"The first thing that stuck in the minds of the disciples was not the empty tomb, but rather the empty grave clothes - undisturbed in form and position"
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McDowell’s move here is classic apologetics: he doesn’t lead with the headline miracle, he leads with the “forensic” detail. An empty tomb can be explained away with the usual roster of alternatives (the body was moved, the location was wrong, someone lied). Empty grave clothes, “undisturbed in form and position,” aims to narrow the escape routes. It’s a writerly sleight of hand that feels like courtroom theater: don’t argue the big claim first; make the audience feel the small, stubborn facts piling up until the big claim seems like the only clean fit.
The specific intent is persuasion through vivid specificity. “Stuck in the minds” frames the disciples not as myth-makers but as witnesses haunted by an image. “Undisturbed” is doing the heavy lifting: it implies no frantic unwrapping, no theft, no human handling. The subtext is, If you grant this detail, you’ve already granted the logic of resurrection; the body didn’t exit the normal way.
Context matters because this line trades on a particular reading of John 20:6-7, where the linens are described as lying there and the face cloth separately. McDowell, writing for modern skeptics, recasts that passage in quasi-scientific language: “form and position” suggests a shell left behind, as if the body passed through the fabric. That’s not merely exegesis; it’s rhetorical engineering, designed to make belief feel less like a leap and more like a conclusion. The risk is obvious: the more the argument leans on reconstructed physical staging, the more it invites counter-readings of the text. But as a piece of cultural persuasion, it’s effective because it offers a mental photograph, not a doctrine.
The specific intent is persuasion through vivid specificity. “Stuck in the minds” frames the disciples not as myth-makers but as witnesses haunted by an image. “Undisturbed” is doing the heavy lifting: it implies no frantic unwrapping, no theft, no human handling. The subtext is, If you grant this detail, you’ve already granted the logic of resurrection; the body didn’t exit the normal way.
Context matters because this line trades on a particular reading of John 20:6-7, where the linens are described as lying there and the face cloth separately. McDowell, writing for modern skeptics, recasts that passage in quasi-scientific language: “form and position” suggests a shell left behind, as if the body passed through the fabric. That’s not merely exegesis; it’s rhetorical engineering, designed to make belief feel less like a leap and more like a conclusion. The risk is obvious: the more the argument leans on reconstructed physical staging, the more it invites counter-readings of the text. But as a piece of cultural persuasion, it’s effective because it offers a mental photograph, not a doctrine.
Quote Details
| Topic | Bible |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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