Circumstantial Evidence Supports the Resurrection(Mainstream Apologetics)

Circumstantial Evidence Supports the Resurrection

Claim ID: HIS-IS37

Claim: Circumstantial Evidence Supports the Resurrection

Summary: The phenomenal events surrounding Jesus' passion support the supernatural resurrection of Jesus. While these events are circumstantial, they strongly support the claim of Jesus' resurrection because of their number, independence and diversity.

Description: Many unexplainable, phenomenal events occurred in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Because these events coincided in both time and location, they can be attributed to Jesus' passion. This is commonly referred to as circumstantial evidence.

Circumstantial Evidence

Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on inference to connect the evidence to an assertion. It is also referred to as indirect evidence. Circumstantial evidence, in the absence of direct evidence such as eyewitness evidence, is often used in a court of law to reach a conviction. Examples of circumstantial evidence include DNA or fingerprint evidence.

In the case of Jesus, we assert that Jesus was raised from the dead. This assertion is supported by a multiplicity of independent evidence that is coincident with the location and time of Jesus passion.

The causal relationship between Jesus' crucifixion/resurrection and phenomenal events surrounding Jesus' passion is illustrated in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: Phenomenal Events Surrounding Jesus' Passion

Diversity of Evidence

The circumstantial evidence supporting the claim of Jesus' resurrection is highly diverse. This evidence is diverse in terms of:

Nature: Events such as resurrections, temple phenomena, and natural calamities such as widespread earthquakes and darkness were reported.
Authorship: Authors include biblical writers, early church Fathers, Rabbis (Jewish Talmud) and other historical accounts. These authors represent Christian, Jewish and pagan perspectives. Many of these authors were personally unacquainted with Jesus and his ministry.
Location: Locations ranged from Jerusalem to the northern-most regions of Asia Minor.

Given the preponderance of circumstantial evidence surrounding Jesus' passion, we conclude that these phenomenal events evidence the supernatural resurrection of Jesus.