BOOK REVIEW
The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story
by Jonathan MS Pearce 2021
About the Author
Jonathan M.S. Pearce is a teacher from south Hampshire, UK, who has dedicated many years to studying all manner of things philosophical and theological. Having studied for a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Wales, TSD, he also holds a degree from the University of Leeds, and a PGCE from the University of St Mary’s, Twickenham. As a founder member of the Tippling Philosophers, a friendly group of disparate believers and non-believers (and sort-of believers) based in Hampshire, he is a big advocate of casual philosophy groups meeting over pints of good ale.
Pearce has completed a number of titles: Free Will?, The Little Book of Unholy Questions, The Nativity: A Critical Examination, The Problem with “God”, 13 Reasons to Doubt and Beyond an Absence of Faith. He has also made many public speaking engagements, discussing philosophy, religion and skepticism.
His Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/johnnyp76?feature=mhee
His blog: https://patheos.com/blogs/tippling/
About the Book
“Jonathan MS Pearce puts the resurrection genie back in the bottle (and the body back in the grave). If you are digging for truth, this book is a goldmine!” — Dan Barker, author of Godless
“No rational and honest scholar of religion or theologian who asserts that the resurrection of Jesus was an actual event would be able to do so without addressing the compelling counterarguments presented by Jonathan Pearce’s The Resurrection…. Pearce offers a masterful analysis of the central miracle of Christianity, Jesus’s purported return from death…. All of this makes it difficult to refute…that the entire narrative upon which the Christian faith is anchored is a fiction contrived by others long after the purported date of the crucifixion…” — Dr. H. Sidky, Professor of Anthropology, Miami University, and author of Religion, Supernaturalism, the Paranormal and Pseudoscience: An Anthropological Critique
“This is a detailed, clear, and very readable survey of the evidence for the Resurrection, and it makes an overwhelming case for the conclusion that the Resurrection did not happen. It’s an extraordinary fact that so many smart, educated people have managed to convince themselves that the historical case for the Resurrection is strong, when it is, patently, ludicrously weak.” — Dr. Stephen Law, author of Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole
The Resurrection story is integral to the Christian faith; its truth has been crucial for Christians since the inception of the belief system. But did the events reported in the Christian Bible actually happen? How do the claims made by the authors look in light of careful historical analysis? Are the Gospel claims internally coherent? Do Christian believers have justification in believing the chapter and verse of this most famous of miraculous stories?
Jonathan MS Pearce looks at all of the problems with the Easter story in the same way he analysed the Nativity accounts in the sister book The Nativity: A Critical Examination. This later book is a diligent examination of the Easter story, the claims, the likelihood of truth, and what may have been the original events that inspired the biblical writers and believers to write and believe what they did. And still do. Historical, philosophical, and biblical exegetical analysis are woven together to form a terminal case against the accuracy, and ultimately truth, of the Easter story.
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