"The New Testament witnesses were fully aware of the background against which the resurrection took place"

Josh McDowell, a prominent Christian apologist, presumes in his quote that the authors of the New Testimony were not only documenting an occasion, however were also keenly familiar with the more comprehensive historic and cultural contexts in which the resurrection of Jesus took place. To analyze this declaration, we can consider a number of layers of understanding.

To start with, the "witnesses" McDowell refers to are most likely the apostles and other early Christians who are either credited with authorship of the New Testament texts or who played a substantial function in the early church. These individuals lived during or soon after the time of Jesus and were deeply ingrained within a Jewish culture that had specific expectations about the Messiah. They comprehended the significance of a resurrection claim versus the background of Jewish prophecies, such as those discovered in Isaiah, which detail a suffering servant who would ultimately be honored.

Moreover, these witnesses understood the Greco-Roman environment, controlled by polytheistic beliefs and royal ideologies. The message of a reanimated Christ would have stood in plain contrast to the standards of the Roman world, where emperors were deified, and the idea of bodily resurrection was mainly foreign or trivialized by thinkers like the Epicureans. Acknowledging this sharp divergence would have obliged early Christians to provide the resurrection not as a separated wonder but as a transformative event with doctrinal ramifications for both Jews and Gentiles.

Additionally, the socio-political stress of the time, particularly with Rome's inhabiting power, would have included layers of complexity to their message. The proclamation of Jesus as the increased Lord was naturally subversive, challenging both Roman authority and traditional religious doctrines.

Thus, McDowell's assertion welcomes readers to think about the multi-faceted consciousness of the New Testament witnesses. They were acutely familiar with the ramifications their message had in the middle of varied cultural expectations and political realities, which influenced not just how the resurrection was viewed however also how the early Christians articulated their burgeoning faith.