Risen Jesus

This episode examines the Gospel of Thomas, discovered in full in 1945, through an interview with Dr. Michael Licona and Dr. Elaine Pagels. Pagels, dating this work to the 80s or 90s AD, sees this text as a companion piece to be read alongside the three synoptics, which reveal secret teachings of Jesus shared only with his disciples, as referenced in Mark 4. She calls it a “missing link” in the fo...

Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John write the gospels that bear their names? The texts themselves do not name them as the authors and were published and circulated anonymously. In fact, the earliest record of names being associated with the gospel books comes from Irenaeus in 185 AD, over 100 years after Jesus lived. Dr. Bart Ehrman contends that we do not know who wrote these texts and that the nam...

Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John write the gospels that bear their names? The texts themselves do not name them as the authors and were published and circulated anonymously. In fact, the earliest record of names being associated with the gospel books comes from Irenaeus in 185 AD, over 100 years after Jesus lived. Dr. Bart Ehrman contends that we do not know who wrote these texts and that the nam...

This episode is taken from the Unbelievable podcast with Justin Brierly in 2011 when Dr. Bart Ehrman and Dr. Michael Licona address the question: Is there good biblical evidence for the resurrection? Dr. Licona’s answer is yes, and he begins the defense of this conclusion by referring to three minimal facts that he says virtually all scholars agree upon: 1) that Jesus died by crucifixion, 2) that...

In this episode, Dr. Stephen Patterson, New Testament professor at Eden Theological Seminary, argues against the bodily resurrection of Jesus, contending that the earliest Christian witness doesn’t presume anything happened to Jesus’ body after his death but that by God’s power, Jesus’ spirit lived on in his followers. In keeping with the conceptualization of resurrection in ancient Judaism, the p...

This episode is a 2016 debate held at the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga between Dr. Michael Licona and Dr. Shabir Ally, president of the Islamic Information and Dawah Centre International in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Licona presents a case for Jesus’ death by crucifixion and his resurrection, contending that there exists substantial evidence for this but that Islam offers none to the contrary....

This episode is a discussion between Dr. Mike Licona and then PhD candidate Laura Robinson on the Capturing Christianity podcast. While both scholars are Christians who claim belief in the resurrection of Jesus, they differ in what they believe can historically be shown about it. Robinson questions the wisdom and validity of applying the historical perspective to this topic as she contends that ou...

On the Risen Jesus podcast today, Dr. Michael Licona and Dr. Bart Ehrman join Justin Brierly on his Unbelievable podcast to discuss their faith journeys. Both men experienced crises of faith when their scholarly studies led them to question the inerrancy of the Bible. Though not the cause for his abandonment of the Christian faith, Ehrman says this was the first step in a domino effect that ended...

Dr. Matthew McCormick, a philosophy professor at California State University, Sacramento, doesn’t believe that there is satisfactory historical evidence to support the idea that Jesus rose from the dead. This is because humans have a high error rate when making claims about the supernatural. Therefore, those who reported Jesus’ post-death appearances were likely wrong. Furthermore, if an all-power...

In this episode, frequent debate opponents Dr. Michael Licona and Dr. Bart Ehrman face off on the historical reliability of the gospels. Held in 2018 at Kennesaw State University, Dr. Licona begins by defining historical reliability as related to the gospels, stating that the gospels, ancient biographies, got things right when focusing on the larger biographical narrative of Jesus. The specifics o...

In this episode, frequent debate opponents Dr. Michael Licona and Dr. Bart Ehrman face off on the historical reliability of the gospels. Held in 2018 at Kennesaw State University, Dr. Licona begins by defining historical reliability as related to the gospels, stating that the gospels, ancient biographies, got things right when focusing on the larger biographical narrative of Jesus. The specifics o...

Dr. Shane Pucket was ranked the 32nd best debater in the world in 2012. That year, he faced off against Dr. Michael Licona at Monroe Baptist Church in Louisianna on whether Jesus rose from the dead. Licona argued the affirmative case using the historical method to examine facts derived from the writings of Paul, especially 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. Dr. Pucket’s negative case centered on the gospels, t...

