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    The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
    The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
    The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus

    Written by Lee Strobel

    Narrated by Lee Strobel

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    About this audiobook

    A seasoned journalist chases down the biggest story in history.

    The Project: Determine if there's credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God. The Reporter: Lee Strobel, educated at Yale Law School, award-winning former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune--with a background of atheism. The Experts: A dozen scholars, with doctorates from Cambridge, Princeton, Brandeis, and other top-flight institutions, who are recognized authorities on Jesus. The Story: Retracing his own spiritual journey, Strobel cross-examines the experts with tough, point-blank questions:

    • How reliable is the New Testament?
    • Does evidence exist for Jesus outside the Bible?
    • Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual historical event?

    This audio adaptation of Lee Strobel's remarkable Gold Medallion Award-winning book packs the energy of a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it's not fiction. It's a riveting quest for the truth about history's most compelling figure. What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateNov 19, 2003
    ISBN9780310260172
    Author

    Lee Strobel

    Lee Strobel, former award-winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, is a New York Times bestselling author whose books have sold millions of copies worldwide. Lee earned a journalism degree at the University of Missouri and was awarded a Ford Foundation fellowship to study at Yale Law School, where he received a Master of Studies in Law degree. He was a journalist for fourteen years at the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, winning Illinois’ top honors for investigative reporting (which he shared with a team he led) and public service journalism from United Press International. Lee also taught First Amendment Law at Roosevelt University. A former atheist, he served as a teaching pastor at three of America’s largest churches. Lee and his wife, Leslie, have been married for more than fifty years and live in Texas. Their daughter, Alison, and son, Kyle, are also authors. Website: www.leestrobel.com

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    Reviews for The Case for Christ

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      Great account of finding evidence for the resurrection. Very detailed

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Very insightful. Jesus Christ is risen and lives in me

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Really good insight on the speculation of Christ and how He is undoubtedly the Son of God.
    • 5/5
      Muy interesante y enriquecedor viaje a traves de la investigacion que realizó el autor compartiendo con nosotros informacion muy valiosa
    • 3/5
      Very good documentation of how Jesus stands up to scholarly historical scrutiny. Helped bolster my faith though I'm looking even more forward to reading The Case for Faith.
    • 5/5
      It was insightful, and filed my faith with facts and deep theological truths!
    • 5/5
      Great book on proof Jesus lived, died and arose. Too many facts to not believe in the resurrection.
    • 5/5
      I've been a Christian for years, and this book still brought up some of the questions I had. I loved how they were answered - we won't always have the answers to things, but the answers we do have should be enough.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      'The Case for Christ' was recommended to me due to my interest in religious studies, but it was genuinely the worst book I have ever read. This used to be a two-star review; I wanted to be generous. However, the longer this one sits with me, the worse I feel about it.

      Lee Strobel presents himself as a 'former Atheist', while never showing signs of that past Atheism in his work. In fact, he uses apologetics as though he were raised in the church as a Good Christian Boy. Strobel seeks out experts in their respective fields—ones whom he knows for a fact will agree with him and affirm the view he seeks to assert as fact. He even goes out of his way to trash other belief systems and even Christian denominations. It's clear that this is no more than a book on apologetics. There is no factual representation within these pages, just a man who wants to be seen as something he isn't: an expert in his own field.

      There is no room left for someone else to be correct. In fact, he drives the book home with this CS Lewis quote:

      “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

      Then, he packs into the Afterword that he isn't saying anyone is bad or wrong for not believing in Jesus. According to the aforementioned quote, that's a lie. It's the same bald-faced lie I've come to expect from apologetics and evangelicals as a whole. And that one lie is enough to make every word of this book complete and total garbage.

