David Madison (author of Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught) has recently read my The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story [UK] and has written a powerful post on it over at John Loftus’s Debunking Christianity.
I have just started Madison’s book and am looking forward to romping through it. I am indebted to him for being so complimentary about my own project.
Madison’s piece takes excerpts from my book to show how defending the historicity of the Resurrection is such an impossible game. I suggest you read the whole piece. He also says:
Apologists continue to defend, and secular scholars come right back at them. The most recent clobbering of the resurrection stories is the 2021 book by Jonathan MS Pearce, The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story….
Pearce’s book is comprehensive; cast a glance over the Table of Contents—and dive right in. He discusses many issues that deserve close examination: was there even a tomb at all? Is it more likely that Jesus would have been stoned to death? How would the “last words of Jesus” have been heard and recorded? Is the story about Joseph of Arimathea believable? Above all, why are we taking any of this seriously? He quotes atheist philosopher Keith Parsons: “The postmortem ‘sightings’ of Jesus are no more remarkable than similar reports about Elvis Presley and Jimmy Hoffa.” Pearce adds, “When we talk about people sighting Elvis, we dismiss it out of hand as being ridiculous: just the sort of thing that huge, cultish fans wanted to happen. And then I realised that this is precisely the point.” (Kindle loc 6170)
Pearce’s book is an important addition to the bibliography of works on the Christian resurrection claim; be sure to explore the substantial bibliography that he provides.
But why do we have to keep doing this? If someone wants to defend the reality of the spiritual realm because thousands of mediums can’t be wrong—they know that their séances work—we wouldn’t for a moment be bothered with such nonsense. But with Christianity we’re dealing with a huge, influential bureaucracy. As Pearce observed, “Christians really need the Resurrection to be true; they have a lot to lose.” Namely, eternal life. That promise has kept the Ancient Jesus Mystery Cult going for centuries, and contemporary devotees—our determined apologists—aren’t about to let it go.
Reality calls, however. Hence serious thinkers continue to tighten the case—as Pearce does in this book—that this ghoulish Christian superstition has been falsified.
While we’re at it, a few more Amazon reviews have come in:5.0 out of 5 stars
A well researched and thorough examination of the Easter StoryClear and accessible it raises points that are glossed over or ignored by minister’s and theologians. It dissects the convoluted theology of the supposed prophecies and points out the contradictions and sheer incoherence of the narrative. Most important is that it is written in a way that does not talk down to the reader and hence encourages you to look deeper into the problems.
5.0 out of 5 stars Nailed it.If you’re looking for a clear, concise yet complete examination of the evidence for Christ’s resurrection, this is it.
Pearce has done his homework well. He has written a fact-filled book that dissects the claims of Christian apologists with laser-like precision, and shows that apologists’ arguments and “evidence” are inadequate, biased, cherry picked, misleading and often simply absurd. Even though it is loaded with information, it is easy to read & understand, even if this is the first book that the reader has ever read on the subject.
If you’ve read and liked the book, please consider writing a review on Amazon or elsewhere – it makes such a difference (the same goes for any of my books).
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