Using the minimal facts every scholar accepts about Jesus, this book uniquely blends current New Testament thinking and research from the fields of psychology, neurology, and social sciences to argue that Jesus' physical resurrection from the dead is the most probable explanation for the appearance claims of the disciples and St. Paul.

The book shows that the disciples and St. Paul were in no position to invent the appearances, especially as Jesus was executed as a criminal and Messianic pretender. With the resurrection the last thing they expected, and with no evidence of any evolutionary development, only the sudden appearances of Jesus explains their explosive transition from faithless to fearless.