The Resurrection Of God Incarnate

Whether or not Jesus rose bodily from the dead remains perhaps the most critical and contentious issue in Christianity. Until now, argument has centred upon the veracity of explicit New Testament accounts of the events following Jesus's crucifixion, often ending in deadlock. In Richard Swinburne's approach, though, ascertaining the probable truth of the Resurrection requires a much broader approach to the nature of God and to the life and teaching of Jesus.

The Resurrection can only have occurred if God intervened in history to raise to life a man dead for 36 hours. It is therefore crucial not only to weigh the evidence of natural theology for the existence of a God who has some reason so to intervene, but also to discover whether the life and teaching of Jesus show him to be uniquely the kind of person whom God would have raised Swinburne argues that God has reason to interfere in history by becoming incarnate, and that it is highly improbable that we would find the evidence we do for the life and teaching of Jesus, as well as the evidence from witnesses to his empty tomb and later appearances, if Jesus was not God incarnate and did not rise from the dead.

Review: ... earnest, powerful book ... worth the perseverance it demands ... Professor Swinburne's argument develops into a compelling commentary on the New Testament, its writers or compilers, and their experiences. Contemporary Review ... well-organised, precise, rigorous and unevasive ... read the book one will learn much.

The Tablet Swinburne's book is densely argued. He writes with great clarity, explaining carefully any technical language that he uses. This book often demands close attention from the reader, but it remains accessible. It's argument is breathtaking in its simplicity and scope, and it offers point after point which preachers and teachers might use as pegs on which to hang expository material in sermons or in other contexts ... this book is an outstanding tour de force which offers much to those who would proclaim the resurrection today.

Church of England Newspaper