The movement of the earth and the resurrection

During the middle ages, people didn't typically believe the earth moved.  The notion that it both revolved around the sun and that it rotated at the same time seemed hopelessly complicated and untidy.  Even so, a few natural philosophers (we'd call them scientists today), such as Nicole Oresme (c. 1325-1382), believed that the complicated movement was, in fact, the truth (James Hannam, The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution, pp. 182ff). 

Similarly, Jesus's resurrection from the dead seems equally preposterous.  When people die, they stay dead, so the thinking goes.  And yet, just as anomalies in the sky eventually demanded that we acknowledge the revolution and rotation of the earth, historical and contemporary facts demand that we consider his resurrection a reality.  Yes, dead people stay dead.  That's kind of the point.  His resurrection is amazing, even earth-shattering. 

Next week I'll look at some of the reasons I believe it to be literally true. 

Note: This is the first post in a blog series I'm calling "Faith Matters."  I intend to look at topics related to Christian evidences, book reviews, and aesthetic evidences that Jesus is real and the Bible is true.