A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God

The book is well written with thought provoking insights that answers the critics concerning Jesus' identity. It stops the mouths of naysayers who adamantly deny the One who was, and is, and is to come! Excellent work!

Strobels presents current arguments that people use to attack Jesus' identity. He does his research and handles each attack with intelligence and wisdom. This book is for those who don't know what to believe about Jesus or for those who want to know the truth or for Christians who need some arguments to defend Christ's identity.

Lee presents this in an easy to read clear manner. He finds the cream of the crop of their respective fields of study who have a laundry list of credentials to easily put to rest the absurd claims coming from multiple books and History channel programs with an anti-Christ agenda.
If you read this book and still deny Jesus is the son of God and claim he didn't rise from the dead, then you are either delusional or just refuse to accept Jesus and the facts presented here.

This book puts to rest many of the questions about the validity of Jesus' divinity. I highly recommend it! If you have doubts; if you are convicted; it doesn't matter! Lee Strobel is an investigative reporter who knows where to go to get the right questions answered!

This powerful book is a must-read for real answers to the growing number of attacks on the Jesus of history. Based on interviews with world-class authorities and scholars, this book responds to the challenges of The Gospel of Judas, the so-called Jesus tomb, various claims about the gnostic gospels and other "lost books of the Bible," attempts to discredit the historic record of the resurrection of Christ, etc., etc.

You can tell how important this book is by how riled up some of the people are who are attacking it. Don't take their word for it -- read it and decide for yourself. I did, and I believe Strobel's evidence is compelling and convincing for those with open minds.

I never read anything by Lee Strobel that fails to teach me something I didn't already know, or a better way to defend my faith when questioned by skeptics or non-believers. Thank You Lee, for all the time, energy, research, and questions you ask to bring yet another clear teaching of why I believe what I believe.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone. Whether you are a believer or not, you need to read this book. Strobel interviews men with page-long credentials to get to the core and truth of who Jesus really is and was. It answers some frequently asked questions such as "did Jesus really raise from the dead?" It answers these from a hisotrian perspective. So it is not based on mere faith, but historical evidence. Good if you're asking questions about what Christianity really is or who Jesus really was or if you've been a believer for a long time.

Lee Strobel has done an excellent,scholarly work. He did exhaustive journalistic, historical research which clearly supports the truth that Jesus is the Christ. The Son of God who clothed Himself in human flesh, lived as fully God and fully man, died on Calvary as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, was buried, three days later was resurrected from the grave and ascended into heaven where He is by the right hand of God the Father. He will return at the appointed time as Lord of Lords and King of Kings to take His people to heaven to dwell with Him for all eternity.

So often we read of spectacular findings on the "truth" of Jesus, Christianity, the Bible from the secular world of so called academic work. Strobel takes the same approach to this work as he did in The Case for Christ, that of a skeptic. These are topics that all people of faith must understand and defend for themselves. Strobel does a good job of laying out the attacks and the academic evidence for the counter position of the side of believers. True Strobel is a believer so the skeptics will use that to try and discredit what he has well researched and complied in this work. Worth the read and purchase price.

Once again Lee uses his investigative techniques to present material that is both interesting and factual. It would be hard for an intelligent and non-biased person to find fault with what is presented here. Thanks again Lee for providing a look at the historical facts of my LORD.

Strobel takes a step-by-step journey through legitimate history and science in order to demonstrate both that science and religion can and do mix, and that the historical evidence for Jesus as both man and God is well supported by a preponderance of the evidence. Easy to read, a good book that can be finished on a lazy Sunday afternoon (if you're a speedy reader).

"The Case for the Real Jesus" refutes current challenges to Jesus Christ and the Bible.

5 stars for the good parts of the book: 5 stars for the good facts and good opinions about Jesus.
0 stars for the bad part of the book: 0 stars because the author of the book asserted bad sentiments about good people.
(5 stars for readers who believe that good people are good in real life.)

5 + 0 + 5 = 10 divided by 3 is about 3 stars

Daniel B. Wallace's incredible supposition that by merely referring to the dictates of two church councils one can establish biblical proof for a doctrine is far from convincing! That just simply cannot be done! In order to establish or confirm a biblical doctrine one must be able to find it within the pages of Scripture, not in the pronouncements of any church council! Anyone with a Ph.D., as Mr. Wallace does, should have known better than to suggest such a thing. And Mr. Strobel should have known better to accept such and being an investigative journalist he also should have known better and should have pressed Mr. Wallace further as to why that should be. Except for this rather irritating bit this book almost rises to the level of the author's other "Case" books but not quite.

I wanted to read an Easter-related book since this Sunday marks the holiday that is the central tenet on which all of Christianity stands or falls. Christianaudio.com gave this out as a free audio download in March, and I found it to be a great refresher on where scholarship currently stands on the resurrection, the reliability of the Bible, and the identity of Jesus. Strobel simply puts his interviews into print, mostly verbatim, so it's not really like reading a book or an article. You sort of get the full firehose from the interviewee, although Strobel probably edits it for brevity and content.

Valid criticisms of this book are that Strobel doesn't interview Bart Ehrman, John Dominic Crossan, and other skeptics whose claims he is investigating. He is also a professing Christian who asks questions he hears from skeptics or that he thinks skeptics would ask, but it comes across as not authentically questioning (Strobel chronicled his own investigations that led him from atheism to Christianity in The Case for Christ). Strobel tries to come across in his interviews as naive or unaware, but he would have already encountered much of the information while writing The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith. I don't know that Strobel lobs "softballs," but he's often asking questions he already knows their answer to. There are plenty of Bible difficulties that are not addressed. It's not clear exactly how Strobel chose his sources, but their CVs speak for themselves. You are essentially getting summaries of their books, which they sometimes pick up and quote from, in this book. That's a good value of this book, it leads you to read a lot of other sources.

