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BOOK REVIEW: The Case for the Real Jesus
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Click cover to purchase book
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by: Jeremiah McNabb Dancing Word Reviewer
Title: The Case for the Real Jesus Author: Lee Strobel Publisher: Zondervan ISBN: 031024210X Genre: Christian/Apologetics
I love playing the Devil’s Advocate, I confess. There’s just something about challenging someone who believes the same as I do, that brings me great satisfaction. I enjoy books on evolution and atheism, even though I often find myself shouting at the pages I’m reading. Deep down, I think I just like to understand where someone is coming from, because I hate to think I’m debating against an idiot.
Lee Strobel’s latest apologetic work, The Case For the Real Jesus, was written for people just like me. Strobel is a journalist and a former atheist skeptic, so he’s a hound for sniffing out bologna. This new book is comprised of five interviews between Strobel and well-respected authors and professors, and Strobel’s commentary on those interviews. He addresses all the questions that were raised by books like The Da Vinci Code and movements like The Jesus Seminar. For fans of the former, he doesn’t condemn its readers or it’s writing, only the research behind the content.
For those that are used to typical Christian conscience-friendly apologetics, Strobel’s antagonistic tone may, at times, be too much. Personally, I found his style convincing and, in some ways, necessary to make his point. Strobel comes to each discussion armed with the strongest Gnostic, atheist and skeptical arguments, to test them against Christian academia. My biggest pet peeve has always been shallow answers, but fortunately, Strobel and his subjects give none.
Six “scholarly” claims, Strobel suggests, cast doubt on the traditional Jesus of the Bible. Have scholars uncovered new, different, credible evidence about who our savior was? Did the church tamper with the bible? Does the evidence disprove the resurrection? Did Christianity copy and paste its beliefs from other pagan religions? Was Jesus an imposter? Can’t we just believe what we want about Jesus? The interviews say “no,” but then they go on to explain why, and where a reader can discover the truth for themselves.
I cannot give a high enough recommendation, nor stress the importance of this book for modern students of religion. Strobel & Company undo much of the errors that Pagels, Ehrman and others have tried so hard to reinforce.
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