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The Son Rises

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William L. Craig is perhaps the best-known apologist for the resurrection of Jesus. He set out his argument in detail in a book that unfortunately now costs well over $100. He has contributed articles on the resurrection to books like In Defense of Miracles and Jesus Under Fire. One of his debates on the resurrection has been converted into a book, Jesus' Resurrection. What has been missing, and what this book provides, is a single volume treatment of Craig's argument for the historicity of Jesus. The book is written for the layperson and weighs in at about 150 pages with relatively few references. As a popularization of Craig's argument, it is success.

Craig begins with an introduction to the issues and a refutation of some popular counter theories, such as the apparent-death theory and the wrong-tomb theory. It seems odd placement given that he has not stated his case-in-chief, but Craig discusses them in terms of historical approaches to the resurrection. On one hand it adds some interesting historical context, but it still seems a little out of place.

The meat of the book is in the next two chapters, on the Empty Tomb and the Appearances of Jesus. Craig offers ten points supporting the historical fact of the empty tomb, beginning with "The historical reliability of the account of Jesus' burial supports the empty tomb" to "The fact that Jesus' tomb was not venerated as a shrine indicates that the tomb was empty." Most of the arguments are persuasively presented, though I wish all apologists would leave the Shroud aside. But in the end, Craig adequately explains the reasons that most scholars, from diverse backgrounds, accept the empty tomb as historical fact.

The section on the Appearances of Jesus begins by demonstrating their historicity and then examines their explanations. He first shows that Peter, the Twelve, the five hundred, James, the apostles, and Paul did indeed experience appearances by Jesus. Craig then moves through the potential explanations and concludes that the best explanation for these appearances is that they were indeed real events, interactions with a living and breathing restored Jesus.

Craig caps off his argument with a discussion about the resurrection's role as the best explanation for the Origin of the Christian Faith itself. He then concludes with a scholarly alter call, explaining the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus as the way to reconcile ourselves to God and gain forgiveness of our sins.

This book is typical of Craig. He moves through the material very methodically, laying out his arguments in an informed and convincing manner--step by step. He covers aspects of the argument in other publications in more depth or with more references, but The Son Rises is beneficial in that it brings the core of his argument, and the significance of his conclusion, together in one small book.

In this book, Craig lays out a powerful case for the Resurrection of Jesus. Using evidence only agreed upon by the consensus of critical NT scholarship, Craig puts together a powerful factual case, using the evidence of the Empty Tomb, the appearances of Jesus, and the origin of the Christian faith. It is important to remember, as Craig emphasizes, that our faith is not based on empirical arguments, but on the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. However, it is important that Christians know these arguments so we can show to the outside world that Christianity is consistent with the evidence. Anyone who believes in God but not in Christ will be challenged by the evidence presented in this book to re-examine their thoughts on how God has revealed Himself in history. However, don't even waste your time reading this if you are already 100% closed to supernatural interventions of God. The evidence will not convince you, because your mind is already closed. However, I just want to note that Craig repudiated the Shroud of Turin later on in 1989, upon evidence being found that it was a forgery. I figured I'd mention that because Craig seems to accept the Shroud in this book. Also, I recommend the chapter on the Resurrection in Craig's book Reasonable Faith, because he takes the evidence for Jesus' Resurrection and applies to it 7 historical criteria used by real historians to see if if is better than other naturalistic hypotheses.

This book is a brief and fair treatment of the resurrection argument. It provides a widely accessible yet solid defense of the historicity of the resurrection, a massively condensed and simplified preview of his comprehensive study weighing in at well over 400 pages (Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus), published eight years later. The book's strengths include establishing the historical credibility of Jesus' postmortem appearances and critically analyzing alternative historical hypotheses that attempt to explain the historical data.

A few critical notes. First, it is perhaps too brief on some points, especially on those which make a positive case for the resurrection as a strong historical hypothesis on its own. Second, the book doesn't include a topical or scriptural index. With a book this short, one can get over the absence of the topical index. But a book where the subject is the exposition of New Testament texts on the resurrection, the absence of a scriptural index is a very unfortunate omission. Finally, my third critical note isn't geared toward the book's content, but rather its appearance. The copy I received has a poor print job. On several pages it looks like the ink from the printing machine ran dry, giving the text a faded, erased-like appearance. I'm not sure if this is a mass-produced foible of the book in general, exclusive to my copy in particular, or typical of Wipf and Stock Publishers, but I was bummed.

