The 'resurrection' (again)

[Zzyzx]

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In a current thread someone said:

Would you like to have a debate on the deluge or Jesus' resurrection?

As people join the Forum they maybe unaware that some topics have been debated many, many times. Perhaps they think they have 'killer arguments' that are compelling.

Question for debate: Did long-dead bodies came back to life as claimed in Gospels?

[bluegreenearth]

Which of the equally possible explanations below do you suspect has the greater prior-probability?

I'm going with a qualified #2. A book I recently read that has me rethinking a number of my opinions is Acts in its Ancient Literary Context by Loveday Alexander. One of his observations is that the preface of Luke most closely resembles a form of Greek literature called Fachprosa, which is a kind of technical literature (the German literally translates as "subject prose"). The book quotes an earlier paper of his in which he discusses one possibility:

Here most of the evidence comes from the philosophical schools. C.H. Talbert has made a number of important suggestions on this subject. He sees Luke-Acts as falling into a pattern found in Diogenes Laertius, viz. Life of the founder of a school plus Succession or record of the transmission of authentic doctrine via the master's disciples...

The idea is that Luke-Acts might be a kind of two-volume textbook on Christianity aimed at potential converts. I find this appealing. If the goal is to place the primary characters of Christianity into a theological framework, then that might explain some of the ways that things appear fictionalized. Later compromises between Jerusalem and Asian forms of Christianity are pushed back into the lifetimes of Paul, Peter, and James and portrayed as developments in their relationships to each other. I like the symmetry between the early Christian personalities and the patriarchs of Israel. Where personality quirks of the patriarchs represent differences between the Canaanite tribes that ultimately became a unified Israel, various forms of Christianity that later unified can trace their differences and compromises behind the unification back to stories told of the individual founders.

So, I presume #5 comes in at a close second in the race?

[Goose]

[Replying to Difflugia in post #48]

I started a new thread here to answer this and not further derail this thread.