The Case for Christ

Stroebel was a Chicago crime reporter, and he approaches his investigation to the divinity of Jesus with an analytical bent. Each chapter is an examination of one aspect of doubt, and to resolve it, he interviews one noted scholar in that field.

Here are the questions, which are a good dissemination of the mystery to solve:

• Can the biographies of Jesus be trusted?

• Do the biographies of Jesus stand up to scrutiny? (seems similar to the first one…)

• Were Jesus’ biographies reliably preserved?

• Is there credible evidence of Jesus outside these biographies?

• Does archaeology confirm or contradict Jesus’' biographies?

• Is the Jesus of history the same as the Jesus of faith?

• Was Jesus really convinced that he was the son of God?

• Was Jesus crazy when he claimed to be the son of God?

• Did Jesus fulfill the attributes of the Messiah?

• Did Jesus – and Jesus alone – match the identity of the Messiah?

• Was Jesus’ death a sham and his resurrection a hoax?

• Was Jesus’ body really absent from the tomb?

• Was Jesus seen alive after his death on the cross?

• Are there any supporting facts that point to the resurrection?

The book is good, and Strobel interviews a lot of very credible experts.

However, there’s not much attempt to find the other side of the story. Stroebel only interviews people who are clearly on his side to start with. There’s no Devil’s Advocate here.

Also, Stroebel has a hyperbolic style where he seems to be begging the reader to believe him, in places. He uses dramatic adjectives to convey his own feelings and impressions, which can be a little tough to take in a book that’s supposed to be dispassionate and analytical.

Overall, a very good book. It asks a lot of interesting questions, and provides a lot of background context to history.