The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
by Lee Strobel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lee StrobelEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1998-09-01
ISBN: 0310209307
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Zondervan
Book Reviews of The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
Book Review: Watch Lee Strobel pretend to be a skeptic.
Summary: 1 Stars
Welcome to The Case for Christ, an investigation into the Christian faith with all the intellectual rigor of a teen study Bible. Join Lee Strobel as he examines the evidence from all sides by interviewing theologically conservative male Christians. You'll be astonished by the pronouncements of scholars who don't cite their sources, who appeal to proof-by-martyrdom, who regard early church creeds as evidence of historical events, and and who think first-century Jews believed in Hell. Please keep your hands and your credulity inside the car at all times.
Debunking every piece of nonsense presented in this book would be a book in itself, so I'll stick to underlining a few overarching errors in judgment.
Lee Strobel believes that his background as a legal journalist qualifies him to evaluate the validity of the Christian faith. That's his first mistake. The interview format is a great idea, though, because it allows Strobel to simply record the assertions of his interview subjects without citing sources or asking them to do so. The endnotes Strobel does provide don't begin to cover all the claims his witnesses make. This isn't so bad when someone says, "I think..." but it becomes a serious problem when the interviewee claims that "an increasing number of scholars are expressing serious reservations..." without mentioning who these scholars might be or how he knows this in the first place.
Strobel second mistake is to loudly proclaim his skepticism (though he is a professing Christian) while interviewing only people who agree with him. Methinks - well, you know. Even in the chapter titled "The Rebuttal Evidence," we don't actually get to see any of the rebuttal evidence; Strobel provides a hasty explanation of the Jesus Seminar, and quickly turns to a conservative scholar, who, unsurprisingly, refutes it. Strobel tells us that this scholar debates atheists "for fun," yet calls in his expertise only to scoff at the opinions of one small group of liberal theologians, and somehow considers this a fair rebuttal.
Strobel's third and silliest mistake is to apply American legal standards to matters of history, archaeology, literature, and philosophy. This courtroom model leads Strobel to conclude, presumably with a straight face, that if the New Testament writers got the names of the towns and reigning monarchs correct, they probably got everything else right. If you aren't convinced by this ridiculous claim, you may as well stop reading, because there isn't a chapter that follows that isn't predicated on the assumption that the New Testament is historically accurate, even though one of Strobel's later witnesses calls this assumption into question.
At this point, it hardly matters that Strobel is a mediocre writer with a strange affinity for the word "slaying." (Note to aspiring writers: use your thesaurus with caution.)
If you are a curious nonbeliever investigating Christianity, don't bother reading this book. Look for someone who actually made an effort.
If you're a Christian and you feel that your faith needs some bolstering by reason, ask yourself whether evidence would change your mind, one way or the other. If it wouldn't, why bother looking at evidence?
If it would, see above about "effort."
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Summary of The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
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.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.
Strobel, Lee Books
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