After-Death Communications and the Resurrection of Jesus: An Engagement with Ken Vincent and Gary Habermas

Were the post-resurrection sightings of Jesus instances of after-death communication (ADC) commonly found in the literature on the paranormal? Ken Vincent argues that they were, whereas Gary Habermas refutes this, insisting that Jesus appeared in carnal form. The two scholars are agreed, however, that the disciples’ experiences were veridical and not subjective. In the present article I agree with Vincent against Habermas that the disciples experienced visions, but disagree that they were veridical. By reference to the work of Phillip Wiebe on Christic visions, I show that the claims of some people in the modern age to have ‘seen’ Jesus are relatively common, and that as these are generally regarded as subjective visions, it is feasible to argue that the disciples’ sightings of Jesus were of a similar kind. As they would have been in a state of bereavement following the death of their beloved ‘attachment figure’, I apply the findings of contemporary studies on bereavement visions, concluding that at least one of the disciples had such an experience, and that the group visions may be explicable in terms of collective delusions.