Have questions about Christianity? Wonder whether you have to check your brain at the door? Great book! (Seeker, Believer)

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Product Description

Using the dramatic scenario of an investigative journalist pursuing his story and leads, Lee Strobel uses his experience as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune to interview experts about the evidence for Christ from the fields of science, philosophy, and history. Winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award and twice nominated for the Christian Book of the Year Award.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #640 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780310209300
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel's attempt to "determine if there's credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God." The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.

Review
A Seasoned Journalist Chases Down the Biggest Story in History The Project: Determine if there’s credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God. The Reporter: Lee Strobel, educated at Yale Law School, award-winning former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune—with a background of atheism. The Experts: A dozen scholars, with doctorates from Cambridge, Princeton, Brandeis, and other top-flight institutions, who are recognized authorities on Jesus. The Story: Retracing his own spiritual journey, Strobel cross-examines the experts with tough, point-blank questions: How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence exist for Jesus outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual historical event? . . .

This remarkable book reads like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it’s not fiction. It’s a riveting quest for the truth about history’s most compelling figure. What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ -- Publisher

From the Publisher
A Seasoned Journalist Chases Down the Leads in the Biggest News Story in History If you were a journalist, how would you handle a news story so big it would utterly eclipse all other world events? How thorough would your investigation be? How many hard-hitting questions would you ask? How carefully would you consult with top experts to get detailed, accurate answers? Lee Strobel knows firsthand. It was as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and an avowed atheist that he first investigated the greatest news story of all--the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, in The Case for Christ, he presents compelling evidence and expert testimony for the claims of Christianity. As a seasoned journalist with a Yale law background, Strobel systematically tracks down his leads and asks the blunt, tough questions readers themselves would want to ask--questions that can make or break the Christian faith. He refuses contrived, simplistic answers. Instead, he pieces together hard facts through interviews with more than a dozen of the country's top scholars. Written in the style of a blockbuster investigative report, The Case for Christ is apologetics at its most imaginative--gripping, compelling, marshaling expert testimony and incontrovertible evidence. With unerring instincts, Strobel ferrets out Historical Evidence: Do we possess reliable documents concerning the life, teachings, and resurrection of Jesus? Scientific Evidence: Is there archaeological substantiation for the historical accounts about Jesus? Did Jesus perform miracles?

Psychiatric Evidence: Did Jesus really claim to be God? What evidence is there that he fit God's profile? Fingerprint Evidence: What does prophecy have to say about Jesus? Other evidence: Jesus' death, the missing body, eyewitness accounts, and claims of personal encounters. The Case for Christ reads like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it's not fiction. It's a riveting journey to the truth about the most remarkable event in history: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it's a revealing, personal testimony to his power to transform people yet today--even the most cynical, hard-bitten journalist.

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Customer Reviews

One piece of the God puzzle
This book offers a "Cliff Notes" like approach in that it condenses the work of many leading Christian scholars into an easy to read format. It is a case FOR Christ, not a true courtroom "hear both sides of the issue" book.

Some other reviewers disliked the lack of 2-sided arguments (there are no interviews w/leading atheists and/or Jesus Seminar thinkers). Being that the title is the case FOR Christ, I did not hold this expectation and was not bothered by this. However, as a staunch skeptic who was not raised with a Christian background, I supplied much of the case AGAINST Christ in my own head.

WHAT I LIKED: The book presents a good introduction of Christian scholarship and answers to common objections regarding the historicity of the Gospels--objections which already existed in my own mind. Suggestions for further reading (primary sources by the interview subjects) are included for those who desire a more thorough scholarly approach.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: I felt the "re-creation" of Strobel's own search was un-necessary and a bit contrived, as were the comments he interjected when he was interviewing his subjects. Perhaps that is a carry over from his journalism days. I would have prefered a more straightforward interview, but this matter of taste is small and overall I found the book worthwhile despite these stylistic objections.

HOW IT AFFECTED ME: I came to this book as a very skeptical, non-practicing agnostic Jew (who was raised w/a religious education), fresh from my reading CS Lewis' Mere Christianity (which I highly recommend). Book 1 of Lewis, with his logic/philosophy helped me see that the existence of God logically made sense, but I did not yet know *which* version of a monotheistic God was correct--the rest of his book didn't resonate for me on the first reading as it dealt specifically w/Christianity. Strobel's book answered my questions regarding history/fact as it related to the New Testament.

Was The Case for Christ "made" for me in this book? Partially, yes. And partially by Lewis too, which I reread after reading Strobel.

My ultimate conversion came through study of these and other sources, which led me to literally ask God to show himself to me in a way that I would be sure that it was indeed God. I mention this because I believe that for a stubborn skeptic like me, no single source (with the possible exception of the Bible, LOL) would have been able to convince me on its own. Rather, it was a combination of sources/experiences that did so. These included reading the above mentioned books, attending a few church services even while I was still very skeptical, opening myself to the possibility that I had been mistaken in my belief that God didn't matter (if there was even a God to begin with) and literally asking God to let me know him if He was indeed real.

