WHERE WE ARE

In this series, I have been reviewing objections to the Swoon Theory found in four books published by Christian apologists in the 21st century. I am trying to determine how many of these objections correspond to the nine objections against the Swoon Theory raised by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli in their Handbook of Christian Apologetics (published in 1994, hereafter: HCA) from the last decade of the 20th Century, and how many of them are different objections than the objections presented in HCA.

In Part 1 of this series, I showed that almost all of the objections to the Swoon Theory by William Craig in Reasonable Faith (3rd edition, published in 2008) correspond to objections to the Swoon Theory raised by Kreeft and Tacelli in HCA. There was one objection made by Craig that was not also presented in HCA.

In Part 2 of this series, I showed that most of the objections to the Swoon Theory by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek in I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist (published in 2004) correspond to objections raised in HCA. There were a couple of objections by Geisler and Turek that are not found in HCA.

In Part 3 of this series, I showed that most of the objections to the Swoon Theory by Sean and Josh McDowell in Evidence for the Resurrection (published in 2009) correspond to objections raised in HCA. However, they provide four additional objections that are not found in HCA.

In Part 4 of this series, I showed that most of the objections to the Swoon Theory by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona in The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (published in 2004) correspond to objections raised in HCA. Habermas and Licona also raise a couple of objections that are not found in HCA.

The findings from my examination of these four books published by Christian apologists in the 21st Century are summarized in the following table:

21ST CENTURY OBJECTIONS TO THE SWOON THEORY

This table shows that most of the objections against the Swoon Theory raised by Christian apologists in the 21st Century correspond to the nine objections raised against the Swoon Theory in the last decade of the 20th Century in the Handbook of Christian Apologetics (published in 1994) by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli. Thus, since ALL NINE of the objections by Kreeft and Tacelli FAIL, that eliminates most of the objections against the Swoon Theory presented by Christian apologists in the 21st Century.

However, additional evidence is given by some Christian apologists in support of Objection #1 (The Deadliness of Roman Crucifixion), so my critique of that objection as presented in HCA is not sufficient to eliminate that particular objection.

This table also shows that the works of Christian apologists in the 21st Century contain some additional objections against the Swoon Theory that are NOT found in HCA. There are at least six additional objections that contemporary works by Christian apologists make against the Swoon Theory, so a full defense of the Swoon Theory should include a review of those six other objections.