Contradictions in the resurrection accounts
The four canonical Gospels give irreconcilably different accounts of the empty tomb and the resurrection appearances.
The premise
The resurrection is the central claim of Christianity. If the Gospel accounts of the empty tomb and the post-resurrection appearances contradict each other on basic historical facts, their reliability as eyewitness testimony is severely compromised.
Who went to the tomb?
“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.”Mark 16:1
“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.”Matthew 28:1
“Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.”Luke 24:10
“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.”John 20:1
What did they see?
“And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe...”Mark 16:5
“And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone...”Matthew 28:2
“While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.”Luke 24:4
“And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain...”John 20:12
The verdict
Bart Ehrman and other critical scholars note that these are not minor variations that can be harmonized; they are fundamentally different narratives with different theological agendas. The discrepancies suggest the stories evolved over time rather than being recorded by eyewitnesses.
Pressure points (counter-apologetics)
Harmonization theory
Apologists often try to merge all the women and angels into one massive group, but this ignores the specific grammatical constraints of each Gospel text. For example, Mark says they said 'nothing to anyone' (16:8), while Matthew says they ran to tell the disciples (28:8).
Mark's ending
The earliest manuscripts of Mark end at 16:8 with the women fleeing in terror and saying nothing to anyone, lacking any resurrection appearance entirely. The longer ending (16:9-20) is a later addition.