About this title: In this audio cassette edition, abridged from the Gold Medallion Award-winning book, Lee Strobel uses the dramatic scenario of an investigative journalist pursuing his story and leads?and his experience as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune?to interview experts about the evidence for Christ from the fields of science, philosophy, and history. Read by Lee Strobel.
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Description: Fine. 0310226554 Excellent condition paperback book, clean pages, NO creases to spine, this book is Near NEW! Shop & Save With US. read more
"My approach to religion is more faith-based than his, so I found his constant seeking for "proof" a bit annoying. Still what he learned was very interesting. It didn't change my feelings about Jesus at all, but it added some information I didn't have before. His conclusions about the Book of Mormon I found to be funny in that he'd just spent a whole chapter pointing out that much proof of cities mentioned in the New Testiment wasn't found until relatively recently. Those things have been researched so intensely for so long by so many with a clear starting point; of course they've found those cities. With the Book of Mormon there is no clear starting point, and comparatively few people have been searching for so much shorter a time. Can he really expect them to have found those evidences already? Also according to what he pointed out about biblical locations being found, just because Book of Mormon sites have not been found does not mean they are not there and won't ever be found. This is why some things simply need to be taken on faith - after having read the book for yourself and making it a matter of sincere prayer."
"Strobel, a former investigative reporter and religious skeptic, interviews scholars from various fields, including history, psychology, and archeology, to determine if it is possible that Jesus is the Messiah. The book is structured similar to a court case, with Strobel explaining the different types of evidence he is about to present by using court cases to illustrate how they can impact a trial.
However, the major problem with his argument is that he leaves out one very important part of a court case: the cross examination. The scholars who do appear in the book hold conservative religious beliefs, and more liberal theological views, such as those of the Jesus Seminar, atheists, and agnostics, are introduced only so that they can be quickly dismissed. As a result, Strobel has a major hole in his rhetorical strategy that leaves the reader with more questions than answers concerning the perspectives he did not give fair weight to."
"The author compares his investigation of the evidence for Christianity to his investigation of evidence for a legal case when he worked as a lawyer. While I appreciate the point he is making, this constant method of comparison becomes a bit tedious; as a reader, I just want to get on with the apologetics. His interview style is likewise wearying. While he's telling me what professor this or that is doing with his pipe before answering his question, I just want to say, "Get to the point." The interviews themselves seem a bit contrived, as though he was selecting and arranging his questions in order to produce a certain set of desired responses: leading the witness, so to speak. When reading his accounts of these interviews, I did not feel persuaded that Strobel was being convinced of the evidence for Christianity via his investigation, but that he was already convinced prior to the interviews, and that the interviews themselves are little more than a rhetorical device. There's nothing wrong with using rhetorical devices in apologetics, but then you shouldn't pretend it's something other than a device, and Strobel pretends it's an empirical investigation born of doubt; I think this tactic is very much going to hurt his case with atheists and agnostics who will see it (perhaps not wrongly) as a ploy and then consequently discount the very real and otherwise persuasive evidence he does present.
In short, I would have preferred a straightforward recounting of the evidence on behalf of Christianity. There are many nuggets of persuasive value in this book, but you have to wade through a lot of extraneous material to get there. I wasn't learning anything I haven't already read before in other, more concise or more poetical apologetics, and so I ended up putting the book aside unfinished. If I were to suggest an apologetic, it would not be this one. I would suggest Mere Christianity, Misquoting Jesus, or What's So Great About Christianity long before I would suggest this one."
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