History

A person I love, but who does not trust to even have his name mentioned in the blogosphere, recently taught a class on the historicity of the resurrrection of Jesus. I found a good article by one of the scholars at the forefront of this discussion today. Below is an excerpt and a link if you would like to read further.

'Man,' writes Loren Eisley,'is the Cosmic Orphan.' He is the only creature in the universe who asks, Why? Other animals have instincts to guide them, but man has learned to ask questions.'Who am I?' he asks.'Why am I here? Where am I going?'
Ever since the Enlightenment, when modern man threw off the shackles of religion, he has tried to answer these questions without reference to God. But the answers that came back were not exhilarating, but dark and terrible.'You are an accidental by-product of nature, the result of matter plus time plus chance. There is no reason for your existence. All you face is death. Your life is but a spark in the infinite darkness, a spark that appears, flickers, and dies forever.'
Modern man thought that in divesting himself of God, he had freed himself from all that stifled and repressed him. Instead, he discovered that in killing God, he had also killed himself.
Against this background of the modern predicament, the traditional Christian hope of the resurrection takes on an even greater brightness and significance. It tells man that he is no orphan after all, but the personal image of the Creator God of the universe; nor is his life doomed in death, for through the eschatological resurrection he may live in the presence of God forever.
This is a wonderful hope. But, of course, hope that is not founded in fact is not hope, but mere illusion.

http://bethinking.org/bible-jesus/advanced/contemporary-scholarship-and-the-resurrection-of-jesus.htm