ABSTRACT
While psychological studies indicate that misidentifications can happen, these studies are disanalogous to the case concerning Jesus’ ‘resurrection appearances’ which occurred in the context of persecution as foundational events proving the veracity of fundamental beliefs. Moreover, unlike the misidentification of (say) a gunman who was a stranger, the disciples had been with Jesus for a while. Neither a twin brother (nor anyone else) could have behaved consistently like Jesus over a period of time in a variety of circumstances, to the extent that he could persuade those who had lived with Jesus for years to eventually accept and be willing to die for the very difficult belief that Jesus resurrected. Additionally, no one else could have faked a ‘transphysical’ spiritual body naturalistically. Against the swoon hypothesis, it is unlikely that Jesus survived the crucifixion, and even if he did, a half-dead Jesus still suffering from the wounds of crucifixion would not have convinced the disciples that he was the risen Lord of life. Against the naturalistic escape hypothesis, there are many considerations against it (e.g. it is unlikely that all the onlookers failed to recognize that it was not Jesus who was crucified in public).
