How would you answer Festinger's "cognitive dissonance theory" as a way of refuting these eyewitness accounts of the Resurrection and the strengthening of the community in the wake of Christ's death?
Unless I’m misunderstanding the argument, I would think it is addressed by my second premise, namely that the disciples were not lying/making up the story of Jesus’ resurrection.
If the argument is more so that they were just so in despair at the death of Jesus that they even deceived themselves, I would have two responses. First, my second premise demonstrates that the resurrection accounts are not even unintentionally fabricated, since even unintended lies would certainly be full of inconsistencies and irreconcilable contradiction, not reconcilable variation. Second, as McGrew often points out, it’s not as if the disciples had no meaning in their lives outside of Jesus. They were faithful Jews and had only followed Jesus for three years, they had an entire culture and religion to go back to to find meaning, as the followers of other failed Messiahs had done previously. If anything, one would expect people to want to distance themselves from a failed messiah, not invent claims about him rising from the dead.
Makes sense! Your point about other Messiahs is apt, given the messianic fervor of the time. And yes, I believe the argument is that failed expectations and despair would have resulted in their deceiving even themselves, not that they were lying. Thanks!
How would you answer Festinger's "cognitive dissonance theory" as a way of refuting these eyewitness accounts of the Resurrection and the strengthening of the community in the wake of Christ's death?
Unless I’m misunderstanding the argument, I would think it is addressed by my second premise, namely that the disciples were not lying/making up the story of Jesus’ resurrection.
If the argument is more so that they were just so in despair at the death of Jesus that they even deceived themselves, I would have two responses. First, my second premise demonstrates that the resurrection accounts are not even unintentionally fabricated, since even unintended lies would certainly be full of inconsistencies and irreconcilable contradiction, not reconcilable variation. Second, as McGrew often points out, it’s not as if the disciples had no meaning in their lives outside of Jesus. They were faithful Jews and had only followed Jesus for three years, they had an entire culture and religion to go back to to find meaning, as the followers of other failed Messiahs had done previously. If anything, one would expect people to want to distance themselves from a failed messiah, not invent claims about him rising from the dead.
Makes sense! Your point about other Messiahs is apt, given the messianic fervor of the time. And yes, I believe the argument is that failed expectations and despair would have resulted in their deceiving even themselves, not that they were lying. Thanks!
Just want to mention that Quadratus is a saint and according to Eastern Christian tradition he is one of the 70