The most striking and extraordinary event in the life of Christ is his resurrection. Of the miracles he worked it is admittedly the greatest. The fundamental message of Christianity to the world has been that the crucified Christ rose from the dead and therefore he should be listened to. "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless." (1 Cor. 15:14)

But a rationalistic and materialistic age such as ours finds it difficult to accept not only the resurrection but also even the other supernatural events in Christ's life. While some have completely rejected the supernatural as just not possible, others have attempted not only to demythologize with Bultmann, but also desupernaturalize the Christ narrative. Some have proposed such theories as that Christ did not actually die on the cross but was also an idolized fantasy of the disciples.

What grounds do we have for accepting the information available to us about Christ? We come to know of past events from history. Do we have reliable historical evidence for the life of Jesus and particularly for his resurrection?

It s from the New Testament, and particularly the Gospels, that we gain information about Christ. It may be urged that the Gospels are not really historical writings. It is true that they are not historical works such as chronicles are. It is true they are not fully factual reports of past events. But, on the other hand, neither are they fabrications of what did not take place.

It was not the purpose of the evangelists to write history. What they wanted to present to their readers was an interpretation of facts known to them, for a didactive purpose, for catechesis. The Gospel embody a tradition of conviction and faith in Jesus. But this tradition was solidly based on facts of which the evangelists and other contemporary followers of Jesus were perfectly certain, some from personal knowledge. The Gospel narrative cannot be rejected on the ground that it speaks also of supernatural events. In fact, the unique character of the Gospels is that they have a message to the world of the supernatural. In the study of world history with far less supporting evidence than what we have concerning Jesus and his mission.

Nobody saw the actual resurrection, but there were those who saw Christ dying and dead, who saw him buried, and who later saw the tomb empty. There were many who saw the risen Christ and conversed with him, sometimes individually and sometimes in groups. They saw him on many occasions and in various places. Paul as it were lists the major appearances of Jesus when he says: "I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles" (1 Cor.15:3-7)

Some of those who do not wish to accept the supernatural character of the resurrection have suggested that there really was no factual resurrection but the followers of Jesus had reached such an idolized image of the man they looked upon as their master that they looked backwards and formed an idolize background too to match that image. This would mean that the supernatural aspect of the New Testament narrative is only an imaginative creation.

The resurrection was the key event in the life of Christ, which revived, confirmed and sublimated the disciples' faith in him. It is unlikely they would have taken the path they actually did in witnessing to and becoming messengers of his teaching even at the cost of their lives, had his life ended in the grave as in the case of other mortals.

The beginnings of Christianity, the two centuries of bitter persecution it endured, and the course it took thereafter cannot be understood nor explained except in terms of the resurrection, which as St Paul tells the Corinthians, was the main didactic argument of Christianity. This would not have been so if the early followers of Jesus had not been thoroughly convinced of the resurrection, is some of them had not personally witnessed the death of Christ and seen him after the resurrection.

Thus, we believe in Christ's resurrection because there is solid historical evidence for it.