The Righter Report

Royal Professors of Law and History on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

June 18, 2020

If you were to meet the greatest scholar in the history of the law school of Harvard University, it would be Simon Greenleaf, Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University, who made that school what it was. He was the greatest single authority on legal evidences in the history of Law, and who authored the classic three volume work, “A Treatise on the Laws of Evidence.” Many of the laws of evidence used in our courtrooms today were written by Simon Greenleaf. He was once challenged to examine the evidence for the resurrection of Christ. After having examined every thread of evidence for the Resurrection, this man, who started as a disbeliever, concluded that if the evidence for the resurrection of Christ were presented before any unbiased courtroom in the world, they would have to conclude that Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead. – Professor Dr. Simon Greenleaf, “Testimony of the Evangelists.”

Or consider Lord Lyndhurst, recognized as one of the greatest legal minds in British history. He had conferred upon him the highest honors any judge or jurist could ever have. He was elected as Solicitor-General of the British government in 1819, then the attorney general of Great Britain, and finally, he was the High Chancellor of England. He was elected as the High Steward of the University of Cambridge, thus holding in one lifetime the highest offices that any judge in Great Britain could ever have conferred upon him (and which no other person ever received). What did he say? If this isn’t a statement of incredible humility, I have never heard one. This man, with all those titles, said: “I know pretty well what evidence is; and I tell you, such evidence as that for the Resurrection [of Christ] has never broken down yet.”

One more – Thomas Arnold, who said this: “I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.” – Thomas Arnold, Regius Professor of History at Oxnard University and author of the three volume work, “History of Rome.” Source: Christian Life, Its Hopes, Its Fears, and its Close,” 6th ed. (London: T. Fellowes, 1859), pp. 15-16.

God bless!

– The Righter Report

June 18, 2020 - Posted by Pete Righter | Evangelical, History, Human Interest, Theology, Theology Articles | Apologetics, Christian History, Jesus, Resurrection