To the critics, I would say that watch the interviewees debate the skeptics yourself, often found on YouTube. It would make no sense for Strobel to be a go-between on the arguments. He's essentially doing that from the critics' written works and interviews. There's no getting around his bias, but no one on the other side seems to be willing to take the time to interview the same scholars. My criticism are the details that Strobel puts in about the interviews themselves, what they're eating, drinking, the clothes they're wearing. I guess trying to bring the reader into the office with him, but it's a bit amateurish in nature.

Craig A. Evans is generally respected by conservatives and liberals and is Strobel's first interview.
Evans' interview, in part, is to counter many claims made by Bart Ehrman in his book Misquoting Jesus. Evans wrote a response called Fabricating Jesus, and other works. In the interview, Evans provides details to back up the following which I've pasted from the book's description:
"Fact: The Gospel of Thomas is late, not early; secondary, not authentic. Contrary to what a few scholars maintain, the Gospel of Thomas originated in Syria and probably no earlier than the end of the second century.
The Gospel of Peter, which describes a talking cross, is late and incredible. In fact, the fragmentary document that we have may not be the Gospel of Peter at all. The document that we have may date to the fourth or fifth century.
The 'secret' version of the Gospel of Mark, allegedly found in the Mar Saba Monastery, is a modern hoax. Analysis of the hand-writing betrays the tell-tale signs of forgery.
The distinctive conclusions of the Jesus Seminar are rejected by most scholars in North America and Europe.
There is absolutely no credible evidence that Jesus had a wife or a child.
The evidence is compelling that the New Testament Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--are our best sources for understanding the historical Jesus. The New Testament Gospels are based on eyewitness testimony and truthfully and accurately describe the teaching, life, and death of Jesus.
Jesus was not a Cynic; in all probability he never encountered a Cynic. No killer monks (albino or otherwise) number among the membership of Opus Dei."

Evans notes that the Jesus seminar and 19th century biblical critics were weak on Hebrew, interpreting Jesus improperly into Greco-Roman thought. They take "Jesus out of (his Hebrew) context," and make him fit into a mold not given by anything actually recorded. New ideas get headlines, but confirmation of old ideas do not, which is why the Jesus Seminar are often chosen when PBS or other make a documentary. John Dominic Crossan is "on his own" maintaining certain positions on the gnostic texts that no other scholars take. Evans examines each of the Gnostic "gospels," demonstrating their authors' clear infamiliarity with burial practices and other Jewish customs.

The Gospel of Thomas appears to be quoting from Tatian's Diatessaron-- the first harmony of the four gospels-- giving it a much later date than what the Jesus Seminar claims. Its Syriac translation appears to be a second century biblical memorization aid. The "Gospel of Mary" likely dates to 150-200 a.d. The Gospel of Judas was also late and already mentioned as false by Irenaous early in the second century.

Throughout the book, the interviewees often act astonished or become quite "animated" or "emphatic," saying words like "ridiculous," or "completely false," etc. As Evans sets out to demolish Erhman's ideas, you're not left with much else than sympathy for Erhman.

Next up is Daniel B. Wallace at Dallas Theological Seminary, who has devoted his life to digitizing all the known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament via photograph. He has an interesting biography in that he became a Greek expert, writing seminal textbooks, then forgot all of his Greek in a bout with viral encephalitis. He re-taught himself Greek using his own textbooks. (see this interview at TGC.)

Wallace has also debated Ehrman. His discussion of exegesis and textual criticism were very good. He had some interesting, if not controversial, thoughts on inerrancy-- seeing it as an external doctrine protecting the infallibility and other more central tenets inside an imagined concentric circle of doctrines. Inerrancy need not precede faith, he states. He notes the mass volume of Greek manuscripts and that we're finding new ones from the 2nd century and even late first century. These dates are important because they are closer to the historical events and the original autographs, and found more frequently, than one can find for other historical documents. (He relates that the earliest written history of Caesar Augustus is as late as the 2nd century.)

He walks through an exercise in biblical translation that he does with his students. The differences in the manuscripts don't affect meaning. There is often one letter difference, a mispelling in Greek. He discusses several known scribal errors, and debates the significance of a few. (Aside: Ehrman and Gordon Fee both hold that scribal editions in 1 Corinthians has affected the church's hermeneutic of the epistle in relation to women and authority.) The fact that we can identify those discrepancies is important when getting the original idea. "Ehrman didn't prove that any doctrine is jeopardized." The Dan Brown Da Vinci Code-inspired conspiracy theories that Diocletian destroyed manuscripts is false, we have much earlier ones. Textual criticism is "tedium" because researchers rarely find any notable differences between the thousands of documents. "I think the church got it right" (at Nicea and since).
Another interesting factoid, the earliest manuscript of Revelation (from 3rd century?) has the number of the beast as 616, as do a number of other manuscripts.

Bruce Metzger is one New Testament expert who is respected by Ehrman. Strobel interviewed him in The Case for Christ, where he said that "scholarship has built my faith."

