Paul

You are beginning to sound almost postmodern! I sympathise with your position - especially because almost all that we take to be fact is founded on a great deal of prior belief.

With the resurrection, there is circumstantial evidence at the time, which is considerable, and can easily be dismissed before it has been weighed and assessed. The resurrection accounts also contain the kind of discrepancies which are characteristic of margins of difference in eyewitness testimonies. I believe Bultmann’s problem was at heart not with its historicity, but with its nature: he had an anti-supernaturalist bias.

In NT times, the impact of the message of Jesus’s resurrection taken by the apostles (and ordinary believers) into the world would have been neutralised if the resurrection had been incredible. Indeed, in Athens, the message was largely dismissed as incredible - but that was more a reflection on the Athenians themselves than the message. Elsewhere, the message was received as historically reliable by Jews and gentiles - the latter being the more surprising recipients, as their history provided less background in which the resurrection could have been understood.

One of the reasons why the message was credible was linked to the supernatural impact it had on lives - the giving of the Spirit was an audio-visual experience which was difficult to ignore. This continues to be the case to the present day - although the Spirit manifestations may not always be so dramatic. The logic of proof works backwards - if this message can have such an impact on lives, it is harder to dismiss the factual basis of the events which it proclaims.

So while I sympathise with your position, I can’t totally share it. In fact, there must be something in the resurrection which makes it credible to you - as the evidence, as far as you have assessed it, is weightier on the positive than the negative side.

Thomas must be one of the most important characters in the bible in this respect. At least there was someone around who wasn’t going to get swept along on a tide of religious mania, and wanted to see the evidence. Thank God for Thomases - then and now.