I have often been told by Christians to read this book for all the answers about why I should become a Christian. I got the book some time ago but never quite got around to finding time to read it until now.I am honestly staggered by how poor this book is, it's nothing but wall to wall straw men, special pleading, and quite frankly out and out lies. An example of the lies is the author claims he 'found' Christ while writing this book, then later says he was 'totally won over' by arguments from William Lane Craig years before he even thought about the book, a little research shows he was an evangelical preacher for twenty years prior even to that, I honestly doubt he was ever the sceptical Atheist he claims he was. Another example is he asks the reader to approach the book with an open unbiased mind because (he claims) the book is totally unbiased, but each and every 'expert' he interviews throughout the book is an evangelical writer, each of whom have made a vast amounts of money writing about (and continuing to write about) Christianity, if they say anything against it they stand to lose a fortune, hardly unbiased if you ask me. This is my major problem with this book, it presents itself to be something which it is in fact the complete opposite of.Strobel himself acts as devil's advocate asking what he laughingly refers to as the 'hard' and 'tricky' questions, but I have *NEVER* heard anybody raise any of these questions because they are all either far too easy to side-step and misdirect, or have been fabricated purely to make the speaker look good by defending against them.One 'Expert' claims the gospels were written by the disciples immediately after seeing the crucifixion, and everybody agrees with that. In reality the gospels were written much later (Mark around 70AD followed later by Matthew and Luke, and then John coming in somewhere around 120AD), they were also originally unnamed anonymous writings with the names we know them by today only added much later again. This is not some Atheist conspiracy, it is practically universally accepted, so much so it is taught in all but the most extreme of seminary schools all over the world.Another 'Expert' when asked if it was possible Christ was crazy when he claimed he was the son of god, said people with delusions always have other psychological problems (totally untrue, but we'll ignore that), and proves Christ was totally sane by referencing him crying over the dead body of Lazarus, as any normal person would at the loss of a friend, however he totally forgets that Jesus apparently has the power to resurrect anybody he likes, so isn’t this crying over something so easily fixed actually showing the opposite of what the 'Expert' claimed, it's like getting counselling for dropping your keys rather than just bending over and picking them up. NOTE: I am not saying I believe he was insane, I'm just using this as an example of the poorly thought out arguments presented in this book, and I could continue to give examples, but I see little point in that.The format Strobel uses throughout the book is; An anecdote about a modern criminal case that bears little more than a superficial passing resemblance to what is to be discussed in the following chapter.Introduce the 'Expert' for that chapter, describing every facet of their education and work history in an attempt to place them as either the top, or only expert in the field rather than just somebody with letters after their name who Strobel knows will 100% agree with his particular beliefs.Ask overly simplified questions.Blindly accept grossly oversimplified answers, usually saying that's so obvious now you explain it, I totally believe you (normally suggesting the reader accept it too without further thought or study).Ask how much the expert loves Jesus (always a great deal, unsurprisingly as they were hand picked for this exact reason).Each and every point raised in the book is far more complicated than Strobel claims, instead of a single line or two sound-byte where the reader is expected accept without consideration or research, they each deserve much more honest discussion, some with a minimum of a page or two, most with a minimum of a book or two. This again brings us back to planned dishonesty of the book.This book is clearly designed for people who want to bolster their faith, but not study it, or even think too hard about it, if you fall into this group, get the book now, you'll love it, if not just keep looking. It is often referenced that the average Atheist knows far more about religion than the average theist, the fact so many Christians recommend this book shows that statement to be very accurate. Instead of recommencing this book, Christians should be hugely embarrassed it actually exists!