Ultimately, the proof came in a manner that goes beyond scientific verifcation or re-creation. Critics of Christianity and of this and other apologetic works make a good point when they claim God cannot be proved scientifically. I agree. God is beyond science. Scientific or logical methods such as textural criticism, formal logic, archaeology, and so on, can help close the gap in accepting the possibility of God's realness, but ultimately, the gap, at least for me, was completely and finally bridged not by book or proof, but by an experience that cannot be tested scientifically nor recreated in a lab. Skeptics, atheists or agnostics who deep down are married to their viewpoints--no matter what--will likely not budge, and may label the non-testability of my "proof experience" as suspect. I don't begrudge that and would have said the same thing. It had to have it happen to me first-hand before I would believe, and I was able to keep God at bay for years due to my own certainty that this God-stuff was for dummies. I was smart and logical and would have none of that God nonsense. So, this experience came as a big surprise--one that in retrospect was very welcome.

Your mileage in reading this book will vary. If you want to learn something, you can. If you are dead set against learning anything new that might be different from what you already know that you know, it is almost guaranteed that this book will have nothing to offer you. I realize that God's allowing us to come to Him only through our own free will sounds like a cop out and is criticized by non-believers as an all too convenient excuse, but as a former non-believer myself (who was proud of it and who ridiculed that free will stuff too), I say, so be it.

A bit one-sided, but well written & with good contributions
Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" is actually a compilation of answers to questions about Christianity, given by a dozen of experts. Many of these are famous theists like Gregory Boyd and William Lane Craig. Strobel retraces his own journey from atheism to faith, while facing problematic issues like the evidence for Jesus outside the Bible and the resurrection.

I liked several aspects in this book, and disliked a few; For the positive aspect, Strobel's book is very readable, almost always fascinating, and captivating without being heavy. Strobel tries to show that it actually requires a lot more faith for an atheist to maintain atheism than it would to trust in Jesus. All the scholars Strobel interviews try to defuse atheist/skeptical arguments and show that the historical evidence that Jesus was who he claimed to be is overwhelming.

Does Strobel manage to convince you? Well, it will depend. I am very open to Christian arguments, but I am also very receptive to be best arguments against Christianity; your belief when you start the book will inevitably have a strong influence leading you to a final position.

Like other readers, I quickly realized that Strobel's book had a glaring deficiency: Strobel does not show us any direct interview with critics of Christianity. For instance, Gregory Boyd (One of my favorite Evangelical apologists) spends many pages criticizing the Jesus Seminar, but Strobel never lets us read any of their replies. The atheist Michael Martin is also attacked, most times, the arguments against his work are justified, but still, I always had that annoying feeling of not being shown enough of the opposing side. Strobel's method is quoting some skeptical book to a Christian Apologist, and then asking for his comments. Unfortunately, Strobel never does the opposite, quoting passages from Christians to Non-Christians in order to get their responses.

And so, to some readers it might be reasonable to claim that Strobel's book is very unbalanced, failing to show interviews with ANY critic of Evangelical apologetics. People who want the truth will want to hear both sides of the story.

Still, I was left with the feeling that it will be a big mistake to dismiss the entire book on this basis, even if you are a skeptic who will be annoyed by the limitation. The reason? Well, for a start, this book comes with a number of endorsements from high-profile Evangelicals, so it somehow might represent their best arguments; It is also very creative, and well written and organized. It summarizes the work of several leading apologists for Evangelical Christianity, in a compact and accessible format. Ultimately, the evidence provided is far from being completely unconvincing. You might need more, but even the hard skeptic with an open mind will definitely have to stop to think when reading some of the arguments in favor of Christianity.

I suggest you complement this book with something written by skeptics. A good article is "The Rest of The Story", written by Jeffrey J. Lowder especially as a response to this book (Should be freely available on the internet, try Infidels.org). I thought Lowder points some of the flaws in Strobel's book, but still recognizes its value and is never bitter against it, a good article against some weaker parts of this book, but it still justly recognizes the quality of Strobel's contribution.

Overall: Not as balanced as the title would suggest, but very well written, creative, full of quality Christian apologetics from several authors, in a very effective summarized way. Also with a good Summary, Notes and Index, something I always like in my books.

Has its weak points, but I still strongly recommended this work for any theist or atheist seeking truth.

Reads like a great Novel. Engaging anf Powerful!
Lee Strobel has given the Christian community a wonderful apologetic work that reads like a great novel. Strobel is a journalist and has a knack for writing detail that many other authors might miss. "The Case for Christ" is a project that has Strobel traveling the globe to interview some of the more well known Christain philosophers and apologists. Strobel has organized the book into three main parts, each dealing with a crucial issue in the Christian Faith. For example, part one covers the evidence for the Christian faith. What evidence is there? How can the evidence be tested? What is the scientific evidence? All these questions and many more are covered in the first part. Moreover, Strobel seeks answers from top people in many areas of study. Strobel interviews and questions Dr. Craig Blomberg (Denver Seminary), Dr. Bruce Metzger (Princeton University), Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, Dr, Gregory Boyd, Dr. Ben Witherington III (Asbury Seminary), Dr. D.A. Carson (Trinity), Dr. J.P. Moreland (Biola University), Dr. Gary Habermas (Liberty University), Dr. William Lane Craig, etc. Each scholar contributes to the content of the book via Strobel's probing and asking difficult questions. Topics covered are the resurrection, the historicity of Jesus, the person Jesus (i.e. who He was and what He claimed) and the historical evidence for the Christian faith. This book is extremely well written and packed full of wonderful facts. I highly recommend it for the serious reader and the not so serious reader as well.