In 2004, Islamic scholar Dr. Shabir Ally and Dr. Mike Licona met at Regent University to debate the physical resurrection of Jesus. Both cases, a lively Q&A between the scholars and an audience Q&A make up this week’s episode. Dr. Licona presents a positive case for Jesus’ resurrection based on three nearly universally agreed-upon facts about Jesus’ death and resurrection taken from the ea...

In 2004, Islamic scholar Dr. Shabir Ally and Dr. Mike Licona met at Regent University to debate the physical resurrection of Jesus. Both cases, a lively Q&A between the scholars and an audience Q&A make up this week’s episode. Dr. Licona presents a positive case for Jesus’ resurrection based on three nearly universally agreed-upon facts about Jesus’ death and resurrection taken from the ea...

This episode is a 2006 debate between Dr. Michael Licona and Steve Yothment, the president of the Atlanta Freethought Society, on whether man created God. Yothment takes the positive side. He proposes that ancient gods like Thor are myths and that every religion claims their gods to be the real ones and the others false. This then clearly means some of these gods, if not all, have been invented by...

The following episode is a debate from 2012 at Antioch Church in Temecula, California, between Dr. Licona and philosophy professor Dr. R. Greg Cavin on whether Jesus rose from the dead. Licona presents a historical case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus based on a set of almost universally agreed-upon facts and the methodology by which historians determine which explanation for an event is the...

The following episode is a debate from 2012 at Antioch Church in Temecula, California, between Dr. Licona and philosophy professor Dr. R. Greg Cavin on whether Jesus rose from the dead. Licona presents a historical case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus based on a set of almost universally agreed-upon facts and the methodology by which historians determine which explanation for an event is the...

In this episode , we have Dr. Mike Licona's first-ever debate. In 2003, Licona sparred with Dan Barker at the University of Wisonsin-Madison. Once a Christian evangelist and missionary, Barker declares that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and then asserts that there is not even ordinary evidence for the bodily resurrection. The former believer claims there was no eyewitness tes...

In this episode, we have Dr. Mike Licona's first-ever debate. In 2003, Licona sparred with Dan Barker at the University of Wisonsin-Madison. Once a Christian evangelist and missionary, Barker declares that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and then asserts that there is not even ordinary evidence for the bodily resurrection. The former believer claims there was no eyewitness test...

In this episode, we have a 2005 appearance of Dr. Mike Licona on the Ron Isana Show, where he defends the historicity of the bodily resurrection of Jesus against Princeton professor Dr. Elaine Pagels' contention that not all early Christians believed Jesus was physically raised from the dead. Stating that spiritual experiences can be real, Pagels asserts that the gospels contain different versions...

In today’s episode, Dr. Mike Licona debates Dr. Pieter Craffert at the University of Johannesburg. While Dr. Licona provides a positive case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus based on facts and historical method, Dr. Craffert proposes that the reports of the risen Jesus recorded in the New Testament are best explained as experiences of altered states of consciousness by those who claimed to see...

Today is the final episode in our four-part series covering the 2014 debate between Dr. Michael Licona and Dr. Evan Fales. In this hour-long episode, Licona spends 15 minutes responding to Fales's presentation from part three, addressing the claims that miracles are metaphysically impossible and arguing that Hume’s criteria for miracle testimony are too strict. Following this segment, the two prof...

In this episode, we hear from Dr. Evan Fales as he presents his case against the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection and responds to Dr. Licona’s writings. This is the third segment of the four-part debate between the two scholars at the  University of St. Thomas in 2014. Dr. Fales does not take the miracle stories of Jesus as historical events; instead, he contends they are figurative and can be u...

The following episode is part two of the debate between atheist philosopher Dr. Evan Fales and Dr. Mike Licona in 2014 at the University of St. Thoman in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the first 30 minutes, Dr. Licona provides his positive case for the resurrection and then evaluates it alongside Dr. Fales’ hypothesis that Jesus did not rise from the dead but instead, the stories of the life, death, and...

In this episode, we join a 2014 debate between Dr. Mike Licona and atheist philosopher Dr. Evan Fales on whether Jesus rose from the dead. In this first segment of the four-part debate, Dr. Licona answers the question, “Can historians investigate miracle claims?” He gives a resounding “yes” as he defines miracles, discusses how to identify them, provides examples, and addresses objections to mirac...