But Strobel writes this book to look at updated and more popular objections to the resurrection since Case for Christ was published. This brings him to Mike Licona, who wrote his dissertation on the resurrection, wrote Paul Meets Muhammad, co-authored The Case for the Resurrection with Gary Habermas, and has debated Muslim scholars.
(Note, in writing this review I found that Norman Geisler, Paige Patterson, and Al Mohler have recently been quite critical of several experts in this book over their positions of inerrancy, including Paul Copan and Mike Licona. Licona has written on his response to the charges, raising some valid questions about Geisler's methods, motives, and consistency: http://www.risenjesus.com/chicagos-muddy-waters. Gary Habermas and William Lane Craig are other giants in the field of Christian apologetics who have come under fire for defending Licona. )

I appreciated the brief tangent on problems using Bayes' theorem to disprove the existence of Jesus or the resurrection in this interview. Licona points to five agreed-upon facts that are enough to make a rational, probabilistic case for an authentic resurrection:
1. Everyone largely agrees that Jesus was crucified. Even Crossan and various skeptics attest this is not problematic.
2. Early tradition agrees on the account. The earliest manuscripts we have from Paul's epistles to the gospels agree on the death and resurrection of Jesus, and what came before and after.
3. The conversion of Paul, a former enemy of Christians. The Reza Aslan and J.S. Spong books I've read both have a hard time discounting Paul's conversion. It's clear he believed what he believed quite strongly.
4. James' conversion. James' and Jesus' other siblings are documented as not believing he was the messiah when Jesus was alive. Licona admits that this point is troubling even for himself. How would the brother of Jesus not have heard of the virgin birth from his mother? But as William Lane Craig has pointed out, if your brother claimed to be divine, what would he have to do to convince you? You know him, after all. Probably be raised from the dead.
The earliest creeds we have says Jesus appeared to James after his resurrection, then to many others. We know that James later believed because he is recorded as a leader of the church in Jerusalem and was later martyred for his belief that Jesus was the Christ.

5. Jesus tomb is empty. "75% of scholars agree on this." No body was produced by the Romans or the Jews. Licona walks Strobel through the various scenarios put forth, including the "healing" hypothesis, the fake Jesus on the cross that the Koran purports (Licona points out that if this were true it would make Allah a deceiver), and others that have already been covered by Evans above.

Licona addresses the Koran, Michael Baigent's The Jesus Papers, and other works. It's clear that he has gained a lot of inspiration from Gary Habermas as well.

Strobel then considers the more popular claims that a God who lives on earth, dies, and is resurrected is simply plagiarism from Greco-Roman, Zoroastrian, and other regional sources available to the Gospel authors. Is the Bible simply plagiarism of myths?

Bruce Metzger did research decades ago debunking much of what seems to be regurgitated today. Strobel interviews Edwin Yamauchi who is an expert on Gnostic texts, near eastern languages, and mythology. He asks specifically about whether the Mithras legend could have contributed to a Jesus myth. Yamauchi contends that Mithraism appears too late in the region to have contributed to the Gospel authors, or to be part of some secret underground religion. It is more probable that the opposite happened-- the Gospels influenced the Mithras legends, as similarities appear to have been developed in 1st-4th centuries AD. Yamauchi points to research that debunked these theories long ago.

If the Gospels are reasonably accurate and Jesus was most likely resurrected, then why don't Jews widely accept him? Strobel probes Dr. Michael Brown, of "Jews for Jesus," for his answers. Brown walks through the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah and how they could be fulfilled by Jesus. Strobel presents various objections by modern rabbis-- the Messiah could not have been divine, was supposed to usher in the eternal earthly kingdom, etc. and Brown refutes them like Jewish Christians have been doing since the resurrection. Brown further purports that the messiah had to fulfill prophecies before the second temple was destroyed by the Romans, and Jesus is the only one that did so. He has the highest probability of being one to fulfil the prophecies. Now that the second temple is destroyed, it's not possible for there to be another. Brown walks through the "suffering servant" of Isaiah passages in a neat way and explains the difficulties of Old Testament exegesis. Whole volumes have been written on the problematic nature of OT use in the NT.

The last interview is with Paul Copan, author of True for You, But Not for Me. Copan is arguing against postmodernism. He defines truth as "a belief that matches up with reality." Certain truths are absolute and knowable. He discusses the important of getting a postmodern skeptic to accept reason before one can argue from historical evidences and such.

Strobel's conclusion recaps the major points of the interviews and contains a compendium of quotes by experts on Dead Sea scrolls, Eastern religions, etc. Larry W. Hurtado, Richard Baucum, C.S. Lewis, and more. Lewis wrote that Christianity is difficult to accept because it requires us to "Hand over the whole natural self..." Surrender is scary. Our modern culture and groups like the Jesus Seminar try to make Jesus our equal, which we would prefer to have instead of someone we need to actually submit to and rely on for eternal life. Sin, likewise, is something we'd rather delete-- along with hell. Once you accept the evidence suggesting the resurrection is true, it requires you change your life.

Overall, I give this book 4 stars. I highly recommend it to anyone researching apologetics.