      Granted, I have no respect for Strobel; this book is the reason why.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      A pithy defense of the historicity of canonical scripture. A fun read with useful info for the doubting Thomases among us.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Interesting interviews. This book chronicles Strobel’s quest for proof, not that Jesus existed, but that he was the son of God. I was a bit disappointed because the proof is from a legal definition rather than a scientific one. So, a person could reject the preponderance of the evidence or refute Strobel’s subject matter experts; thereby rejecting the conclusions. From that perspective, the discussions are more about the author’s personal spiritual journey than a proving of Christianity. Interesting to read, but by no means a presentation of fact. I guess that’s what faith is all about.
    • 3/5
      When I review religious books, I feel that I should state that I am an atheist. Nonetheless, I try to review the book from the point of someone who may disagree with me. It is necessary to distinguish between "Jesus" and "Christ." I know a number of liberal Christians, and indeed, some atheists, who are certain that Jesus did exist, but they don't believe that he was the messiah, or, Christ. Some of these Christians still think that he is a prophet, even if not divine. Strobel takes a more conservative view: he is arguing that the Christian Testament can be taken literally and that Jesus is indeed the messiah.Given the number of editions and spinoffs of this book, obviously mainly Christians find it inspiring. I am always rather annoyed with Strobel because in this and The Case for a Creator, he is falsely claiming to be asking tough questions. No, he is clearly choosing speakers who will say what he wants to hear. They have impressive credential, but they would get a lot of argument from other qualified professinals. Strobel mixes the interviews with stories from his time as a journalist, which I suppose is intended to convince the reader that he is, as he claims, asking tough questions. No, he's lobbing softballs, if not snowballs. He will tell his experts: you know, some people disagree with you, The expert will firmly announce that whoever disagrees is wrong, and as far as Strobel is concerned, that settles that. I assume many of his readers feel that same.I would only caution believers that trying to use these arguments with knowledgeable people can be risky. The fact is that experts disagree more than Strobel lets on; believing readers who want to debate with others are poorly served by not being told this. I know a man with a Ph.D. in New Testament studies, who taught religion at a well-regarded private college, and while he believes that Jesus is a prophet, and religion is central to his life, he doesn't believe in miracles, salvation, eternal life, or even that Gods listens to prayers. He likes Paul Tillich's view of God as an impersonal being who is "Being Itself." If Strobel were to ask him, he could marshal a number of other experts to support his interpretation. The reader may find that the arguments of Strobel and his experts are not as effective with everyone as they might suppose. My point is, before one goes out to argue as a sheep among wolves, one should know what the wolves might argue -- getting caught flat-footed is embarrassing. A lot of atheists and other non-Christians are actually quite knowledgeable. According to the Pew Forum, atheists actually score higher on tests of knowledge about Christianity than most Christians do. Look through Richard Carrier's The Case Against the the Case for Christ, just to have an idea of what one might be up against.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      When a prominent journalist decides to prove his wife's faith is based on myth and superstition, he digs deeper and deeper into the study of the Bible and the historical records. What he finds changes his life and his marriage. Based on a true story, this book has also been made into a movie.
    • 3/5
      Ok book, but he starts with too many givens. Could have been better.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      This book could easily be called "Lee Strobel Speculates Wildly from Unconvincing Premises" or "Lee Strobel Interviews People that Agree With Him". This book is a strange combination of soft-ball interview questions and absurd leaps of logic. Lee Strobel may once have been an atheist, but if he was he wasn't a particularly thoughtful one. You would have to have no knowledge of logical fallacies and no understanding of history or human psychology in order to be convinced by these arguments.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Lee Strobel's book got really big when I was in college and he makes a really good argument for why the Creationism theory isn't so far-fetched. I really love his stuff - he looks at everything through the lens of a journalist, someone who is investigating the situation and trying to come to conclusions.
    • 5/5
      I have read this book before, and probably will again. Strobel presents evidence for Christ and the resurrection that changed his mind and had him converting from an atheist to a Christian. Sometimes it is not bad to be reminded!
    • 5/5
      “The Case for Christ” is an investigative journalist’s recounting of his spiritual journey, one that took a skeptic from long-standing atheism to faithful believer. Supporting references and insightful interviews with recognized experts buttress his search for answers and offer readers a wealth of information couched in the author’s unbiased pursuit for compelling evidence in support of the truth.Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      I read this a number of years ago and also watched the author's video testimony. An avowed atheist the author's life is radically altered when he is confronted with the truth about Jesus.

      This is one of the best evidences for the verse "If you seek Me with all you heart you will find Me." Lee Strobel's testimony proves that if a person seeks the truth with all their heart they can find it. If only there were more people out there like Strobel who could not rest until he found the truth, wherever his search led him. In a similar manner to the Apostle Paul, having acknowledged Jesus as Lord, he became as passionate about reaching others with the message of salvation as he had been about his atheism.....

      I enjoyed this book for the author's testimony alone--it is well documented in this book. His "case for faith" takes second place in my view.

