ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the conclusions of previous chapters and discusses the implications for humanity and Christian theology. Against the worry that all historical judgments are open to revision, O’Collins has argued that there are innumerable cases of historical certainty. ‘It is historically certain that Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo, even if some secondary details of the event can be open to revision’. For each of these historical certainties, it would be unworkable to try to explain away the contents of the documents which support its occurrence by postulating the existence of another naturalistic cause X, because X would entail consequences which are false. I argue that this condition is fulfilled in the case of Jesus’ resurrection. While demonstrating Jesus’ resurrection as a case of historical certainty is not necessary for the historical argument or for believing that Jesus resurrected, it is nevertheless defensible because of the considerations discussed in previous chapters.