Lee Strobel, wrote another great defense of the Christian Faith against the false attacks and heresies of the modern times which are nothing but a reiteration of the same heresies of ancient times but in a new clothes. He methodological refutes, debunks and shred to pieces these fake arguments that have no basis whatsoever whether historical or intellectual , yet they come up under the guise of scholarship by so-called scholars, like those of the so-called "Jesus seminar" or those who don't know their right from their left like Bart ehrman. He first presents each heresy or stipulation then go ahead and shows from the historical, archaeological and Biblical evidence how their postulate on is nothing but a false notion and pretension. This is an excellent method of refuting heresies like those used by the ancient Church Fathers like St Athanasius the Great in his famous Refutation of arianism in his famous "The Incarnation of the Word", and "Contra arianus" which de facto brought the end of arianism on the intellectual and Spiritual level.
This was also the same method used by St. Cyril of Alexandria in his Refutation of nestorius at Ephesus in 431 A.D. with his "contract nestorius". The modern reader will be surprised that all these recent attacks are nothing but the same old heresies being revived again under the guise of scholarship, yet they are nothing but intellectual bankruptcy stemming from the Fact that The Divinity of Our Lord and God Jesus Christ and His Personality is so captivating and powerful, and the evidence for him from the manuscripts are overwhelming from the earliest days of the Christian Faith as those of the Gospels and St. Paul's Letters that are kept at the Chester Beatty Library, and the Ryland library of St John's Gospel that the Great German archaeologist and paleographer Carl Thiede had determined to be from around 137 A.D. when the Gospel of St John itself has been written around 95 A.D.
Another excellent examples of Refutation of heresies came from St. Hilaire de Poitier in his famous exposition of the The Holy Trinity in his famous monumental "De Trinitate". Another excellent works are those of Abbe de Maitre with his Great Apologetic work of "Le Grand Christologie", in which he refuted the heresies of renan which are nothing but the same heresies that are plagiarized by the false so-called scholars like Bart ehrman. Also, the works by Monsignor Gaume, Cardinal Pie, Mgr Guy Carr and many others of Great works have refuted these same old heresies that are being plagiarized from generation to generation by so-called scholars who are nothing but thieves that steal the older works of heresy, give it a new name and deceive the ignorant masses of people under the guise of new discoveries, even in reality nothing but a return to same old heresies of old that have refuted time and again throughout history, or lyrics for The Christian Faith to shine more brighter after every attack. Keep going Strobel with Josh McDowell.

I listened to this book and would like to evaluate the audio recording as well as the content. The author was the reader which put the advantage of him having passion in how he read the work. He has a slightly Chicago-sounding accent on his "a" sounds, drawing them out a bit , and his voice sounds kind of like the short bald guy on Princess Bride (especially when he's speaking for other people in the heat of debate), but he's easy to listen to.

The book is divided into interviews that he has with experts in historical research and theology. He spends a good two minutes describing each person's credentials. This is important so that you can verify he's using good sources, but it's also a snore to listen to. He basically reenacts a conversation he has with each of these experts over his questions concerning arguments people bring up with the existence of Jesus and the claims of Christians that he rose. Each interview ends up breaking down the claims as Lee Strobel plays devil's advocate and tries to ask any question he can think of that an outsider may press to argue.

After it addresses how Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John came to be the only books recognized as authentic gospels, it goes into how logically we should interpret variances and disparities within some of the texts. This book addresses Muslim, Gnostic, Mystic arguments and on its way to leading the reader/listener to the discussion's conclusions that because the gospels were the earliest testimonies of the events of Jesus's life, death and resurrection, and they were corroborated by witnesses living during the time the books were written, they are the most reliable sources of information on this event. Filtering out all bias and building off the minimal evidence (evidence that believers and non-believers alike have to accept as true based on historical evaluations), you reach the most logical conclusion, while along the way noticing that those arguing against it, have weak arguments supported by documents written hundreds of years after the life and death of Jesus, and often not regarded by scholars as credible sources on the topic of Jesus. From whether Jesus had a wife to whether the 500 who saw Jesus after the resurrection had delusions, it's very interesting to hear these points argued out, and I would encourage anyone who has doubts or questions about the viability of Christian's claims to try it out.

"So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" -- Matthew 27:54 (NKJV)

I developed an interest in reading this book after hearing Lee Strobel preach at Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a few weeks ago. He presented a lot of background information about Jesus that was new to me, and I decided I wanted to learn more.

I believe that you will gain the most benefit from The Case for the Real Jesus if you first read Lee Strobel's earlier book, The Case for Christ. The facts and arguments in The Case for the Real Jesus are often connected to material in The Case for Christ.

In the interest of helping you figure out if this is a book you want to read, I suggest you begin by taking a look at pages 266-267 where the key issues addressed in the book are summarized.

The book considers these challenges that have been frequently raised in the public press during recent years:

1. "Scholars are uncovering a radically different Jesus in ancient documents just as credible as the four Gospels."

2. "The Bible's portrait of Jesus cannot be trusted because the church tampered with the text."

3. "New explanations have refuted Jesus' resurrection."

4. "Christianity's beliefs about Jesus were copied from pagan religions."

5. "Jesus was an imposter who failed to fulfill the Messianic prophecies."

6. "People should be free to pick and choose what to believe about Jesus."

Each section basically follows the format of finding one of these six challenges, documenting who made the claim and what the claim was based on, locating an expert in that area, and asking the expert to comment on the claim.

You may find that format a little restrictive for getting all of your questions answered. I think you'll find that reading this book is a little like getting an appetizer-sized portion of the information. It would have been much more interesting if Mr. Strobel had arranged for those who made these claims to debate the "expert" who was interviewed and then reported on the give-and-take. The book is filled with references, however, so you'll have an easy time tracking down the original claim and what others have written on the subject. I believe there's enough here to lead you to the information you are looking for to make up your mind from what the sources say or suggest and your heart tells you.

