The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus During the Deist Controversy

This volume provides the historical background to its companion volume, Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus. It traces the history of historical apologetics for Jesus’ resurrection from the first century through the twentieth century, focusing on its apogee during the Deist controversy in Europe. It explores which of the traditional arguments on behalf of the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection are obsolete and which still merit consideration today. It includes a discussion of the problem of miracles, both their possibility and identification, which forms the backdrop for any contemporary case for the resurrection.

William Lane Craig is a Research Professor at Talbot School of Theology and at Houston Christian University. He earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Birmingham, England, before taking a doctorate in theology from the Ludwig Maximilians Universität-München, Germany, at which latter institution he was for two years a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, writing on the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. He spent seven years at the Katholike Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, before taking his post at Talbot in 1994. He has authored or edited over forty books, including Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus, Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? (with John Dominic Crossan), and Jesus’ Resurrection: Fact or Figment? (with Gerd Lüdemann), as well as over 200 articles in professional journals such as New Testament Studies, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Expository Times, and Kerygma und Dogma. In 2021 he was ranked by Academicinfluence.com as the third most influential theologian and tenth most influential philosopher over the last thirty years. His website is www.ReasonableFaith.org