Published debate record
7 eligible one-on-one scorecards. Average published score: 81/100. Scores describe these debates, not the person's overall ability or worth.
Mike Licona vs Richard Carrier: Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? · 2010
Licona argued resurrection best explains early testimony; Carrier countered that prior probability, visionary mechanisms, and source limitations preserve stronger natural explanations.
Mike Licona: 80 · Richard Carrier: 83. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Mike Licona vs Matt Dillahunty: Was Jesus Raised from the Dead? · 2017
Licona defended resurrection through historical and comparative inference; Dillahunty more effectively separated reported events, unexplained anomalies, supernatural classification, and justified causal attribution.
Mike Licona: 79 · Matt Dillahunty: 88. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Bart Ehrman vs Michael Licona: Who Wrote the Gospels? · 2025
Licona defended traditional Gospel authority through convergent testimony and collaboration; Ehrman prevailed by separating compatibility and reliability from identity-specific authorship evidence.
Michael Licona: 81 · Bart Ehrman: 87. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Shabir Ally vs Michael Licona: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? · 2004
Licona presented a cumulative bodily-resurrection inference; Ally narrowly prevailed by sustaining uncertainty about death, physical appearances, empty-tomb implications, and narrative development.
Michael Licona: 83 · Shabir Ally: 85. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
John Dominic Crossan vs Michael Licona: Who Was the Historical Jesus? · 2018
Crossan defended a kingdom-centered, metaphorical resurrection account, while Licona pressed early-source, divine-identity, and bodily-transformation evidence through disciplined historical distinctions.
John Dominic Crossan: 82 · Michael Licona: 84. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Michael Licona vs Bart Ehrman: Can Historians Prove the Resurrection? · 2008
Ehrman prevailed 79–78 by narrowly pairing strong source criticism and public-evidence burdens against Licona’s comparatively sophisticated but incompletely warranted resurrection inference.
Michael Licona: 78 · Bart Ehrman: 79. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Mike Licona vs Richard Carrier — Did Jesus rise from the dead? · 2004
Licona narrowly prevails through cumulative historical breadth, while Carrier’s Pauline, visionary, source-critical, and prior-probability challenges keep every decisive inference closely contested.
Mike Licona: 82 · Richard Carrier: 81. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.