Barker graduated from Azusa Pacific University, with a degree in religion. He then entered the ministry. In addition to his responsibilities as a preacher, Barker was also prominent in evangelical circles as a composer.
Barker's four reasons why he does not consider Jesus historical (Ibid.):
- There is no external historical confirmation of the New Testament stories.
- The New Testament stories are internally contradictory.
- There are natural explanations for the origin of the Jesus legend.
- The miracle reports make the story unhistorical.
Roman historian Philo-Judaeus, who lived before, during, and after the time of Jesus, does not even mention Jesus, much less his resurrection.
With respect to Book 18, Chapter 3 of Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, he argues that it is a Christian interpolation. Alleged references to Jesus in the books of Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, the letter of Mara Bar-Serapion, Lucian, Tertullian, Phlegon, and Justin Martyr are equally unconvincing.
Barker's second line of evidence is the numerous "glaring contradictions" in the New Testament resurrection accounts. He asks: Was the tomb open when the women arrived? Did the women tell what happened? Where did Jesus first appear to the disciples? Where did the ascension take place?
Since the New Testament accounts of the resurrection are highly miraculous, they "must be considered more mythical than historical
The Contemporary Debate on the Resurrection
Secular Objections to the Resurrection
References to the resurrection are extremely rare in the skeptical literature. Many well-known atheists and agnostics do not even seem to understand its importance (Russell, O'Hair, Zindler, Stein, Fox), while others have chosen to ignore it (Mackie, Neilsen). Nevertheless, a few outspoken critics of Christianity have addressed the resurrection, including Dan Barker, G.A. Wells, Antony Flew, and Michael Martin. I'd like to examine the arguments made by Barker and Martin in detail.
Dan Barker
Out of all the numerous freethought works on my bookshelf, one of my absolute favorites is Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist, by Dan Barker. (So when I am commenting on Barker's work, I am writing as a fan of his, and what I consider to be constructive criticism.) Barker is an extraordinary and unique individual. A member of two IQ societies, Barker graduated from one of Seattle Pacific's sister schools, Azusa Pacific University, with a degree in religion. He then entered the ministry. In addition to his responsibilities as a preacher, Barker was also prominent in evangelical circles as a composer. Indeed, Martin reports (196) that he continues to receive royalties from the musicals he composed while a Christian. Eventually, Barker began to question more and more of his beliefs until eventually he discarded virtually all of them. Losing Faith in Faith is a fascinating account of how he went from being a bold proclaimer of the faith, to one of its most vocal critics. Barker is now a professing atheist and the Public Relations Director of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin.
Because of his extensive Christian background, Barker understands full well the importance of the resurrection in Christianity. He not only denies the historicity of the resurrection, but the historical Jesus as well. In his chapter entitled, "Jesus: History or Myth?" (359-378), Dan Barker outlines why he does not think Jesus rose from the dead, or even existed, for that matter. As Barker writes, "I am now convinced that the Jesus story is just a myth" (360). Barker outlines four reasons why he does not consider Jesus historical (Ibid.):
- There is no external historical confirmation of the New Testament stories.
- The New Testament stories are internally contradictory.
- There are natural explanations for the origin of the Jesus legend.
- The miracle reports make the story unhistorical.
Based on these four factors, Barker not only doubts the historicity of the resurrection, but even the historicity of Jesus himself.
Barker claims there is no independent historical confirmation of the resurrection, or even of Jesus himself. He points out that the Roman historian Philo-Judaeus, who lived before, during, and after the time of Jesus, does not even mention Jesus, much less his resurrection. With respect to Book 18, Chapter 3 of Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, he argues that it is a Christian interpolation, and he gives six reasons why (Ibid., p. 362). Likewise, he argues that the passage in Book 20, Chapter 9 is also unreliable (Ibid., p. 363-64). Moreover, he claims that alleged references to Jesus in the books of Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, the letter of Mara Bar-Serapion, Lucian, Tertullian, Phlegon, and Justin Martyr are equally unconvincing. Barker seems to think that contemporary Jewish and Roman historians would have been interested in writing about a palestinian cult leader, Jesus. The alleged lack of such external confirmation, argues Barker,S is a solid historical foundation for rejecting both the resurrection and the historical Jesus.
Barker's second line of evidence is the numerous "glaring contradictions" (Ibid., p. 368) in the New Testament resurrection accounts. In his article, "Leave No Stone Unturned" (Ibid., p. 178-184), Barker makes the following statement (p. 178):
I have an Easter challenge for Christians. My challenge is simply this: tell me what happened on Easter. I am not asking for proof. My straightforward request is merely that Christians tell me exactly what happened on the day that their most important doctrine was born.
According to Barker, historically reliable documents should not contain contradictions. However, he thinks there are several, non-trivial discrepancies in the gospels. Was the tomb open when the women arrived? Did the women tell what happened? Where did Jesus first appear to the disciples? Where did the ascension take place? Barker thinks there is no way these stories can be reconciled without omitting "one single biblical detail" (Ibid., p. 179). More importantly, Barker implies that reliable historical documents should be inerrant.
Barker (Ibid., p. 179) quotes an oft-quoted passage from Thomas Paine's Age of Reason:
I lay it down as a position which cannot be controverted. First, that the agreement of all the parts of a story does not prove that story to be true, because the parts may agree and the whole may be false; secondly, that the disagreement of the parts of a story proves that the whole cannot be true.
He then lists several alleged discrepancies in the resurrection accounts, including one relating to "What time did the women vist the tomb?" Barker therefore seems to think that historical documents have to be inerrant in order to be reliable.
But "if Jesus is a fable," asks Barker, "how did this story originate?" Barker notes that "it is not unfair challenge to ask skeptics to suggest an alternative to historicity" (Ibid., p. 372). Barker outlines several options for the skeptic, more than can be discussed here. The important point to note here is that Barker seems to think that "the Jesus story is simply a fanciful patchwork of pieces borrowed from other religions." He cites numerous parallels between Jesus and pagan savior-gods like Attis, Mithra, Krishna, etc. After cataloguing eight different secular views of Christian origins, Barker writes, "prudent history demands that until all explanations for the origin of an outrageous tale are completely ruled out, it is irresponsible to hold to the literal, historical truth of what appears to be just another myth" (Ibid., p. 376).
Barker's final objection entails the problem of miracles. Barker claims that "if a miracle is defined as some kind of violation, suspension, overriding, or punctuation of natural law, then miracles cannot be historical" (Ibid., p. 377). Without this criteria, he argues, there would be no historical basis on which to reject any miracles. Moreover, "if a miracle did happen, it would pull the rug out from history" (Ibid.). Since the New Testament accounts of the resurrection are highly miraculous, they "must be considered more mythical than historical" (p. 377).
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