What became of him after death?
Here history and faith meet. Scholars broadly agree on a few facts that need explaining, but they part ways over what caused them.
When Gary Habermas surveyed more than 1,400 scholarly works from 1975 to 2005, nearly all of them, critical scholars included, agreed that the disciples believed they had seen the risen Jesus. On the empty tomb, about 75% argued in its favour.
Look at the witnesses first, then use ‘Explanations’ to compare which facts each explanation accounts for and which it cannot. That the first witnesses of the empty tomb were women, whose testimony then carried little weight (Mark 16:1–8), is also named as a reason the story is hard to see as invented.
ObjectionCan history judge a miracle?
Many historians, as a matter of method, do not deal with supernatural explanations. That is why this table is a question, not a conclusion. If you do not rule out the supernatural from the start, you can compare for yourself which explanation best holds the facts together.