Page 183 of How Jesus Became God states “What is certain is that the earliest followers of Jesus believed that Jesus had come back to life…” and further down “It is indisputable that some of the followers of Jesus came to think he had been raised from the dead…” and page 184 explains “… it was visions, and nothing else, that led the first disciples to believe in the resurrection.” Then follows a discussion of visions in general and in the bible.

All very interesting, but there’s some leaps here that I do not understand.

First, there is evidence Peter, Paul, and Mary claimed that they had visions – but how can anybody conclude that they were telling the truth? The simpler solution is that they were making it up, but instead Professor Ehrman launches into an analysis of why they might have had a vision. Could it be (and could it be more likely) that visions were part of the overall attempt to embellish Jesus’ powers in order to spread belief?

Second, when he discusses “the earliest followers of Jesus” does he mean the disciples or the disciples’ first group of converts? If the latter it would make more sense, in that they made up a good marketing pitch based on visions and it worked. Or is it that Peter and Mary claimed to have visions and the other 10 disciples believed them?

Thanks for any insight.