"If they had connived a scheme, and Christ had not been raised from the dead, where would have been the hardest place on the face of the earth to convince anyone? In Jerusalem"
About this Quote
McDowell’s line is an apologetics mic drop dressed as a geography lesson. It doesn’t try to “prove” the resurrection by adding new evidence; it reframes plausibility. If Christianity began as a con, he argues, its founders picked the single worst market for a lie: the city where the execution happened, where authorities could produce a body, where eyewitnesses and enemies were clustered, where the story could be strangled in its crib. “In Jerusalem” lands like a punchline because it turns the skeptic’s premise against itself: a fabricated miracle should die fastest at the point of origin.
The subtext is strategic. McDowell is writing to readers who suspect early Christians of mythmaking or propaganda. By emphasizing “connived a scheme,” he invites the cynical read, then treats it as self-defeating. This is less courtroom logic than rhetorical pressure: if the claim survived in hostile territory, maybe it wasn’t merely social contagion.
Context matters: modern evangelical apologetics often treats the resurrection as a historical claim that can be argued like a case file. McDowell’s broader project leans on that “minimal facts” vibe, appealing to common sense over theology. The line also subtly flatters the audience’s rationality: you’re not being asked to suspend disbelief, just to notice that scams usually start where verification is hardest, not easiest.
It’s persuasive because it narrows the debate to a single, vivid scenario, even as it glides past alternative explanations (fear, rumor, visionary experiences) that don’t require a literal body-in-a-tomb showdown.
The subtext is strategic. McDowell is writing to readers who suspect early Christians of mythmaking or propaganda. By emphasizing “connived a scheme,” he invites the cynical read, then treats it as self-defeating. This is less courtroom logic than rhetorical pressure: if the claim survived in hostile territory, maybe it wasn’t merely social contagion.
Context matters: modern evangelical apologetics often treats the resurrection as a historical claim that can be argued like a case file. McDowell’s broader project leans on that “minimal facts” vibe, appealing to common sense over theology. The line also subtly flatters the audience’s rationality: you’re not being asked to suspend disbelief, just to notice that scams usually start where verification is hardest, not easiest.
It’s persuasive because it narrows the debate to a single, vivid scenario, even as it glides past alternative explanations (fear, rumor, visionary experiences) that don’t require a literal body-in-a-tomb showdown.
Quote Details
| Topic | Faith |
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