If you are a graduate-level theology student, this material will be too simple for you. If you are just an average person who wants to understand more about what scholars are disagreeing about, you'll probably find that you will get enough information in many areas to satisfy your curiosity.

I feel that people should know why they believe what they believe. The historical record about Jesus' life through the ascension into heaven is richer than is typically the case for events that happened almost two thousand years ago, and I think most people who want to know more about Jesus will be glad they became more familiar with the sources and how they were developed and analyzed.

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

I still remember, back when I was homeless in Huntington, WV. Living in the Mission, being away from my extremely religious upbringing. Saw this book at the local library, just a simple glance at the most popular checkouts, and notice it's eye-catching. I see the author's name and have an extremely vague recollection of him, but nothing concretely set. Something about him being an atheist, wasn't even sure if was still one or not, and that's when I realize, upon deciding to check it out, for the first time in my life, I open my mind to alternate possibilities to what I believed to be true.
Up to this point in my life, I would never read anything that I thought would have the potential to contradict what I believed to be true. Right before opening the cover, I know that, with opening my mind, one four possibilities will happen:
I will either be an atheist, be an agnostic (again, desperately hoped I would not), be a Jew (still believe in God, but no longer in Jesus), or stil be a Christian, but with better reason to have faith.
The last happened, in an unexpected way. From the start, I can tell Lee doesn't hold anything back in his style of questioning and writing. What I also didn't expect was that, even while he was asking different experts (each in a specific field pertaining to each individual challenge) certain questions, those questions were not timid like I had been used to in the church (which always annoyed me, so this was a welcome surprise), and he also used quotes from skeptics of every degree and atheists to further the challenge. With that in mind, I could tell he was NOT afraid to ask the hard things, and I realized from that that Christians should not have timidity in answering thigs, nor worry about asking questions independently,unlike the way many churches raise Christians and demand we all take everything by faith (subtle threat: OR ELSE!).
From this one book, many things that was revealed about the Bible, I realized I was nothing but naive about, confident in my own (faulty) logic about every story (namely the well-known ones).
Because of this one book, ever since I read it back in '07, I've been pursuing Christian apologetics, seeking questions, asking questions, and seeking answers all the time, now that I know the Bible's the only Book of Faith that challenges the reader to challenge its authenticity and come away unscathed, as long as you don't take your own skeptical mindset too seriously/far.

In The Case For The Real Jesus, Lee Strobel addresses six contemporary challenges to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as presented by the New Testament and church tradition. Strobel's claim is that the post-modern movement has raised several challenges to the validity of the Gospel and to the historical person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Strobel acknowledges that although the challenges may be far fetched, they at least deserve investigation on account of the attention they have received. Strobel, himself having come to faith in Jesus only after having thoroughly investigated all aspects of the evidence surrounding the life of Jesus as a journalist, decided to take the same stance again on these contemporary issues. His conviction was that he could not be an authentic person of faith by ignoring them.

The issues in question are: 1) Recent findings have unearthed a very different Jesus in historical documents just as reliable as the New Testament manuscripts and the Gospels, 2) The Church tampered with the text of the New Testament manuscripts so therefore the Bible is unreliable, 3) New explanations have refuted the resurrection of Jesus, 4) Christianity drew on the beliefs of pagan religions in its beliefs about Jesus, 5) Jesus didn't fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah, and 6) People should be free to pick and choose their beliefs about Christ as they see fit.

In true journalistic fashion, Strobel, a former editor for the Chicago Tribune, is careful to investigate all angles about these challenges and report based on the evidence. Strobel doesn't present a conclusion without first examining the evidence and interviewing some experts. His approach is to deal with each challenge one by one and finding someone who can be considered a respected expert in the scholarly community on both the conservative end of the spectrum and by the liberal side. Most of the book takes the form of a dialogue between Strobel and his interviewee, with Strobel often playing the devil's advocate. The interviewees range from graduate school and seminary professors, to authors, to research society journal editors, to Greek and ancient language experts, and often credentials that include several of the above! One by one Strobel's interviews address the major challenges to which the experts assert their knowledge. The interviews reveal a startling side to these modern accusations.

I really enjoyed this book because it was a real treat to hear a response to the challenges that have become "bandwagon rebuttals" to Christianity in recent years. Reading what the true scholarly experts have to say reaffirmed my faith in Jesus in the end. It also has given me greater boldness in my faith by educating me to the real wealth of evidence for the historical person of Jesus Christ as not only a figure of history, but as the living Son of God, as He claimed to be.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who is seeking to know more about Jesus, anyone who grew up with a background in Christianity but is wondering what to believe, or to anyone who is interesting in strengthening their faith in Christ. I'll be honest that this book is no easy read. At times I felt like I was back in college studying for a class. There's a lot of facts and logic involved, but I enjoy being challenged intellectually, and I'm sure that if you stick through it until the end you won't be disappointed!

I enjoyed Mr. Strobel's book very much, but other reviewers have already covered many of the important points. I'd just like to add that my favorite chapter was Chapter 2, in which Mr. Strobel answers the charge that "The Bible's portrait of Jesus can't be trusted because the church tampered with the text." Specifically he takes on the abominable Bart Ehrman and the Jesus Seminar guys. That chapter alone was worth the price of the book.

Ehrman and others who make up the Jesus Seminar get a lot of air time on the Discovery Channel and the History Channel, and every so ofter are quoted on Larry King Live or CNN. I used to take their work seriously until I began looking into the scholarship a bit more. In fact, these people are more interested in making money by selling sensational books and becoming famous for doing so than in advancing serious research into the historical Jesus.