Despite the aforementioned defects, this would be an excellent book to start with in studying the resurrection argument.

Table of Contents:

Preface--------------------------------------p. 7
1. Death and Resurrection--------------------p. 9
2. Some Blind Alleys--------------------------p. 23
3. The Empty Tomb---------------------------p. 45
4. The Appearances of Jesus------------------p. 91
5. The Origin of the Christian Faith------------p. 127
6. Finding Resurrection Life--------------------p. 135

This is a wonderful book. If you have doubts about the historicity of the resurrection, it will put an end to your worries. Craig has debated the arguments he gives in this book with the worlds greatest atheist philosophers and NT scholars--and he always clearly wins the debate. If you are still interested to learn more on Craig's view, check out his books that are debate on this topic. If you STILL want to learn more about his view, then buy and read "Assessing the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ." Craig really shows himself wherever he writes and debates to be a top scholar and excellent thinker.

This book is a very convincing argument for the actual, literal, real bodily resurrection of Jesus. Both believers and doubters should read it and weigh the arguments carefully, point by point.

After all, if the resurrection is true, it is the most astounding event ever to happen on earth and it affects everyone, whether we like it or not.

And if the resurrection is not true, then the faith of one-third of people on earth today is faith in a lie. The same goes for the faith of millions who have lived and died in the last 2000 years.

The book is an easy read while at the same time being very engrossing and informative. It is sensible, and no educated or intelligent person will find it below their standards of argumentation or of exposition. Still, one does not have to have a college education to benefit from the book if one is willing to read carefully and to think about the points carefully.

I expect to read it again...and again.

This book is a methodical and logical treatment of the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For those who are not afraid of following the evidence to it's logical conclusion, this book will be thought-provoking. Reading this book will require concentration and thinking, so take some time to read it slowly and carefully.

In this short book, William Lane Craig provides a brief but effective overview for the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Craig rightly points out, the resurrection is the foundation of the entire Christian faith.

Craig essentially breaks the case into three distinct sections. First, he discusses the evidence for the empty tomb, second, the evidence for Christ's post-crucifiction appearances, and third, the evidence from the origin of the Christian faith. Additionally, one chapter is devoted to refuting alternative theories, including the "swoon" theory and wrong tomb theory. Craig's argumentation is very solid throughout. Although his writings are often very technical, most of the arguments in The Son Rises are easy enough to understand.

In addition to the meat of his argument, Craig also discusses a few peripheral issues. In the opening chapter, which I found very enjoyable, he discusses the dilemma of modern man and his struggle to find a meaning to existence. In the final chapter, Craig explains the consequences of Christ's resurrection, claiming that it can help us find that meaning. He discusses the importance of Christianity and appeals to the reader to accept Christ and transform their lives.

The Son Rises is a brief treatment of an important topic. However, Craig hardly sacrifices much in his attempt to keep the book accessible to the general layman. I do wish that alternative theories would have been discussed in greater detail, but in general, Craig's treatment here is a very valuable resource for almost anyone.

An abbreviation of Craig's longer, more scholarly work on the resurrection, this baby of a book methodically examines the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. The first chapter is the importance of the doctrine of Resurrection, and the second chapter discusses scholarly dismissal of all the naturalistic theories of the past. The third, fourth, and fifth chapter is where the meat of the book is, where Craig gives multiple arguments for the historicity of the empty tomb, the resurrection appearances, and the rise of the church. After convincingly arguing that the data is real and not legendary, Craig argues that the resurrection is the only hypothesis that makes sense of the data. The sixth chapter is the practical signifigance of the resurrection for Christian life, and Craig discusses things he does not discuss much in other books.

This book also contains Craig arguing for Johnnine authorship and early dating of Mark/Luke/Acts, something he rarely does.

This book is very good, and I recommend it.

For those who believe the Bible is 100% literal (it isn't) and who dwell on suffering self abuse, this book will help fit disperate and unrelated bits of shaky history into a predetermined and particularly ideological mold they may feel comfortable being poured into.

But it is a history of a very STAID and stagnant Jesus--something he or what he taught was NOT. He was a radical liberal (even the New Testemant--written centuries after Christ's death admits to this), who challanged notions of church bound hierarchy's.

It's a shame that organizational religion (like the Southern Baptist Convention) promotes disdain for what Jesus taught--individual personal relationship with Jesus and God. Not to mention disobeying Jesus' teachings by mixing their lusting wants for power (government) with their narrow minded brand of cultlike brainwashing.