Amaleq13

Yes and placed in the mouth of Paul no less:

"and when they did complete all the things written about him, having taken [him] down from the tree, they laid him in a tomb;" (Acts 13:29, YLT)

mens_sana

So does the image linked below. The nail was driven through the ankle into a knot in the olive wood. The body was given to the family (presumably after a hefty bribe) but the nail was stuck in the knot, so the body was buried with knot and nail.

http://images.google.com/images?q=cr...=Search+Images

P.S. I don't know how to fashion a link. I've noticed that some of the book titles I've mentioned have been edited so that they link. I would appreciate an e-mail that gives me verrry, simple (6th grade reading level & vocabulary) 1-2-3-type instructions in how to do this.

mens_sana

I take it you mean arguments like the following? At the time this was written, it was considered pretty convincing.

It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the world, and the “pillar and ground� of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh. From which fact, it is evident that the Word, the Artificer of all, He that sitteth upon the cherubim, and contains all things, He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit.
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Bk III, XI,8

mens_sana

Belief in the resurrection was very early on (e.g. Paul), but the details need not be early at all. When one is telling a story, the "unknowns" tend to get filled in by the storyteller, just as some shaggy dog jokes get elaborated. The Infancy Gospels filled in details for people who wanted to know more than the zilch Matthew and Luke told about the young Jesus.

As to how a resurrection belief could have started:

Two missionary disciples are walking down a dusty road, several days journey north of Jerusalem, when they come upon two others resting on the verge.

"What's happening in Jerusalem these days? We've been on the road for weeks."

"Then you haven't heard, our Lord was crucified on Passover last week. All the disciples have fled to Galilee."

"How can that be? We were healing and casting out demons in his name just yesterday?!"

[Credit for this example to J.D.Crossan]