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Doubting Jesus' Resurrection: What Happened in the Black Box?
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Item Description...
This highly endorsed book, written for believers, non-believers, and those who are not quite sure about Jesus' resurrection, offers a non-traditional explanation for the birth of Christianity and explains it with unusual clarity. The following excerpts are from endorsements on the back cover and inside title page: "Clearly written and well argued, Doubting Jesus' Resurrection lays out a plausible and intriguing case for a non-supernatural explanation of the New Testament resurrection accounts" (Robert J. Miller, Professor of Religious Studies, Juniata College). "Komarnitsky's answers are well-documented and carefully considered, and his central thesis is intriguing. Highly recommended" (Rev. Chuck Jones, Atlanta, Georgia). "Komarnitsky shows great acuity of judgment and clear-eyed perception of the issues. He does not claim to have proof of what happened at Christian origins, but he does present a powerfully plausible hypothesis for what might have happened" (Robert M. Price, Ph.D. Theology, Ph.D. New Testament). "Komarnitsky presents a surprisingly excellent demonstration of how belief in the resurrection of Jesus could plausibly have originated by natural means" (Richard Carrier, Ph.D. Ancient History). "Those interested in a plausible natural explanation for the birth of Christianity will want to seriously consider this book" (James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Associate Professor of New Testament Language & Literature, Butler University). |
Item Specifications...
Pages 186
Dimensions: Length: 0.5" Width: 6" Height: 9"
Weight: 0.6 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Sep 15, 2009
ISBN 0982552807
EAN 9780982552803
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Availability 100 units.
Availability accurate as of May 26, 2012 07:34.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Justifiable Doubt Nov 14, 2009 |
Getting into this sort of thing is kind-of like a championship boxing match. The title doesn't change hands on a draw. The challenger has to actually win.
Komarnitsky never delivers the knockout punch in Doubting Jesus' Resurrection--nor could he. It was not his intention to do so. What he does is show a very plausible alternative explanation for the Empty Tomb that doesn't involve an actual resurrection. He does this while granting certain basal assumptions of the Christian believer.
But "plausible" amounts at best to a draw in the debate over the historical Jesus. To show how something might have happened is not the same thing as showing how it did happen. What ought to give the believer pause is that the author managed to exhibit a perfectly credible scenario that doesn't appeal to unseen and unprovable entities. It won't do that because the believer neither needs to see God nor have him proven. God's existence is taken as a given, the starting point of the discussion. That is something the non-believer needs to recognize. The believer will not accept the burden of proof simply because God is unseen and untestable.
The real damage this kind of work does to the Faith is in that it demonstrates that the one who does not share the believer's convictions need not. One who doesn't start from a position of faith is not inclined in the direction of faith and would thus find Komarnitsky's analysis at least as likely as the supernatural alternative. In short, it shows that doubting the Resurrection is a reasonable and honest--an honorable--posture.
For Christians who insist there's no excuse for not believing, that unbelief must be met with ultimate judgment, this is intolerable. It's intolerable because we all intuitively understand that it would be unjust to punish someone for holding a reasonable and honest opinion. Desperate attempts will therefore have to be made to show that doubt of Jesus' rising from the dead is not, in fact, a reasonably and honestly held opinion.
The last few years of my Christian life were spent in just such a search for a convincing, countervailing argument: a rationale that could justify a hard line against unbelief of fundamental teachings like the Resurrection and all it implied. But I could not succeed. I'm not aware of anyone who has. At the very least, Komarnitsky had helped to show how unlikely it is that anyone ever will.
| | |  | Well researched but leave you wanting for more Jul 23, 2009 |
I'm more impressed by the author's detailed research into this topic than the arguments themselves, there's no doubt the arguments are sound but the best and most favorable arguments are simple, direct, and explain the most. Compared with the arguments from the christian side, I can only split the score 50/50, and I'm not a believer.
You'll find when the author presents his arguments, it's presented very laboriously in great detail, but that also makes it very drawn out even though he's already made his point, this diverts the attention away from the main argument and is counter-productive to the points the author tries to make, which are really quite simple. This leaves the reader wonder if this book was intended for a lay person or a scholar.