Unfortunately, a number of people who can't see the weaknesses in the arguments of Ehrman et al.have their faith weakened or destroyed in the process.

Readers who enjoy reading Mr. Strobel might also like to look at a book by Luke Timothy Johnson, "The Real Jesus." Johnson also gives the Jesus Seminar a much-deserved thrashing.

Lee Strobel addresses recent attacks on the four Gospels and other New Testament writings by interviewing scholars who reveal the careless research of those making the accusations. Many of the so called new revelations are "old news" to experts who have devoted their academic careers to the subjects being addressed. Frequently comparisons are overgeneralized, placed in improper historical context, or come from sources that are not reliable and not as current as the original documents.

Strobel takes great care in offering evidence to counter each claim that is made by the critics. He cites the credentials of the scholars he interviews and goes on to present their responses to the rumors and gossip fueled by popular culture and the Internet.

In addition to building a solid case and letting the evidence carry the weight of his argument, Strobel is a gifted writer, but one would expect such from a former journalist for the Chicago Tribune. For people serious about investigating the real Jesus of history, I recommend this book.

Lee Strobel interviews leading experts in History, Philosophy, Theology and other experts to provide a detailed comparison of just who is Jesus and how does he compare to other gods and belief systems in the world? Through his thorough investigation, Lee refutes all arguments against Jesus and proves that He is who He says He is - the son of God made flesh who came to live amongst His creation to redeem us from the curse of sin. Jesus lived, died and rose again which is proven by the testimonies of hundreds of eye witnesses recorded in historical annals as well as in Scripture. A great book for believers and skeptics alike who are confused by the media and Internet stories that spread myths, out right lies and confusion about who the real Jesus is. This book will open your eyes to who the real Jesus is and why you can safely place your trust and belief in Him.

This is an excellent book which is both accessible to everyone without extensive background while still covering the issues completely and thoroughly. They are covered in a very engaging manner and clear up many questions about Jesus. It completely debunks many instances of speculation and legend in an honest pursuit of the truth. While Strobel believes in Jesus, he still does not gloss over the objections raised by authors, scholars, etc. and the scholars he interviews are thorough in their responses backing their information up with references, real evidence and explanations, not hand waving and special pleading. This is an excellent resource I would recommend for anyone. I have listened to it myself probably 10 times over to really understand thoroughly the material covered.

The Case for the Real Jesus investigates the validity to many of the modern day claims about Jesus. Lee Strobel does a great job of really getting into some of the topics that are being talked about constantly today. As someone who is currently enrolled in a History of Christianity course in a secular college, I can attest to the fact that Strobel truely does discuss the current issues in this book. The topics that are covered in this book include the various gospels that are not included in the Bible, evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, the mythologies that some are claiming the Jesus accounts originated from, and even the topic of relativism in terms of Jesus' claims. Craig Evans, Edwin Yamauchi and Paul Copan are all regarded as experts and top researchers by most in their field. The problem I could see some having with the scholars that Strobel interviews in the book is that they are all Christian Conservatives. That being said it does not change the fact that they are experts in their respective fields. I recommend this book to all Christians as I am sure that it will open up your eyes to a lot of misconceptions that Christians have about our bible, in both encouraging and disappointing ways. To those who are skeptics I still recommend reading this book. You may not accept what this book says very easily but for those who are honestly searching for truth this book will add important information to your search. Again I recommend this book to all!

Christian apologist Strobel has added one more "Case for..." book to his lengthening series. Previous titles include The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith and The Case for a Creator. I enjoy apologetics, so this book, my second Strobel read after The Case for Christ, held my interest. Perhaps it's more than mere coincidence that these are the two Strobel books I've read, because they cover some of the same territory. In fact, this new book could be described as an update of the first. In the Introduction Strobel says,

"That book [The Case for Christ] was published in 1998. Since then the Jesus of historic Christianity has come under increasingly fierce attack. From college classrooms to bestselling books to the Internet, scholars and popular writers are seeking to debunk the traditional Christ. They're capturing the public's imagination with radical new portraits of Jesus that bear scant resemblance to the time-honored picture embraced by the church."

He then identifies "six major challenges to the traditional view of Jesus that have emerged out of this milieu." In short the six new challenges put forth in the last few years by legitimate academicians, but also by a few self-proclaimed scholars with an Internet following, are:

1.Certain ancient documents describe a different, yet equally credible, Jesus.
2.The Church altered the original Biblical text.
3.Jesus' resurrection has now been explained away.
4.Jesus has been copied from earlier pagan religions.
5.Jesus did not fulfill the Jewish (Old Testament) messianic prophecies.
6.It's a free country so believe whatever you want.

Strobel followed the same procedure he did with the earlier Case for Christ book. He hopped a plane and flew hither and yon to question eyeball-to-eyeball the subject matter expert he deemed most qualified to answer the complexities of each challenge. I must give Strobel credit: he didn't merely question the experts; he literally cross-examined them, not unlike a hard nosed defense attorney. At times I found the interrogation to be utterly relentless. Long before he concluded his line of questioning, I was ready to say, "Enough already...The expert has resolved the issue!" But he didn't end the conversation until every last objection he had collected in advance was satisfactorily accounted for. Long story short: The experts all rose to their respective challenges capably enough to satisfy Strobel's expressed concerns.

