The Resurrection Standoff: Licona vs. Ehrman on the Unbelievable Podcast

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 after this, his followers had experiences, both individually and in groups, that they believed were appearances of the risen Christ, and 3) that Paul, while he was an enemy of the church, had a similar experience which radically changed his life leading him to become one of the foremost proponents of Christianity. Dr. Ehrman immediately takes issue with this, contending that one is irrelevant and that 2 and 3 make the same point. Ehrman questions whether most scholars agree that there were group experiences, whether oral tradition is reliable, and whether the gospels are reliable due to their differences, especially in the resurrection accounts. Furthermore, he denies that historiographic research methods can be applied to miracles. Licona responds to these issues, and the episode wraps up with the two in a standoff over Ehrman’s statement that the resurrection is not a matter of history but faith.