Anderson on the Resurrection

Some of us are less prone to observe days than others, but it's quite obvious that we can't avoid the pervasive influence of this popular part of our culture.* We can choose to stick our collective heads in the sands, or we can perhaps engage popular culture with salt and light about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Around 1950 J. N. D. Anderson published a little booklet engaging an apologetic for the resurrection. He writes,

"Easter is not primarily a comfort, but a challenge. Easter's message is either the supreme fact in history or else a gigantic hoax. In the days of the early Church...On the one hand there was a little company of men and women who turned the world upside down by their passionate proclamation of the miracle which had transformed their lives: on the other hand, there were those who vehemently denounced the whole story as arrant blasphemy...Either the resurrection is infinitely more than a beautiful story, or else it is infinitely less. If it is true, then it is the supreme fact of history; and to fail to adjust one's life to its implications means irreparable loss. If it is not true, if Christ has not risen, then Christianity is all a fraud, foisted on the world by a company of consummate liars--or, at best, deluded simpletons.

"Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ true of false? It is vital for us to decide on an answer...

"Finding the pertinent data is not so infeasible as it may seem. At least two methods are available: (1) we can examine the historical evidence and (2) we can apply the test of experience."

Read more of The Evidence for the Resurrection by Norman Anderson HERE. Other online resources for or discussions of the resurrection of Jesus Christ include:

Jesus' Resurrection and Contemporary Criticism: an Apologetic (Part I)
Jesus' Resurrection and Contemporary Criticism: an Apologetic (Part II)
Jesus' Resurrection was physical
Ravi Zacharias on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Top Ten Myths About the Resurrection

* I describe this as a "popular part of our culture" because in many ways and for many people Easter is a cultural holiday rather than a religious "holy day".