The Historical Arguement: The Beginning of a Long Journey

Of all of the arguments for the existence of God, and more specifically for the resurection of Jesus, I have found that the Historical Argument is by far the most complex. Unfortunately, it is also the argument that I know the least about. As a result, I will be doing research, summarizing what I find, and creating reports so that everyone can stay up to date.

Because there is SO much information (the history of the Bible covers well over 2000 years, and the history of the church after Christ covers over 2000 years) we will be narrowing the scope of our search to the most vital points first.

What are the most vital points? I would say the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and what transpired after what is now commonly known as Easter are the most vital points to analyze.

To determine what can be said about these events, we will take the following approach:

1. Examine the cultures, mindsets, ideologies, etc. of the Jewish and non Jewish people before Christ
2. Examine the cultures, mindsets, ideologies, etc. of the Jewish, non Jewish, and Christian people after Christ
3. Examine as much evidence as possible in light of the cultures in which we find it
4. Draw conclusions, and label each conclusion with an appropriate degree of certainty
5. Expand the search to include other historical topics

I have already posted two reports on N.T. Wright's "The Resurrection of the Son of God." Check them out!
http://honestsearchfortruth.blogspot.com/2011/05/summary-of-senses-of-history-according.html
http://honestsearchfortruth.blogspot.com/2011/05/summary-of-senses-of-history-according.html