As with any religious book, objectivity is impossible (since religion, by loose definition, is subjective experience of that which is unproven); so here's my subjective opinion as a Christian.Non-believers If you are a non-believer, you're going to fall into one of three general groups: atheists, agnostics, and seekers (and that fourth most special group made up of all the people who just refuse to be grouped by a small-minded Christian, dammit :) ). If you are actually a member of that fourth group, I'm gonna call you an anti-theist (basically, someone who does care and wants it all snuffed out). If you are a member of this group, please don't read this book or the rest of this review. The book will just make you angry because it's completely biased against everything that makes sense in the world. If you read it, or my review, you'll just be confirmed in your anger, which serves no purpose. So go home, you're right, it's a book written by a man who used to hate Jesus before we tricked him into believing, and this review is by another blank-eyed drone as well.If you are an atheist, then this is not a book that will entertain you, because it is biased FOR Christ. I have one (ONE) friend who is an ACTUAL atheist ... a person who has no relationship with the question of God (a-theist as opposed to anti-theist) ... she just doesn't care and she wouldn't be bothered to read this book any more than I would be bothered to read a treatise on corduroy pants (I'm an a-corduroyist, I just don't care). Go read the phone book or something, it will interest you just as much. If you're an agnostic, this book could actually interest you. It is written by a relatively well-educated (Yale, I believe) and erudite (Legal Editor of the Chicago Tribune) man who was investigating his relationship with God and used the tools and training of legal forensics to challenge the authenticity of Christ. As you can guess from the title, you know how that investigation turned out; but the journey is enlightening in regards to many of the fallacious suppositions presented by disbelievers -- and I promise you that this book won't "strike you Christian" if you read it. I'd suggest reviewing the chapter headings and see if that whets your appetite. If so, enjoy it, it's short and interesting. If not, God be with you, thanks for reading my review.If you are a seeker, by which I mean someone who is beginning to realize that, whoa, this Jesus topic has legs of its own and I'm not sure what's happening in my life but it might be cool (is He like really real?) -- I'd suggest that you read this book with a Christian friend, perhaps even a Pastor or Youth Pastor. It's got a lot of great conversation starters, and it doesn't propose any ideas that are dramatically challenging if reviewed with an open and willing heart. If you can't find anyone else, then maybe you're reading this review for a reason - ping me and maybe we'll read it together.ChristiansIf you are a Christian, TCFC is a good book to offer a concise list of rebuttals for common arguments against Christ's authenticity (it's the case FOR Christ, as in the legal DEFENSE). It can be used as a conversation facilitator with folks who are seeking something Spiritual, and often as a decent structural underpinning for the initial process of coming to the Lord. Most Christians who love this book tend to love it because it represents a good set of responses to some of the tougher questions raised by "arguers." It helps avoid personal conflict and gives a Christian the opportunity to say "here, read this book", thus taking the heat off of the way you dress, or how you voted in last year's election. It allows Christians to show some desire to share the Spiritual Love of God that we all enjoy without having to debate and argue directly with the very person with whom we were originally trying to share our Joy (presumably a friend).That's its purpose. It is not a goad to trick smart people into believing mythology, or an attack on "the left" from a sneaky author -- it's overtly titled the case FOR Christ, and it's that -- one side of a limited debate based upon a FEW questions that often confound Christians and Spiritual seekers about Christ.Everything else is noise. This is a book that, like religion, involves personal opinion -- and just as no amount of yelling or screaming is going to change whether you do or don't like chocolate ice-cream, no amount of screaming or yelling is going to make people change their feelings about this book or its Topic. Changing subjective opinions can only be a shared process of Love based on trust, and website reviews are a stark medium for sharing words of Love on any subject, wouldn't you say?
What do You think about The Case For Christ (1998)?
