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Book Review #33
Jul. 31st, 2008 01:03 pmBook: The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
Genre: Nonfiction / Apologetics
Length: 271 pp., not counting index and citations
Grade: A
Amazon Summary: 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.
My Thoughts: Lee Strobel has done it again. He's delivered a great introductory apologetics book for people of all sorts, from skeptics to the faith to decisive readers that have already firmly placed their trust in Jesus Christ. Considering he wrote this book after his conversion, some people might claim this book is one-sided, but to me, it was as objective as it could possibly be. He presented the facts. It was only until the end of the book that he went over how these recent revelations affected him. The rest of the book was devoid of any of this.
Personally, I enjoyed this book a tad bit better than The Case for a Creator, mostly because I can understand science, but I'm not an expert yet, so occasionally scientific phrases crept into the book that I couldn't quite wrap my head around yet. However, this book was written in a way that was very informative, very helpful, very accurate, and very emotional and moving at the same time. Logically, I was able to work through the answers to his questions, and yet learned something from the professionals that have spent their entire lives studying this.
In fact, I was shocked at how many people he managed to interview for this book. They include scholars I've already heard of, such as J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig, but also some scholars that I might actually be able to meet, such as Gary Habermas, who teaches at Liberty University, the college I desperately want to attend. Credentials were abound in this book, telling me (and the people who read this book) that Lee Strobel made sure to go after the professionals in the field. Sure, they might be Christians, but does that automatically negate the fact that they have known about this and studied this for years and years? To me, it doesn't, because it was stated over and over again that the vast majority of New Testament scholars agree with those Lee interviewed in his book.
But anyway. Onto the actual book, not nitpicky stuff about who he interviewed and why.
This book was both informational and exciting. And people who love reading nonfiction know how hard that is to find. In the copy I borrowed from the library, the first thing I noticed when flipping the book to the back was the synopsis' last paragraph: "Strobel's tough, point-blank questions make this Gold Medallion-winning book read like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it's not fiction. It's a riveting quest for the truth about history's most comelling figure." While reading the book, I felt that was a bit of an exaggeration, but now that I'm done reading and realized that I didn't want to put it down for more than a few minutes, I realized that it was a lot more accurate than I had originally given the book credit for.
And, more than that, it taught me something. Most of this stuff I had already figured out from my own investigations (vaguely like Lee Strobel's initial investigations by reading all the information he could find on both viewpoints, but I started as a Christian who wanted to learn more about my faith, Lee started out as an atheist who actually wanted to discredit Christianity and call it a lie), but it was said in a refreshing and understanding way. I had no trouble at all understanding anything in this book.
Also, if all of this wasn't enough, it also explored the journey of the scholars he interviewed, whether they had been Christians from childhood or if they had become a Christian by exploring the evidence. I found myself moved by the stories of acceptance of Christ Jesus—it reminded me of why I so want to lead someone to Christ, not that I needed any more reminding.
This book had everything I needed and even some things I wanted but didn't expect to get in an apologetics book. As I expected, this made my admiration and respect of Lee Strobel grow, and I know that I'll have to check out The Case for Faith and The Case for the Real Jesus soon. By far, this is one of the best apologetics books I've read. Want to learn more about Jesus Christ and what his history really is? Go out and buy this book!
Currently Reading:
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
Next Up:
Genghis: The Birth of An Empire by Conn Iggulden
