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404 reviews for:
The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
Lee Strobel
3.94 AVERAGE
404 reviews for:
The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
Lee Strobel
3.94 AVERAGE
I liked how this book presented facts and a good narrative. It's a very interesting read.
medium-paced
I’ll be up front and say that this will be a pretty biased (and verbose) review since it’s coming from a Christian, a “cradle Catholic” as they say. Butttt, we all harbor biases whether we acknowledge them or not. Anyway!
When you’ve grown up in the faith, you’ve been exposed to the basics for so many years that it almost becomes mundane… I had been filled with doubts as I grew into a free-thinking young adult, and honestly, I don’t think moments of doubt will ever go away in this lifetime. But Strobel’s relentless work and investigative journalism-style search for truth about Christianity’s various claims in this book have helped me immensely in my own faith journey. He tackles some of the questions I’ve always wondered about through extensive research and nitty-gritty interviews/discussions with dozens of theologians and scholars. I would say this book is an excellent resource for someone who’s already Christian, someone who is curious about the faith but has doubts or hesitations, questioning agnostics, or anyone looking for evidence rather than just “myths and tales” we have all heard a million times before. This book isn’t full of fluff or motivational speeches of why everyone should convert. It’s not shoving religion down your throat but is just rigorous, precise intellectual arguments and information. If you are willing to read with an open mind, just give it a go. :)
When you’ve grown up in the faith, you’ve been exposed to the basics for so many years that it almost becomes mundane… I had been filled with doubts as I grew into a free-thinking young adult, and honestly, I don’t think moments of doubt will ever go away in this lifetime. But Strobel’s relentless work and investigative journalism-style search for truth about Christianity’s various claims in this book have helped me immensely in my own faith journey. He tackles some of the questions I’ve always wondered about through extensive research and nitty-gritty interviews/discussions with dozens of theologians and scholars. I would say this book is an excellent resource for someone who’s already Christian, someone who is curious about the faith but has doubts or hesitations, questioning agnostics, or anyone looking for evidence rather than just “myths and tales” we have all heard a million times before. This book isn’t full of fluff or motivational speeches of why everyone should convert. It’s not shoving religion down your throat but is just rigorous, precise intellectual arguments and information. If you are willing to read with an open mind, just give it a go. :)
An award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel, at the time an atheist, investigates the validity of Christ as Deity and the resurrection.
Read this back in high school, and I'm glad to read it a second time. It's good to be reminded the logic and reasonable belief in Christ, and to be prepared to give an answer if anyone asks me why I believe what I believe. Because Jesus was more than just a good teacher, and a response to the logical fact that He is God is vital.
Read this back in high school, and I'm glad to read it a second time. It's good to be reminded the logic and reasonable belief in Christ, and to be prepared to give an answer if anyone asks me why I believe what I believe. Because Jesus was more than just a good teacher, and a response to the logical fact that He is God is vital.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Strobel is a very good writer, and presents some great arguments in this book. My problem with it is the fact that Strobel presents this book as an objective, court-case style investigation that should present ALL the evidence you need to come to a particular conclusion.
In a typical court case you'd expect testimony and evidence from both the plaintiff and the defendant and the jury or judge decides based on the evidence presented from both sides. If the Case for Christ is really set up this way, the problem is he only presents arguments and evidence for one side. For example, if Strobel is curious about how the Jesus Seminar presents the Historical Jesus, he should probably seek a professor or academician who is a part of the Jesus Seminar and present their arguments. Instead, he gets testimony from someone who already disagrees with the findings of the Jesus Seminar and only represents that side of the argument. How is that an objective approach?
I have no problem with Strobel interviewing scholars that agree with his opinion. He speaks to world renowned scholars who are brilliant and incredibly knowledgeable. But why not also be willing to interview scholars who are critical and skeptics? He should be able to present both sides and defend his argument and opinions and try to convince others to do the same. Based on factors like this, this book turned out to be a work of apologetics and not an objective investigation as Strobel presented it to be. That's fine, but would rather Strobel be up front about that. Good book but could be stronger with a wider range of arguments and deeper evidence.
In a typical court case you'd expect testimony and evidence from both the plaintiff and the defendant and the jury or judge decides based on the evidence presented from both sides. If the Case for Christ is really set up this way, the problem is he only presents arguments and evidence for one side. For example, if Strobel is curious about how the Jesus Seminar presents the Historical Jesus, he should probably seek a professor or academician who is a part of the Jesus Seminar and present their arguments. Instead, he gets testimony from someone who already disagrees with the findings of the Jesus Seminar and only represents that side of the argument. How is that an objective approach?
I have no problem with Strobel interviewing scholars that agree with his opinion. He speaks to world renowned scholars who are brilliant and incredibly knowledgeable. But why not also be willing to interview scholars who are critical and skeptics? He should be able to present both sides and defend his argument and opinions and try to convince others to do the same. Based on factors like this, this book turned out to be a work of apologetics and not an objective investigation as Strobel presented it to be. That's fine, but would rather Strobel be up front about that. Good book but could be stronger with a wider range of arguments and deeper evidence.