It was interesting to read others' reviews of this book before writing my own. Of the (only) three one-star reviews I read, I think each person missed the point and, frankly, had expectations that were too high for the book. So, the most helpful review in this forum is to say that this book is, in fact, as advertised -- it is ONE MAN's review of information that led him to Christ [the sub-title makes this clear]. Strobel tells us that he researched the existence of Jesus Christ in 1981; this book is a review/refreshing of the research he personally and privately conducted in the early '80s, published in 1998. In this book, Strobel interviews highly credentialed scholars in various subject areas related to each of those questions/issues/topics. Perhaps it could be better titled, "_A_ Case for Christ" or "Lee Strobel's Case for Christ," but the fact remains that the book is as advertised -- one guy's search for understanding about the earthly existence of the person of Jesus Christ.In that vein, I think this book is an excellent first look at this topic. It doesn't answer, or even pretend to answer, every single concern someone might have on this topic, but it provides an excellent framework to begin to investigate the topic individually. You're immediately told that Strobel is a convert to Christianity, so there are no tricks at the end--you always know where the book is headed. Strobel provides detailed introductions to each "expert witness" that speak to their ability to weigh in on a subject and provides citations of their work and additional articles on each topic. If you don't know where to begin on a search to understand the existence of Jesus, I think this book would help. If you're convinced that Jesus is a myth or legend, I think this book would provide lots of food for thought that would require additional research in order to resolve that belief. If you do believe, this book would be useful and highly interesting, but...would probably only prompt you to do more research. Why? Because there are a few failings of the book as a definitive piece of scholarly research (but it never pretended to be that, so...maybe I'm unfair). First: I'm sure that in an effort to make the information accessible, Strobel's journalistic style suffered. Strobel is too present in the work; the book is more a travelogue from argument to argument than it is a dispassionate dissertation on various items. Strobel injects himself and his interview subjects into the book, but it falls a bit flat because we know that he converted to Christianity from atheism 17 years earlier. This style degrades the seriousness of the book, but does make it highly readable. Second: Not every scholar he interviews is on equal academic/professional standing -- although each interviewee is highly, highly credentialed and he only presents one view per each topic. My only example re: professional standing demonstrates my own bias: the gentleman he interviews early in the book has degrees from Yale and Princeton; he subsequently interviews a gentleman teaching at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Fairly or unfairly, I judge Liberty University poorly because of some of the statements of its founder (although I did just check and Liberty is accredited by the same organization that certified Vanderbilt University, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Strobel could have helped us by providing multiple first-hand viewpoints per topic. He does establish that he's interviewing THE EXPERT on a topic, but it would've helped to have multiple opinions. He does provide information from contrary viewpoints, though -- but only in the form of a literature review. I think he may have been better served to have had additional view points per topic. This book is definitely worth reading; it will likely be a quick but thought-provoking read and will likely spur you to additional research.
—George
strobel tries to tell us that he's going on an investigative journey. he then sits in hardcore christian theologian offices setting up strawman arguments for them to shoot down. he does not visit anyone who does not share his viewpoint. even the chapter called "rebuttal evidence" is an interview with a sympathizer. none of this can be considered "journalism" or "investigative," and i was embarrassed reading it. the exclamation points scattered throughout the text helped the already strong feeling of juvenile pandering come into full bloom.i don't disagree with many of the things he said. but he didn't say anything profound (eg: crucifixion hurts and kills you, the bible clearly states jesus is the son of god, josephus mentioned jesus). i wonder why we never heard from mr strobel on the secular side of life again after this folly hit the shelves?main issue here for me is that he addresses nothing that a true skeptic would want to understand: is faith important or is there clear evidence that only requires understanding? what parent of any child would not do exactly as jesus did? what would anyone say in the year 2014 if similar stories were being circulated today? too many assumptions are made at the outset about the reader's perspective. i recommend this book for christians who want to feel like their faith is logical or that there is some reason besides fear of death to believe in an afterlife.
—Ryan
Lee Strobel, a Yale-educated journalist and once-atheist, lays out the historical reasoning that led him to become a Christian. This book caught my eye in Koorong because it was cheap, had a plain cover, boring typeface, and basically seemed un-flashy and down-to-earth. Nevertheless it took me a good few months to start reading it. I shouldn’t have put it off – it’s a worthwhile read. There’s so much indisputable historical evidence – stuff that even sceptics admit must be true – about Jesus that by the time you close the book you’ll be struggling to find a way to dispute Christ and the resurrection. I’m not saying the book is infallible – plenty of critics have a shot at Strobel’s drama-infused, non-neutral storytelling style, and I agree: I think the book could have been better without some of the theatrics. (Side note: the argument that Strobel only interviews Christian authorities seems hypocritical. Would an atheist author of an atheist book interview Christian experts?) But if you ignore all of that, you’re still left with a multitude of facts that you can’t hide from. The Jesus story is so deeply written into history that I’m left thinking you’d have to really want to twist the facts to deny the Christian truth. But as easy as it is for my mind to believe, I still have a sceptical heart and I’m waiting for that experiential faith to (re-)happen. I hope it does.A quote from C.S. Lewis (who is a-maz-ing!): I am here trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would either be a lunatic…or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, or you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon: or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.
—Grace Le Fay
