Just like with any other historical figure — and in fact, Jesus is better documented than most.
The fact that Jesus’ followers claimed to have seen Him resurrected — and that the creed recorded in 1 Corinthians 15 dates to within about five years of His death — is extremely significant, especially after centuries of dismissing such claims as much later forgeries.
Granted, this doesn’t prove the resurrection. But the fact that virtually all contemporary historians agree the disciples genuinely believed they saw the risen Jesus — even if the nature of those experiences remains debated as the resurrection can’t be proven — is telling. It says something about the strength and immediacy of the earliest Christian convictions.
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The disciples were not expecting a resurrection.
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At the time of the crucifixion, they fled in fear — yet later, they were willing to die proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead (and at least for Paul and Peter we have very strong data to support the truth of their martyrdom, while for many other disciples death we only have Church’s traditions).
In other words, something powerful happened. History, of course, cannot definitively state what happened, nor can it verify a supernatural resurrection. But what we can say with confidence is that the transformation of the disciples, and the early proclamation of the resurrection, are historical facts.
And all of this stands in stark contrast to the vague, ethereal image of Jesus — the one skeptics often portray as a figure we “can’t really know anything about.” The historical data simply doesn’t support that view.