Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
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resort, and if c hallenged, the remains c ould always have been produced. It is the
complete failure of anyone to produce the remains, or to point to any tomb, official
or otherwise, in which they were said to lie, which ultimately destroys every theory
based upon the human removal of the body.
4 That Jesus did not really die on t he Cross
I inc lude this suggestion here more for the sake of c ompleteness than in the
expec t at ion t hat t he reader will desire t o hear it seriously argued. It is really lit t le
more than an historic al c uriosity. Driven by the immense strength and c ogenc y of
the c ase for the empty tomb, the German rationalist Venturini put forward the
suggestion that Christ did not ac tually die upon the Cross, but fainted, and that in
the cool temperature of the grave He recovered and subsequently appeared to the
disc iples.
T his suggest ion, while at t empt ing t o produc e a st ric t ly rat ional explanat ion of
the post-Cruc ifixion phenomena, is surely t he least rat ional of all. It ignores t he
deadly c harac ter of the wounds inflic ted upon Jesus, the frightful lac eration of the
hands and feet, the loss of strength through the ebbing away of blood, the
hopelessness of human aid during the c ritic al moments when it would be most
needed, the tight-drawn bandages of the grave, the heavy stone. To try even to
think of what would happen t o an ut t erly c ollapsed c onst it ut ion, bleeding from five
torn and untended wounds, lying on the c old slab of a tomb in April without human
suc c our of any kind, is to realize at onc e the unreason of the argument. But the
death-blow to this theory was dealt long ago by t he dist inguished c rit ic , St rauss, in
a passage whic h will repay st udy.
5 That the Women made a Mistake
This brings us to a suggestion whic h c an only be disc ussed fully when we have
studied in some detail the historic enc ounter at the tomb, but there are certain
broad and general c onsequenc es of the theory whic h c an more c onveniently be
considered here.
The suggestion is that when Mary Magdalene and her friends c ame to the
Garden on Sunday morning the light was very dim; indeed, that dawn was only just
breaking. Things take unusual shapes in the semi-darkness, and it is thought that
in these c irc umstanc es the women may have made a quite genuine mistake in
identifying the grave. It is suggested that, on reac hing a tomb whic h they
unexpec tedly found to be open they enc ountered a young man – the gardener has
been indicated – who, rec ognizing t heir mission, t ried t o t ell t hem t hat Jesus was
not there. The women were terrified, however, at the discovery of their errand, and
wit hout wait ing for the young man to finish his sentenc e and thus explain their
mistake, they fled from the Garden.
It will be observed t hat t his t heory, despit e it s appearanc e of rat ionalit y, has
one peculiar weakness. If it was so dark that the women accidentally went to the
wrong tomb, it is exceedingly improbable that the gardener would have been at
work. If it was late enough and light enough for the gardener to be at work, it is