      I recommend this book although it has been a while since I read it.
    • 3/5
      5459. The Case For Christ A Journalist's Personal Invwatigation of the Evidence for Jesus, by Lee Strobel (read 9 Apr 2017) The author was an investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune and after he became a believing Protestant in 1981 he undertook to interview 15 Protestant Scripture scholars about the evidence for Jesus and His Divinity. He discusses with each of the scholars evidence which shows that Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead and was the second person of the Holy Trinity. Since the author was convinced before he started his investigation and since he interviewed only scholars who agreed with his conviction, it is not surprising that he reports finding convincing reasons for his belief. I confess I was bothered that he only talked to Protestants and that he utterly ignores Catholic scholars, who would have supported his claims for Jesus as well and would have also shown that Jesus instituted the Eucharist and asked that it be celebrated in memory of Him. In his discussion the only Catholic scholars he so much as mentions are Luke Timothy Johnson and the late Father Raymond E. Brown--and his mention of them is minimal. But then the book was published by a Protestant publishing house and is designed for Protestant readers, so his slant is understandable. But there are many effective points in support of Jesus in the book and I found it worth reading, so far as it went.
    • 1/5
      The author did an amazing job of sounding like a pompous ass and simultaneously sounding like an ignorant rube. Lee Strobel has put himself inside a Christian echo chamber and intentionally neglected to interview any person who could or would refute his worldview. I propose that Strobel's work be used as an example of how to write a biased, anti-academic book on the subject of Christianity. This author has no intention of truly challenging his ideas and it seems that the purpose of his book is merely to keep the sheep in the flock.
    • 4/5
      I am already a Christian, so I don't know if this book would have compelled me to believe in Christ or not. However, Strobel investigates the claims about who Jesus was and the circumstances surrounding his death and resurrection in an objective manner. The resurrection of course is the single most important event in history, so knowing how we know that those testimonies are true is pretty compelling.
    • 5/5
      Excellent book. Reveals the facts about Jesus Christ and the true history that is no longer being taught in schools.
    • 4/5
      The Case for Christ documents a series of interviews of leading Biblical scholars that discuss such questions as:

      Can the biographies of Jesus be trusted?
      Were they reliably preserved?
      Does archaeology confirm or contradict the gospels?
      Was Jesus crazy when He claimed to be the son of God?
      Was Jesus seen alive after His death on the cross?
      What does the evidence establish?

      I liked Strobel's writing style. He includes a nice description of his conversations without just listing a bunch of dry academic facts. The facts themselves are quite interesting. I thought his "case" was well presented, but I am of course already biased to believe it. So, would it change my mind if I were atheist or agnostic? I don't know. He does bring up common arguments and refutes them, which I found compelling.

