The Case For Christ

when you look at the narratives closely, you see divergences that
suggest that even if Matthew and Luke did know Mark's account,
nevertheless they also had separate, independent sources for the
empty tomb story. So with these multiple and independent
accounts, no historian would disregard this evidence just because
of secondary discrepancies. Let me give you a secular example.
We have two narratives of Hannibal crossing the Alps to attack
Rome, and they're incompatible and irreconcilable. Yet no
classical historian doubts the fact that Hannibal did mount such
a campaign. That's a nonbiblical illustration of discrepancies in
secondary details failing to undermine the historical core of a
historical story." I conceded the power of that argument. And as
I reflected on Martin's critique, it seemed to me that some of
his alleged contradictions could be rather easily reconciled. I
mentioned this to Craig by saying, "Aren't there ways to
harmonize some of the differences among these accounts?"
"Yes, that's right, there are," Craig replied. "For example, the
time of the visit to the tomb. One writer might describe it as
still being dark, the other might be saying it was getting light,
but that's sort of like the optimist and the pessimist arguing
over whether the glass was half empty or half full. It was around
dawn, and they were describing the same thing with different
words.
As for the number and names of the women, none of the gospels
pretend to give a complete list. They all include Mary Magdalene
and other women, so there was probably a gaggle of these early
disciples that included those who were named and probably a
couple of others. I think it would be pedantic to say that's a
contradiction." "What about the different accounts of what
happened afterward?" I asked. "Mark said the women didn't tell
anybody, and the other gospels say they did."
Craig explained, "When you look at Mark's theology, he loves to
emphasize awe and fright and terror and worship in the presence
of the divine. So this reaction of the women-of fleeing with fear
and trembling, and saying nothing to anyone because they were
afraidis all part of Mark's literary and theological style.
It could well be that this was a temporary silence, and then the
women went back and told the others what had happened. In fact,"
he concluded with a grin, "it had to be a temporary silence;
otherwise Mark couldn't be telling the story about it!"
I wanted to ask about one other commonly cited discrepancy.