What it would take to put
> Christianity at risk, IMO, is clear and unambiguous evidence that either
> (a) Jesus was not crucified; or (b) Jesus was not raised bodily from the
> grave after his crucifixion. Gould almost certainly thought that
> "science" had made (b) impossible to believe, but obviously I would differ
> with him on that. I have yet to see the demonstration, you might say.
> This is not a "bulletproof" claim, in terms of science--if we include
> archaeology among the sciences (as I do).

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Received on Wed Oct 21 15:43:55 2009