A solid book that provides solid evidence.
Could it ask more questions? Could it reference more sources? Could it provide more counter arguments? Yes, yes, and yes, but: this book is an exploratory first step through the door. It doesn’t claim to have all the answers or arguments, and besides, it’s foolish to expect others to do all your research for you.
This book is definitely a good starting place, and it’s definitely found a spot among what I’d readily recommend to those questioning Jesus, those questioning where to go next in their faith after accepting Jesus, and to those who can’t grasp or refute base knowledge of Jesus. A solid 4/5.
Could it ask more questions? Could it reference more sources? Could it provide more counter arguments? Yes, yes, and yes, but: this book is an exploratory first step through the door. It doesn’t claim to have all the answers or arguments, and besides, it’s foolish to expect others to do all your research for you.
This book is definitely a good starting place, and it’s definitely found a spot among what I’d readily recommend to those questioning Jesus, those questioning where to go next in their faith after accepting Jesus, and to those who can’t grasp or refute base knowledge of Jesus. A solid 4/5.
I was gifted this book by my pastor as a graduation present. Where I absolutely loved this book and read it in nine (9) days, I can definitely see why someone would rate it lower than I would. This book given great evidence that can be used to defend the faith. However, I don't think that a nonbeliever would pick up this book. The beginning of the book in presented in a very objective, journalistic way. However, as the book progresses you can absolutely see when and where Strobel starts to change his view from a cold, skeptic of Christianity to a believer. As a Christian my story is a very personal one and I can see why that would be important; however, it is brought into the book too soon and I think it gets in the way of the objectiveness of it. In the conclusion when Strobel talks about his own personal spiritual journey and how the evidence affected him would have been enough., but that's not the only place it appears. After chapter six, you can tell how soft the arguments against the evidence get, and I think that is due to the change in heart not because there aren't bigger and harder arguments out there.
I thought this book was great. I saw the movie before I read the book, and while they are very different, the journey that Strobel takes and the arguments that are used are much the same. The book, obviously, has more time to go into much more depth and present a wider range of arguments, and lacks the narrative of the film, instead focusing almost exclusively on the interviews themselves, with some commentary by Strobel on faith. Strobel's interviews follow a logical track, from the veracity of the gospels to the crucifixion, Jesus' death, and subsequent resurrection. It does a fantastic job of introducing popular arguments that skeptics have raised and providing sound explanations. It does a less fantastic job of covering both sides of the argument, which I feel would have strengthened the case, and some definitely won't be happy with that. For me, however, seeing as Strobel himself was the skeptic, I'm satisfied with it.
From a writing standpoint, I found the structure to be somewhat boring and very repetitive. He introduces every chapter, without fail, by making a comparison to a real-world case, introducing the expert he's interviewing, listing their bona fides, and then diving into the interview itself. I see why he would structure things like that, but there was already so little narrative in the book to begin with that the openings always felt superfluous, and I was always just eager to jump into the interviews.
One thing I will say that I was wary of was the idea that seeking tangible evidence of God would undermine faith, but the book makes a point to emphasize that evidence can only take you so far, and while it can be helpful, even instrumental, in bringing you to Christ, ultimately you have to decide for yourself whether to place your faith in Him.
All that being said, this is my first dip into Christian apologetics. It has satisfied my curiosity and further strengthened my faith that Jesus is the resurrected Son of God, and will likely lead me to pursue this topic in the future.
From a writing standpoint, I found the structure to be somewhat boring and very repetitive. He introduces every chapter, without fail, by making a comparison to a real-world case, introducing the expert he's interviewing, listing their bona fides, and then diving into the interview itself. I see why he would structure things like that, but there was already so little narrative in the book to begin with that the openings always felt superfluous, and I was always just eager to jump into the interviews.
One thing I will say that I was wary of was the idea that seeking tangible evidence of God would undermine faith, but the book makes a point to emphasize that evidence can only take you so far, and while it can be helpful, even instrumental, in bringing you to Christ, ultimately you have to decide for yourself whether to place your faith in Him.
All that being said, this is my first dip into Christian apologetics. It has satisfied my curiosity and further strengthened my faith that Jesus is the resurrected Son of God, and will likely lead me to pursue this topic in the future.
I enjoyed the narrative and style of Christ "on trial" and I appreciated the author working out of his own experience and expertise as a legal editor. I found the questions that he posed in his interviews to be thoughtful and useful, and the answers that the experts provided to be well-researched and well-documented. Two negatives in my mind: one is that I felt the author didn't pushed back on the experts' answers hard enough at times, and the other is that all of the experts were Christians. I think the book could have increased its' credibility by also interviewing non-Christian Biblical scholars and not just occasionally posing their challenges to Christianity as questions to be refuted by the Christian scholars. Overall a good, well-researched piece of apologetics.