Community Dialogue to Address Plausibility of Jesus’ Resurrection

Just in time for the Lenten season and Easter, the University of Findlay will host a Resurrection of Jesus Community Dialogue. On Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. in Winebrenner Theological Seminary’s TLB Auditorium, a panel of speakers with religious expertise will address Christian and atheistic concepts related to the plausibility of Jesus’ resurrection.
The event will be free and open to the public. Reservations are not required, but are appreciated by visiting (****add link).
Featured speakers will be Michael Licona, Ph.D., from Houston Baptist University and Lawrence Shapiro, Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Moderating will be Bacho Bordjadze, a mission team leader for The Ohio State University’s Cru student ministries group.
Pastor Matt Ginter, director of Campus Ministries, said this event is in keeping with the University of Findlay’s continuing theological and vocational offerings that have focused on discourse, explorations of faith, and public involvement.“We have seen some wonderful opportunities for civil discourse around subjects of faith in recent years, with offerings like the Freed Contemporary Lecture Series and speakers sponsored by the Religious Studies department presenting on a variety of topics,” Ginter said. “Perhaps somewhat uniquely in this instance, we have sought out something of polar opposite opinions in regards to a central issue of the Christian faith: the resurrection of Jesus. It is exciting to have the opportunity to address such an important issue in such an engaging way.”
Licona is an associate professor of theology. He is a preeminent scholar whose expertise lies in the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and the historical reliability of the Gospels. His academic books include “The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach” and “Why Are There Differences in the Gospels: What We Can Learn from Ancient Biography.”
Shapiro is a philosophy professor whose research focuses on the philosophy of psychology. His research spans philosophy of mind and philosophy of psychology. Within philosophy of mind he has focused on issues related to reduction, especially concerning the thesis of multiple realization. His books “The Mind Incarnate” and “The Multiple Realization Book,” the latter of which was co-authored with Thomas Polger at the University of Cincinnati, as well as articles in The Journal of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research examine these issues. His interests in philosophy and psychology include topics in computation theories of vision, evolutionary psychology and embodied cognition.
The majority of The Resurrection of Jesus Open Dialogue is being funded through the same Lily Endowment Incorporated grant that is supporting UF’s annual residential theological summer camp, called The Well, for high school students.