"...if the story of the empty tomb was a apologetic device invented by the early Christians, it is bad apologetics. A made-up story, invented to defend the claim that Jesus was raised, would never have included women as the primary witnesses. As everyone knows, women in the first-century Judaism did not have much respect or legal status. As Jewish historian Josephus says they were not considered credible witnesses and were allowed to testify in court only very rarely; their testimony had to be corroborated by a man. Even more striking is the figure of Mary Magdalene, 'from whom seven demons had gone out' (Luke 8:2), as the principal discoverer of the empty tomb. An invented story, made as convincing and airtight as possible, would never have used such a dubious woman; it would surely have had men as the discoverers of the empty tomb."
1Courage and Godspeed,
ChadFootnote:
1. Stephen T. Davis, Rational Faith: A Philosopher's Defense of Christianity, p. 73.
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Comments
I fear this may miss the point of the quote.
First off, Davis' point is NOT that it is unlikely the disciples would believe the women, although I think that is debatable. After all, Peter had to go see for himself. They thought the women were talking nonsense! (Luke 24)
This quote is shared in response to the claim that the resurrection narrative(s) were fabricated. If that were the case, it seems unlikely the author(s) would include the women as the first to discover the tomb empty for reasons Davis highlights. Thus, making the account less credible as the message went forth.
Finally, it seems that you agree that what we see in the gospels is consistent with what we know of that time period; thus, further contradicting the claim that the gospels are full of fabrication and/or embellishments.
I hope that makes sense! I do recommend Davis' book. A very well-written work.
Respectfully