Yes, as a Christian I am warmly sympathetic to the cause of Christ. Yes, I wanted the experts to answer wisely and well. But apart from my subjectivity, the scholars did perform competently. I don't believe any seasoned skeptic, following accepted rules of logic, could have generated a better list of questions than Strobel did. To be fair, however, I suspect the results would have differed, if he had chosen even one expert who was as much skeptical of Christianity as academically qualified to respond to the questions. Furthermore in terms of style, I became annoyed with the author's play-by-play presentation, for example, what seemed to me frivolous inanities like: "Wearing a dark green T-shirt, blue jeans, and white socks, and with gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose,..." or, "I glanced at my watch. It was getting late." I often thought, "Truthfully, I don't care what the scholar was wearing and I don't care what time it was ...Just get on with it ...This is not reality TV!"

But at the end of the day these were minor annoyances compared to the substantive content of the question-and-answer sessions. What made the conclusions persuasive was Strobel's continuous reliance on what some call "the legal-historical method of proof." That is, concerning phenomena that cannot be recreated in a laboratory for scientific observation and measurement, such as historical events, truth is determined by the weight of demonstrably reliable evidence. Accordingly, the recurring theme of each interview was two questions:
1) What is the factual or logical evidence? 2) How well-attested, or trustworthy, is the evidence? Based on these criteria the experts answered proficiently and the time-honored portrayal of the historical Jesus survived all six contemporary challenges.

Surely this book is for laypeople, not scholars. Although the arguments are occasionally detailed enough to give pause, the tone and style are clearly directed at non-academics. Speaking of which, just a few days ago I visited one of the religion forums right here on the store. The forum's title was "The best argument for Christianity" and there were no less than 1,824 posts! My point is that several of the comments I read involved objections to Christianity that are specifically addressed in this book. For example, some critics assert that the story of Jesus was merely copied and adapted from stories about Mithras, a central figure in one of the mystery religions that allegedly pre-dated Jesus. Some of the comments posted on the forum mentioned Mithras by name. Yet one of Strobel's experts explained that the Mithras claims have been refuted by the generally accepted dates of the Mithraic texts, the earliest of which is considerably after the death of Jesus. In other words, Jesus couldn't have been copied from Mithras, because substantial textual evidence for Mithras did not appear until later than several of the biblical texts.

If you care nothing about the probabilities of historical research or the weight of evidence, this book is not for you. Perhaps you choose to reject Jesus, because you want nothing to do with a God who asks you to surrender your life to the One who is Truth. But if you sincerely DO want to wrestle with the evidence, then I recommend The Case for the Real Jesus, regardless of which side of the dialogue you're on.

I couldn't disagree more with the scathing review here by Paul Doland. Obviously, Doland has his own axe to grind. Strobel freely admits his conversion from atheism to Christianity. And he still chooses subject matter experts he believes to be best qualified to discuss the evidence in terms of published atheist critiques. Understanding his biases, at least give him credit for a sincere attempt to present both sides of the arguments, not just one.

With his trademark efficiency, Strobel digs into the question about Jesus. He answers several of the most common questions about Jesus – including the one I most wanted answered: Did Christianity build the myth of Jesus from Pagan Myths. While Strobel didn’t answer this completely to my satisfaction, he laid the ground work for further investigation.
Each of the experts he speaks with have a list of credentials a mile long. These are some of the smartest, most respected scholars in the world. To see them not only address these ideas about Jesus, but the scholarship that led to these ideas, gives the reader confidence that the answers presented have merit and truth. Worth reading if you have questions about Jesus.

Do we really know the truth about Jesus? That seems to be the question that many theologians are asking.

Skepticism regarding the traditional teachings about Jesus seems to be a fairly popular theological pursuit, these days. The pronouncements of the Jesus Seminar and the writings of people like Elaine Pagels and Bart Ehrman suggest that the historic Christ of Christianity is pretty far off from the real Jesus.

Needless to say, anyone who could really substantiate an authentic fact or insight about Jesus that was truly new or different would have something monumental to proclaim; and would add many zeroes to his bank account. Just ask Dan Brown--and he utilized old, already discredited information, but he tapped into something that for many people was unknown and the rest is Da Vinci Code history. By the way, the "ka-ching!" you just heard is Dan Brown's personal cash register accepting yet another large deposit.

Lee Strobel tackles this theological skepticism regarding the identify of Christ in "The Case for the Real Jesus". Like his other "The Case For . . ." books, Strobel takes the role of journalist and interviews various experts on issues related to the topic of the book.

Strobel is an excellent communicator--in spoken word and in writing--and I suspect he realizes that this type of subject matter could easily get stodgy fast for many readers. So, the style of the book is an account of his journalistic investigation. It reads like a story. His interviews with the various scholars include his questions and his thoughts as he goes back and forth in his discussions. This format makes the book much more engaging.

For me, the chapter on Messianic prophecies was particularly interesting. I was not aware that--at least some--interpretations of messianic prophecies insist that the Messiah had to come and fulfill the prophecies prior to AD 70. I thought there were Jews who were still awaiting the coming Messiah. But if the Messiah had to come prior to AD 70, then, obviously, the wait is over. Either the Messiah has come, already, or else there never was a Messiah.

If the prophecies are true, and they were fulfilled, and there was a Messiah, and he came prior to AD 70, who else would that be other than Jesus?

This much is for sure: Jesus continues to elicit curiosity and passion and opinion and devotion and scorn and controversy.

The Case for the Real Jesus is another example of Strobel taking what only scholars have known for decades and serving it to the public in a lucid, yet compelling way.