      Speaking as a Christian, I believe this book provides an interesting read in apologetics. I enjoyed it, and thought it had some solid points to support the validity of the Bible. Of course, in the end, it's written by a man. Ultimately, my faith comes from what I read in the Bible, not what a man or Bible scholar writes. I believe anything aside from the inspired word of God can have fallacies - intended or not. But I would recommend this read to others, and I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
    • 3/5
      Substance: Each element of the "case" is based on the evidence Strobel would consider necessary in any legal case, and each chapter is prefaced by an actual case relevant to that type of evidence. These anecdotes are quite interesting, although not always exactly on point. For the evidence about Christ he depends on doctrinal scholars and their research. Not much of what he discovers is new, but it's useful to have it gathered into one volume.Style: Strobel's presentation and evaluation of the evidence is journalistic rather than scholarly. There may be an associated documentary available.Notes:"Legend today develops instantly - it's called 'spin' and it happens on purpose."Check the rest of the notes marked in the book.For some bizarre reason, he drops in a paragraph condemning the Book of Mormon without any further explanation or previous motivation.
    • 4/5
      Atheists don't have a leg to stand on with the hard evidence that this journalist presents in his case for Christ. Nothing else in history has the kind of proof and witnesses that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has and it is simply wonderful to see how this case unfolds. Lee Strobel had started out on this quest as a hard-core skeptic and atheist. And he emerged a devout Christian. I doubt this means that others will do so too. If there's one thing I've learnt each person needs to go on their own spiritual journey and discovery. However, I enjoyed reading this book. It was confirmation of my faith and very very informative. I would recommend this book to all seekers of faith and christians alike.
    • 5/5
      So amazing. The man went from being an antagonistic Athiest to a born again Christian--it's a great read for everyone in that spectrum. I like how he used secular writings from the 1st century as well as the culture of the early church to help us understand different aspects of the history behind Christ's story.He asked the logic questions that most people have, and the answers he found are very convicting. I have a new found love for Luke as a historian, and the preface to his gospel makes me smile. I also like how he breaks up his research into different parts, and the part I most appreciated was the information on Resurrection of Christ.I'm proud that a professor from my Alma Mater, Liberty University, was referenced!
    • 3/5
      This tool has been helping me answer questions from a friend who is struggling to find truth. What excites me about this book is that the story of Jesus, as told in the Gospels, is not only reliable, it is reliable in many categories. The internal and external proofs are overwhelming, and anyone who is sincerely looking for answers can be assured Jesus really lived on earth, died on the cross, and rose from the dead on the third day.
    • 4/5
      I finished Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus next. He was a former religious skeptic but is now a Christian and teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. He worked for the Chicago Tribune as an investigative reporter and he studied law so I thought it would be interesting to see what he found. This book was a 432 page book broken up into 3 parts, "Examining the Record", "Analyzing Jesus", and "Researching the Resurrection."In this book there was a lot of information and was well written and interesting. The author interviewed 13 Christian experts including such people as Craig Blomberg, Bruze Metzger, Edwin Yamauchi, Ben Witherington III, and William Lane Craig. This book was a book about Strobel’s reasons for his belief in Jesus but not a well-balanced pro and con view of both sides. If you are looking for that, this is not the book. His book also had others like one of my favorites, Ravi Zacharias, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries; Phillip Johnson, Law Professor, University of California at Berkeley; D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries; J.P. Moreland, Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University; and Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College. It would take too long to get into each subpart of the three main parts to flesh out all the details here but I’d be happy to talk to anyone a little more in-depth about this book in this thread. This book has a lot of one sided "evidence" but many are begging the question issues in my mind but overall I thought he did a good job with this book. I'd give this 4 stars out of 5.
    • 1/5
      Do yourself a favor. If you're not already a Christian nothing this book insists is evidence is even slightly convincing. If you are a Christian don't give this to you're non-Christian friends to try and convert them, you'll just annoy them (and waste your money).It is obvious to any skeptic reading this book, that for all of Strobel's insistence that he was a hardcore atheist and bristling skeptic he has absolutely no idea what sort of questions and answers matter to skeptics. Nor does his interaction with his all Christian interviewees suggest anything but compliant and soft handling. He appears to be wearing two or three pairs of kid gloves. He'll say that he can't let them off the hook and that he's going to give them a tough question and then lob some sort of crackpot theory no self respecting skeptic would ever take seriously.The formula it this. 1. Start chapter with an exciting, but irrelevant anecdote about criminal investigation. It's a terrible and transparent gimmick aimed it showing that investigating the Bible is the same as investigating contemporary crime, even though there aren't any witnesses, material evidence, forensics or really any means at all to demonstrate anything concrete whatsoever. 2. Talk about the dude you're going to interview. Spend a page talking about his credentials, but then tell us not to worry about him bein' some unrelatable academic snot. He likes hockey! And has pictures his kids drew! And and he looks like a nice guy! Frankly I'm surprised he never got around to comparing them to lovable pop culture icons. Reading this ridiculous dribble about why I should like this academic every-man I couldn't help wondering what he would have said about skeptical academics had he actually interviewed any. I doubt that he would talk about them in such sappy heartwarming language. Would he simply omit the gratuitous page of leg-humping (which really didn't need to be there at all) or would he mention the "cold uncomfortable feeling he felt in their presence" and describe the "lack of human touches in their office"? I don't know. It's one more reason I wish he had included interviews from people that weren't all presenting the argument he was selling.3. Next you dive into the interview. This involves Strobel asking a question involving the theme of the of the chapter and immediately accepting whatever answer is given. Sometime he admits that that was enough to convince him, but asks a few more softball questions anyway to demonstrate his commitment to academic pursuit. Almost all examples of scholarly opinion and evidence is only vaguely referred to and lacking reference. They say things like "every one agrees that..." but fail to say who everyone is, or more importantly why they agree. It is assumed that hearing that some unknown theoretical scholars think it is as good as actual evidence and evaluation. It's not uncommon for them to insist that agreement is unanimous in the academic community regarding an issue when a simple google search shows it isn't. I shouldn't need to point out that conducting a criminal investigation or trial in this manner would be a joke. 4. Having declared the previous claim fact without actually applying any sort of rigorous evaluation or providing any evidence Strobel then uses it to prove more claims. This is basically all the book is. Making a claim, not really investigating it, declaring it inequivocally proven and then using it to prove other claims.5. Throw in some strawman versions of skeptic arguments and you're good to go.In a nut shell, this book argues that what the Bible says must be true because the Bible says it. It never addresses any real arguments against religion in general or Christianity in particular and on the occasion Strobel accidentally raises a legitimate objection his subject wasn't prepared for it is dismissed with a wave of the hand rather than actual logic or evidence. Unless you already accept the Bible as fact this is just going to be a lot of self appreciative nonsense and a giant waste of time.Some of you may be wondering why someone like myself that so clearly didn't like the book felt the need to read it and review it. It was given me by my mother. She was completely convinced it would show me the light and save me from my atheist ways. This is the third book I have read that was given to me to these ends, and while none of them has come even remotely close to addressing the sort of the things that me make an atheist rather than a Christian, this book was by far the worst of the bunch. I don't recommend giving your atheist or agnostic friends religious books or attempting to convert them, it is more likely to strain the relationship than make good Christians of them.