The Resurrection & Hallucinations
This
past Easter Sunday I read something on the
resurrection of Jesus. Gary Habermas is a specialist in resurrection studies
and he teamed up with medical doctor Joseph Bergeron to look at the claims that
the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus can be explained naturalistically in
terms of psychiatric processes.
Their
essay is entitled: "The Resurrection of Jesus: A Clinical Review of
Psychiatric Hypotheses for the Biblical Story of Easter" Irish
Theological Quarterly (2015)--available online: The Resurrection of Jesus: A Clinical Review of Psychiatric Hypotheses for the Biblical Story of Easter
Habermas
and Bergeron look at a number of psychiatric hypotheses: hallucinations,
conversions disorder, and bereavement-related visions. What is unique to their
paper is that they examine these hypotheses in relation to current medical
literature. I want to focus attention on just the issue of hallucinations.
Many
times a historian or theologian will allege that what the disciples experienced
were hallucinations but there is little to no interaction with the medical
understanding of hallucinations. By examining the medical literature on these
matters Habermas and Bergeron are able to assess whether the hallucination
hypothesis actually fits the evidence we have.
Here
are a few pieces from their essay:
"It
is noteworthy that hallucinations are private experiences. Hallucination
hypotheses, therefore, are unable to explain the disciples' simultaneous group
encounters with the resurrected Jesus. While some may consider the disciples'
post-crucifixion group encounters with the resurrected Jesus as collective
simultaneous hallucinations, such an explanation is far outside mainstream
clinical thought. What are the odds that separate individuals in a group could
experience simultaneous and identical psychological phenomena mixed with
hallucinations? This is a non sequitur. Concordantly, the concept of collective-hallucination
is not found in peer reviewed medical and psychological literature."
____________
"The
proposed hallucination hypotheses are naive in the light of medical and
psychiatric pathognomic considerations. Those suffering illnesses characterized
by hallucinations are sick. They require medical and psychosocial support, a
structured environment, pharmacological support, and behavioural treatment.
Persons suffering from psychosis in Jesus' time, not having benefit of modern
medical treatment, might well be considered lunatics or demon possessed (e.g.,
Matt 4:24). They would be unlikely candidates to organize as a group and
implement the rapid and historic widespread expansion of the Christian religion
during the first century."
___________
"Further,
if Jesus' tomb had been found empty, as a majority of scholars now concur was
the case, this would be an additional factor counting against a purely
psychiatric hypothesis for the biblical account of Easter."
___________
Habermas
and Bergeron also examine "conversion disorders" as well as
"bereavement-related visions" and conclude, in light of current
medical understanding, such views are "clinically implausible and
historically unconvincing." This, of course, doesn't "prove"
the resurrection but it does remove one attempted avenue to explain it away as
a mere psychological process.
