The New Testament offers us three types of post-resurrection appearances of Jesus:
1) Mystical visions, like Paul's and those he speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.
2) Jesus appears as, or in the form of, another person.
3) "Tangible" manifestations where he appears in his crucified body, allows Thomas to fondle his wounds, eats fish with the disciples, etc.
The first type do not require any physical resurrection, or even an historical Jesus (as contrasted with a "Jesus" who was originally what New Age types now call a "channeled entity" whose crucifixion or spiritual sacrifice took place in a heavenly realm--see the Book of Hebrews). The second type are explicable in terms of mistaken identity or "Elvis sighting" rumors that caught hold in the early Christian community and accumulated embellishments as time went on. The synoptic Gospels also attest to a widespread belief that Jesus was a resurrection of John the Baptist. If the Gospels are correct that this kind of belief about the nature of resurrection was current at the time, then it is also possible that Jesus' followers genuinely thought he was appearing to them in the form of a gardener or a stranger on the road to Emmaus who had a deep knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. Again, rumor and embellishment could accumulate over time as devoted followers start trying to "see" Jesus everywhere. This class of "appearances" also does not require a bodily resurrection or even anything paranormal.
The third class of resurrection appearances would require some kind of paranormal event to have taken place. But note how they contradict the second class of Jesus apparitions. I'm not going to post a horrid picture here; anyone who wishes to can do a Google Images search for "Passion of the Christ." It is blatantly obvious that no one would mistake a ghastly reanimated crucified body for a gardener or a teacher of Scripture. Since they are not even consistent with other Gospel resurrection claims, we have no reason to suspect they occurred, or consider them to be the product of any authentic tradition passing down "eyewitness" reports. And even if they were, we also have eyewitness reports of appearances of Sasquatch and little gray aliens in spaceships. The latter actually have more evidence (dubious though it may be) than there is for Jesus' resurrection, as there are also photographs, films, tracks (Sasquatch) or landing traces (UFO's), etc..
The most charitable possible interpretation of the NT resurrection accounts would be to grant that Jesus' followers witnessed appearances of a teleporting shape-shifter, a being able to appear as an un-wounded stranger, or manifest realistic physical wounds at will. Granting Christians this is just as devastating as not doing so. After all, if Jesus' followers encountered a being able to shape-shift, how could they (much less people living 2000 years later) know it was Jesus at all?
