The Burial of Jesus Part 1

 Three stages in the argument for and against the burial of Jesus: 

1. The probability relative to our background knowledge. The prior probability. This includes things like the frequency of burial for crucifixion victims, the practices of the Romans, Pilate’s character, Old Testament precedent, Acts, 1 Corinthians 15 creed etc. 

2. Direct evidence for the hypothesis (i.e. any data that is less surprising on B than on ~B). This includes things like the Gospels’ testimony, the potential location of the tomb, 1 Corinthians 15 creed, evidence for the empty tomb, etc.  

3. Direct evidence against the hypothesis (i.e. any data that is more surprising on B than on ~B). This usually includes the discrepancies in the Gospels, the lack of the tomb, Paul’s silence, parallels in other religions, the non-historicity of Joseph, etc.