I don't find it puzzling at all. Muhammed did similar highly impressive things, but Christians never seem to want to talk about him.
As for the professor's points - almost all of the things he claims have no independent historical evidence apart from the bible. If someone called Jesus did exist, we know virtually nothing reliable about him.
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Assuming this is a reasonable accounting of the “history” involved, why did Jesus’ disciples insist he had resurrected and risk their necks for seemingly no gain and a lot of hardship when they would have been so much better off slinking away?
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Have you heard of Falun Gong? Of Buddhist monks? They suffer massive persecution without any promise of reward. Jesus promised eternal life to those who followed him, and forgiveness from the jealous, spiteful, scary God portrayed in the OT. Is it that surprising that some were taken by his message - especially if he performed convincing miracles?
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Assuming this is a reasonable accounting of the “history” involved, why did Jesus’ disciples insist he had resurrected and risk their necks for seemingly no gain and a lot of hardship when they would have been so much better off slinking away?
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only thing we independently know is that a certain religious groups became an occasional problem for Roman authorities some years after Jesus's death. It's likely many believed he rose from the dead, if that story was told. Just as millions today belief absolutely in the the blatant fraud, the
Sai Baba, even in this modern age.
I wrote a piece a while back about various scenarios of how the Jesus stories and following could have come about. There are many plausible explanations that don't involve a corpse coming back to life.