In one sense, this book is a response to the Jesus Seminar and The Da Vinci Code, both of which have evoked doubt in the minds of the weaker, more vulnerable Christian believers. In a second sense, the book provides responses to many questions about the Christ that have cycled in and out of the popular mind for the last 1,500 years.

The questions/assertions that Strobel tries to address are:

1) Are scholars uncovering a radically different Jesus in ancient documents just as credible as the four gospels?

2) The Bible's portrait of Jesus can't be trusted because the church tampered with the text.

3) New explanations have refuted Jesus' resurrection.

4) Christianity's beliefs about Jesus were copied from pagan religions.

5) Jesus was an imposter who failed to fulfill the messianic prophecies.

6) People should be free to pick and choose what to belive about Jesus.

In my opinion, Strobel does a superb job of demanding solid responses to these tough issues. One word of advice I would offer to readers of this text is to go research the "long ending" of Mark 16 and the account of the adultress of John 7:53-8:11 for yourself. I think you may conclude differently than Strobel and his scholar.

Overall, I believe this is second only to his flagship, The Case for Christ.

The most important person in human history has always come under attack, but it seems that in the past few decades an especially concentrated attack on Jesus Christ has taken place. This has come in the form of claims about missing or suppressed gospels, alternative Christianities, and church cover-ups.

The most famous of course was the fictional hatchet job on Christian orthodoxy, The Da Vince Code by Dan Brown. Others include the supposed discovery of the tomb of Jesus, the so-called Gospel of Judas, and a host of other wild claims, often promoted more by Hollywood and hype than by sound biblical scholarship.

TV documentary makers, Internet bloggers, and a credulous media have been happy to promote such "finds" but more sober heads have roundly condemned these reckless claims. Indeed, a number of important biblical scholars and New Testament experts come together in this volume to make the case for the traditional understanding of Jesus and the Gospels, and to highlight the silly and vacuous nature of these various attacks on the faith.

By interviewing leading experts in various fields, Strobel present a compelling and powerfully argued case for the traditional understanding of who Jesus is and why we can trust the Gospel accounts. He examines a number of these recent accusations in some detail, demonstrating the paucity of the charges being made, and the strength of the orthodox case for Christianity.

Consider the claim that there are many other gospels which are on a par with the canonical four Gospels. To tackle this claim he interviewed leading New Testament scholar Craig Evans. He begins by explaining how we can judge the reliability of an ancient text.

A crucial test involves when the document was written. Obviously the closer it was written to the events in question, the more accurate it should be. And it turns out the four Gospels are extremely reliable by this criterion. The Gospel of Mark, for example, was penned in the 60s, some three decades after the ministry of Jesus.

Compare that with something like the Gospel of Thomas, which at its earliest would have been written around 175 to 200. It is much further removed from the time of Jesus, therefore far less reliable as an authoritative source.

Another issue is the geographical connection. A document written "in the Eastern Mediterranean world thirty years after Jesus' ministry," says Evans, "is more promising than one written in Spain of France in the middle of the second century".

All the so-called lost or alternative gospels were penned much later than the four Biblical Gospels which have "credible connections with the first generation, apostolic, eyewitness sources".

A related challenge, that of the possibility of the biblical texts being corrupted, is dealt with by Daniel Wallace, a world authority on New Testament manuscripts. An expert in the science of textual criticism, Wallace is well-placed to enter this debate. He begins by pointing out that the Bible is the only religious scripture in the world intended to be subject to historical inquiry. It claims to be a historical document which invites rigorous investigation.

Wallace claims there is an "embarrassment of riches" when it comes to the New Testament documents. Unlike any other book in ancient history, the New Testament is fully supported by excellent manuscript evidence. For example, there are thousands of copies of manuscripts, making it much easier to determine the contents of the original.

There are 5,700 Greek copies of the New Testament, either in part or whole. There are also another 10,000 copies in Latin, in addition to Coptic, Syriac, Georgian and Armenian versions. In total, we have perhaps 30,000 handwritten copies of the New Testament. Says Wallace, the "quantity and quality of the New Testament manuscripts are unequalled in the ancient Greco-Roman world". By way of contrast, the average Greek author "has fewer than twenty copies of his works still in existence, and they come from no sooner than five hundred to a thousand years later".

Another accusation is that Christianity's views about Jesus were merely borrowed from pagan religions. For this challenge Strobel enlists the aid of Edwin Yamauchi, one of the world's leading authorities on ancient mystery religions. Having studied 22 ancient languages, and written 200 papers for professional journals, he is the expert to go to on this topic.

He is not impressed with the claims the Christianity simply copied these mystery religions. For example, the late Roman mystery religion Mithraism is often appealed to, but its flowering occurred "after the close of the New Testament canon, too late for it to have influenced the development of first-century Christianity".

The evidence is clear, as another scholar puts it: the weight of scholarly opinion is against any attempt to "make early Christianity dependent on the so-called dying and rising gods of Hellenistic paganism".

Strobel looks at other claims, such as the charge that new explanations have discredited the resurrection of Jesus, and finds them also to be wanting. The responses to the six major challenges presented in this volume make it clear that the faith of Christianity as established in the ancient creeds is in fact rock solid, and that the trendy new criticisms and charges are easily refuted.

The case for the real Jesus still stands, and Strobel is to be congratulated for bringing together in one volume so many world-class experts who can so ably take on the wild charges being made against Jesus and the Gospels.