As a warning, the reader can easily get lost reading the (oftentimes way way too) detailed presentations as the author makes his points, make sure you have a good cup of coffee next to you before you begin. :) | | | | Well-balanced and informative Jul 20, 2009 |
I will not repeat the comments made by the previous six reviewers. I generally agree with them all. Suffice it to say that I too find Komarnitsky's book a well-balanced, well researched and an exceptionally well presented treatise, not only on the resurrection story and its origins, but in its comparisons to similar legends/myths.
Although those beginning their study of the Historical Jesus or Christian Origins will find the book especially helpful, it will also, in my view, be informative and useful to both theological and historical scholars.
Komarnitsky, an admitted agnostic, presents his arguments in such a way that they should garner respect for one's position of uncertainty from both atheists and those of faith. I especially appreciate Kormarnistky's use of the term "plausible" to describe his conclusions. Many other writers could take a lesson from this approach and recognize that conclusions, especially those involving history-and even more so those involving the interplay between faith and history-can only represent degrees of plausibility, and often can only be expressed as being simply "more plausible than not" or vice versa! | | | | Excellent Overview of Dissonance Reduction Jun 27, 2009 |
In Komarnitsky's third chapter, "The Belief That Jesus Died for Our Sins and Was Raised," he ventures onto my home turf--psychology--and his treatment of the the subject is impressive. I found the chapter opening a bit hard to follow, but persistence paid off in spades.
Komarnitsky pulls together the work of historians and psychologists and tells story after story of apocalyptic cults that find ways to sustain their beliefs despite radical disappointments (a messianic figure betrays trust, an end-of-the-world date comes and goes, aliens fail to appear). Social psychologist Leon Festinger's work on cognitive dissonance provides a theoretical framework for understanding an otherwise incomprehensible phenomenon. For anyone who is interested in how apocalyptic beliefs are sustained, whether in a Christian context or not, I recommend this thorough, well-documented overview.
Although the Christian resurrection story is shrouded in mythos, making it hard to know what actually happened in history, modern examples and cognitive dissonance theory offer a compelling possible scenario. Without resorting to any form of supernaturalism, drawing just on what we know about human behavior, Komarnitsky offers a sufficient explanation for the resurrection story at the heart of Christian orthodoxy.
Valerie Tarico, Ph.D.
Author: The Dark Side - How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth | | | | A Great Introduction to the Topic. May 10, 2009 |
Let's say you wanted to read a book length skeptical treatment on the resurrection of Jesus. Which one should you read? Which one do you recommend? There are several of them to choose from. If you follow the advice of Christian apologists Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona who wrote: "Everything should be as simple as possible, but no simpler," [The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, p. 14], then I have a good suggestion on the skeptical side of the fence. This book by Kris D. Komarnitsky.
Komarnitsky begins by presupposing Jesus existed and that I Corinthians 15:3-7 is not a later Christian interpolation. (p. 8). Then author focuses on the discovery of the empty tomb tradition. This tradition is "unique in that it is not itself a supernatural event and so any associated bias is not a factor, and it is a tradition upon which the resurrection of Jesus stands or falls." (p. 4). What happened between the time Jesus was crucified and the traditions expressed by Paul in I Corinthians 15:3-7, which is the mysterious "black box" skematic represented on the cover? Komarnitsky argues from the literary evidence itself that the discovered empty tomb is "plausibly a legend." Then he takes the reader through the questions that must be answered in order to get to Paul's expressed traditions in I Corinthians 15:3-7 "without a discovered empty tomb." (p. 9)
In Chapter One, "The Discovery of an Empty Tomb, Fact or Fiction?," Komarnitsky offers three lines of literary evidence that the empty tomb is a fiction: 1) Paul's silence about it; 2) The ending of Mark; and 3) The Jewish charge of a stolen body. He does an excellent job here and offers a few new insights on these topics.
Chapter Two: An Obscure Burial
Chapter Three: The Belief Jesus Died for Our Sins and Was Raised
Chapter Four: The Appearance Traditions
Chapter Five: Raised on the Third Day
Chapter 6 Conclusion and Meaning.
Appendix: Myth Growth Rates.
I think Komarnitsky's book is a great introduction to this topic, especially if you haven't read anything on it before. Even though I know quite a bit about the topic, I learned enough by reading his book that I recommend it even for people who are more acquainted with the topic. The author is well-read. He thinks well. He writes well. He argues well. He'll make you think. | | | Write your own review about Doubting Jesus' Resurrection: What Happened in the Black Box?
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