Lydia McGrew on the Historical Reliability of the Easter Story

In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Lydia McGrew to discuss the accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. What are some of the most popular criticisms of the Resurrection accounts, and how should we think through the issues involved? Considering the widespread dismissal of Christ’s bodily resurrection (in time and space), as well as what is often poor argumentation in defense of it - Lydia helps us to think through the evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus. What are undesigned coincidences, and how do they bolster the historical reliability of the Gospel accounts? What is harmonization and are all attempts at harmonization created equal? There are differences, yes – but can they be responsibly harmonized? Indeed, is the evidence reliable and compelling for all people to be confronted by the claims of and about Jesus even today? Lydia also helps us to distinguish between evidence-based scholarship, and scholarship that is self-referential as “authoritative” - and tells us why simply relying on rhetoric of “consensus” and “a [supposed] majority of scholars” fall short of actual defense of the Christian claims. 

Dr. McGrew’s Website; YouTube Channel; Podcast (past archive up to October 2024); Current podcast link

• “Development Theories Are All Bunk” 

Books by Lydia: 

• Hidden in Plain View: Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels and Acts 
• The Mirror or the Mask: Liberating the Gospels from Literary Devices 

    - Review of Michael Licona’s Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? 

• The Eye of the Beholder: The Gospel of John as Historical Reportage 
• Testimonies to the Truth: Why You Can Trust the Gospels 

Related article: “The Argument from Miracles: A Cumulative Case for the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth” by Timothy and Lydia McGrew 

Other Resources: 

Easter Enigma by John Wenham 

“Receipt for Writing a Life of Jesus like that of Dr. David Fr. Strauss” by H.B. Hackett 

“The Resurrection of Christ a Historical Fact” by B.B. Warfield 

The Witness of the Synoptic Gospels to Christ by Ned Stonehouse 

Christianity and Liberalism; The Origin of Paul’s Religion by J. Gresham Machen 

The Final Days of Jesus by Andreas Kostenberger, Justin Taylor and Alexander Stewart 

Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University by Jon A. Shields and Joshua M. Dunn, Sr.  

“Viewpoint Diversity in the Academy” by Jonathan Haidt 

 Ending Medical Reversal: Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives by Vinayak K. Prasad and Adam S. Cifu (also see here, here and here) 

False Positive: A Year of Error, Omission, and Political Correctness in the New England Journal of Medicine; Admirable Evasions by Theodore Dalrymple