Faith on Trial: Analyze the Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus by Binnings Ewen Pamela

Author:Binnings Ewen, Pamela
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Apologetics, Christian Theology
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2013-09-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

■ The Corroborating Evidence ■

(Collateral Circumstances and Corroboration)

The fifth element of the credibility test, “the coincidence of their testimony with collateral facts and circumstances,” requires a comparison of the details of the various reports of the Gospels with other known historical facts, including details of circumstances provided by other witnesses, to see if they are consistent with the testimony. This is an important test of veracity because it is difficult for people to invent stories and keep all of the details of the circumstances harmonious with the facts of the story. Nothing happens in a vacuum; everything happens in relation to other people and the things and events occurring around them. This is why a “false witness” usually tries to deal with general statements and broad assertions rather than detailing circumstances against which the testimony might later be contradicted. For that reason, variety and minuteness of detail are generally regarded as tests of sincerity.1

Even where a false witness gives details, the testimony is often only detailed as to the portions that have been prepared. Beyond that point it will become vague and general. In other words, the testimony will not be uniform in texture; an untruthful witness will remember some things in great detail and won’t be able to recall others. A truthful witness is visibly natural and unaffected in his or her testimony and will recite details evenly in every part of the narrative.2

Usually false testimony is revealed by inconsistencies in the details and surrounding circumstances related by other witnesses. A search for corroborating evidence, therefore, is usually a search for circumstantial evidence.

The increased number of witnesses to circumstances, and the increased number of the circumstances themselves, all tend to increase the probability of detection if the witnesses are false. . . . Thus the force of circumstantial evidence is found to depend on the number of particulars involved in the narrative; the difficulty of fabricating them all, if false, and the great facility of detection; the nature of the circumstances to be compared, and from which the dates and other facts are to be collected; the intricacy of the comparison; the number of the intermediate steps in the process of deduction; and the circuity of the investigation. The more largely the narrative partakes of these characters, the further it will be found removed from all suspicion of contrivance or design, and the more profoundly the mind will repose on the conviction of its truth.3

As an expert on the law of evidence, Greenleaf believed in the nineteenth century that the evidence supporting the facts of the Gospels was sufficient to lead us to a certainty that these events occurred. If this type of circumstantial evidence is sufficient to convict a person of a crime and cause that person to be incarcerated or even put to death, surely it ought to be considered sufficient to carry weight in our evaluation of the testimony in the Gospels.

We must treat the evidence presented in the Gospels as we would treat the evidence of other matters.

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