In this post, I want to revisit an argument from silence used by William Lane Craig in his case for the historicity of the empty tomb. According to Craig, the absence of competing burial traditions (to the pre-Markan burial story) is evidence for the historicity of the pre-Markan burial story. Craig then argues that the historicity of the pre-Markan burial story is, in turn, evidence for the historicity of the empty tomb of Jesus.For the record, Craig does not present his argument as a Bayesian … [Read more...]

Now that I have evaluated Peter Kirby's first argument from silence against the historicity of the empty tomb of Jesus, I now want to consider his second argument from silence against the historicity of the empty tomb of Jesus (hereafter, "Kirby's second argument"). According to that argument, the absence of evidence that Christians venerated Jesus' burial place is evidence against the historicity of the empty tomb.Kirby's Second Argument Formulated (as an Explanatory Argument)We are now in a … [Read more...]

Now that I have provided a Bayesian interpretation of arguments from silence, I want to evaluate my friend Peter Kirby's argument from silence against the historicity of the empty tomb of Jesus (hereafter, "Kirby's argument"). To be precise, in his essay, Kirby considers two arguments from silence. The first is based upon the silence of various writers regarding the empty tomb. The second is based upon the lack of veneration of the empty tomb. In this essay, I will be referring only to the … [Read more...]

In Joseph "Rick" Reinckens's webpage A Lawyer Examines the Swoon Theory we get a short snippet from Origen that allegedly confirms a Roman practice of stabbing victims of crucifixion with a spear: In his Commentary on Matthew, Origen, one of the early Church Fathers, says the lance thrust to Jesus was administered "according to Roman custom, below the armpit."  (See Humber, Thomas.  The Sacred Shroud. New York, Pocket Books, 1977) In my last post on this … [Read more...]