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So far as I know, Michael Goulder was the first modern writer to offer a refutation of the "five facts" case for the resurrection of Jesus, summed up in his essay "The Baseless Fabric of a Vision" which brought up guilt and grief hallucinations, and compared group sightings of the risen Jesus to sightings of Big Foot.

Several years later, Gerd Ludemann authored a book called The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry (or via: amazon.co.uk), making similar comparisons and dismissing the empty tomb as a legend. The works of Goulder and Ludemann are pioneer works and are praiseworthy for that reason alone, but I never felt that they were overly convincing or that they had marshalled a mountain of supporting evidence for their case.

In 2005, The groundbreaking book The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave (or via: amazon.co.uk), became available, and while some of the material is redundant and a little bit of it seems worth skipping, overall it was a very good volume because it was a strongly argued (if mostly defensive) case against the resurrection of Jesus.

Most recently, Chris Hallquist's UFOs, Ghosts, and a Rising God (or via: amazon.co.uk) and Kris Komarnitsky's Doubting Jesus' Resurrection (or via: amazon.co.uk) came out. Though the former is by far more fun and interesting (being written in a conversational tone with a ton of fun facts about paranormal and alien debunking) the latter, in my judgement, was the one and only book you'd ever really need to hear the skeptic's point of view about resurrection arguments. It was concise, well-researched, and firmly made the point that the origin of Christianity could plausibly be explained in natural terms (my only gripe against this is that I wish Komarnitsky would have gone further and said that its origin was more plausibly explained by natural means than supernatural ones).

I have now added yet another volume to the list. Extraordinary Claims, Extraordinary Evidence, and the Resurrection of Jesus (or via: amazon.co.uk) by Nicholas Covington is now available. I've collected not only the responses to the positive arguments for the resurrection, but I have also created some arguments against the resurrection, some of which, as far as I know, have never been pointed out by anyone else. The book is intended to be a strong, robust, unique take on the whole issue. The opening chapter also makes the case that miracle claims must meet a high burden of proof (extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence) and shreds the standard objections to it.

Toto

“The Baseless Fabric of a Vision”. In Gavin D'Costa (ed.),Resurrection Reconsidered (or via: amazon.co.uk). Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1996: 48-61

outhouse

from joseph A throwing the body in a pit and stating I put him in his tomb, "whoops hes gone" the next day


but reality is mythical fiction and belief in a spirtitual resurrection over that of a later misinterpreted physical one

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Thanks Toto! I was having trouble remembering the name of that book when I wrote the post.