Theory

Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 21

Swoon theory

Proposed by Heinrich E.G. Paulus in The Life of


Jesus (1828), the swoon theory states that
Jesus was not actually dead when He was
removed from the Cross. Instead, He had
fallen into a coma-like state (a swoon) on the
Cross and was then buried in a tomb in that
condition. He later revived, rolled away the
tomb’s stone from the inside, evaded the
Roman guards, and escaped. He then
appeared to His disciples proclaiming He had
conquered death. But rather than making a
full recovery, Jesus died soon thereafter due
to His numerous injuries.
In his popular book, The Passover Plot (1969), radical
New Testament scholar Hugh J. Schonfield attempted
to resurrect the swoon theory with some modifications.1
He proposed that Jesus set out to fulfill the Old
Testament’s messianic prophecies. According to
Schonfield’s version of the swoon theory, Jesus enlisted
the aid of men like Joseph of Arimathea and Lazarus of
Bethany to help Him accomplish an elaborate hoax.
Joseph arranged for an unidentified person to give
Jesus a drink on the Cross that would cause Him to lose
consciousness and appear to be dead. However, no
one involved in the scheme anticipated the spear
wound, which gravely injured Jesus. He was removed
from the tomb the next day, briefly regaining
The swoon hypothesis is any of a
number of ideas that aim to explain
the resurrection of Jesus, proposing
that Jesus did not die on the cross,
but merely fell unconscious
("swooned"), and was later revived in
the tomb in the same mortal body.
Did Jesus Fake His Death?
Neither the swoon theory nor its stepchild, the
Passover plot, can account for the evidence,
although these views cleverly attempt to bypass
Christ’s death by crucifixion, claiming that He
merely deceived others into thinking He had died.
So these views rely upon Jesus being a very clever
deceiver and a fraud. This is certainly a different
view of Jesus than most scholars hold—even many
ardent skeptics admit that Jesus was highly moral.
Roman Soldiers and Death

A major problem with the swoon theory is that it


implies that Roman soldiers were too
incompetent to determine whether or not Jesus
was actually dead. However, the soldiers at the
Cross would readily recognize the signs of death.
After all, that was their job, they performed
numerous crucifixions (which is not just any
commonplace form of execution), and the
Romans were lethally efficient.
Brutality of Crucifixion
The Lord’s suffering began with an intense
“agony” while He prayed in the Garden
of Gethsemane. His sweat fell “like great
drops of blood” (Luke 22:44). This rare
condition is known as hematidrosis or
hematohidrosis and is caused by the
rupture of tiny capillaries that feed the
sweat glands, and is brought on by
conditions of extreme physical or
emotional stress.3
Crown of thorns
A crown of thorns was placed on the
head of Jesus (Matt. 27:29). There are
different thorn bushes growing in the
region with thorns being very short to quite
long. Even short thorns can tear the scalp.
The crown was woven and then pressed
down around the head ripping the skin.
Bleeding would then occur.
Crucifixion
The arms are pulled apart and nails driven through the wrist into a cross
beam which is raised in place. This dislocates the hand and nail on
crossshoulders. The nails in the wrists sever the median nerve resulting in
a burning pain as well as paralysis in the hand. To breathe Jesus had to
press up on the nails in His feet, scraping His raw back on the wood. The
body gradually drains of blood causing the heart to beat faster and
faster. Dehydration is occurring. The breathing becomes more labored
and intense as well as frequent, adding to the agony. The blood loss
results in extreme thirst as the body craves water to restore the lost blood.
Jesus said, "I thirst" (John 19:28). The heart beats so hard trying to
compensate for the loss of oxygen (due to the lack of blood) in the
body, that it eventually ruptures. At this point, the chest cavity fills with
fluid. The soldier pierced Jesus' side and out came blood and water,
Nine pieces of evidence refute
the swoon theory:
Nine pieces of evidence refute the swoon
theory:

(1) Jesus could not have survived


crucifixion. Roman procedures were very
careful to eliminate that possibility. Roman
law even laid the death penalty on any
soldier who let a capital prisoner escape
in any way, including bungling a
crucifixion. It was never done.
(2) The fact that the Roman soldier
did not break Jesus' legs, as he did to
the other two crucified criminals (Jn
19:31-33), means that the soldier was
sure Jesus was dead. Breaking the
legs hastened the death so that the
corpse could be taken down before
the sabbath (v. 31).
(3) John, an eyewitness,
certified that he saw blood and
water come from Jesus' pierced
heart (Jn 19:34-35). This shows
that Jesus' lungs had collapsed
and he had died of
asphyxiation. Any medical
expert can vouch for this
(4) The body was totally
encased in winding
sheets and entombed
(Jn 19:38-42).
(5) The post-resurrection appearances
convinced the disciples, even
"doubting Thomas," that Jesus was
gloriously alive (Jn 20:19-29). It is
psychologically impossible for the
disciples to have been so transformed
and confident if Jesus had merely
struggled out of a swoon, badly in
need of a doctor. A half-dead,
staggering sick man who has just had
a narrow escape is not worshiped
fearlessly as divine lord and conquerer
(6) How were the Roman guards
at the tomb overpowered by a
swooning corpse? Or by
unarmed disciples? And if the
disciples did it, they knowingly
lied when they wrote the
Gospels, and we are into the
conspiracy theory, which we will
refute shortly.
(7) How could a swooning half-dead
man have moved the great stone at
the door of the tomb? Who moved
the stone if not an angel? No one
has ever answered that question.
Neither the Jews nor the Romans
would move it, for it was in both their
interests to keep the tomb sealed:
the Jews had the stone put there in
the first place, and the Roman
guards would be killed if they let the
body "escape."
(8) If Jesus awoke from a swoon,
where did he go? Think this through:
you have a living body to deal with
now, not a dead one. Why did it
disappear? There is absolutely no
data, not even any false, fantastic,
imagined data, about Jesus' life after
his crucifixion, in any sources, friend or
foe, at any time, early or late. A man
like that, with a past like that, would
(9) Most simply, the swoon
theory necessarily turns into
the conspiracy theory or the
hallucination theory, for the
disciples testified that Jesus
did not swoon but really died
and really rose.
It may seem that these nine
arguments have violated our initial
principle about not presupposing
the truth of the Gospel texts, since
we have argued from data in the
texts. But the swoon theory does
not challenge the truths in the texts
which we refer to as data; it uses
them and explains them (by swoon
rather than resurrection).
Thank you and God bless everyone

You might also like