The Case for Christ

Book: The Case for Christ
Author: Lee Strobel

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while, actually so long I think I was a Christian when it was on my to read list, (I need not spell out the irony of me finally reading it as an agnostic). Many Christians hold Lee Strobel as one of their champions of reason. He is a very smart guy, and from what I can tell he seems like a pretty genuine guy too. I love watching his faith under fire series in which he gets speakers from all across the board to battle it out. I also think he makes for a pretty fair moderator. As a Christian I used to love hearing his testimony of how he came to faith through this long journey of weighing up the facts and deep investigation. He sounded so convincing!

The book starts out in this fashion. Lee begins with his own personal journey of faith and how he became a Christian. Lee, having experience as a journalist is a very persuasive writer. Lee made some statements at the beginning of this book that set things up to be quite promising. It was shaping out to be a good read! I actually had a lot of fun at the beginning of this book, I was enjoying reading some of the answers from top Christian scholars and I thought Lee was asking some really good questions, sometimes even surprising me with a question I didn’t even think to ask myself!

However at about the half way mark, I began to find the book quite dry. I liked it, I was having fun with it, but the answers from the evangelical Christian scholars were all beginning to sound like broken records. Some of the arguments being put forth by some scholars have already been refuted by other prominent scholars. It was also around this point I had realised Lee had only interviewed Christian scholars with an apologetic purpose. I was after a fresh perspective, an argument from a different side, maybe a more liberal Christian perspective or even a secular scholar, someone with a little less theological and emotional baggage that could possibly get in the way of deciphering truth from the gospels and other historical sources. But so far Lee seemed to be avoiding the opposition which made me wonder.

It was when I got to chapter 6 “The rebuttal evidence” I thought things might start to heat up. He begins the chapter with his usual real life court case story and then proceeds to talk a little bit about the Jesus seminar; a mixed group of scholars who don’t agree with the conservative literal interpretation of the gospels that Lee is so desperately trying to prove is true. Here is how Lee starts this chapter:

“Now that I had heard powerfully convincing and well-reasoned evidence from the scholars I questioned for this book, I needed to turn my attention to the decidedly contrary opinions of a small group of academics (the Jesus seminar) who have been the subject of a whirlwind of news coverage... ” Page 111

“But I wanted to go beyond the headlines and to unearth, as commentator Paul Harvey likes to say, “the rest of the story”...” Page 112

I remember thinking to myself “awesome”! Now we finally get to hear from scholars that have different opinions. Who might he interview I wonder, seeing how he’s talking about the Jesus seminar, I wonder if it’s going to be John Dominic Crossan? Or maybe even Robert Price? I’ll tell you who it was... neither! Lee in his built up speech about hearing from those who oppose the conservative Christian view of biblical scholarship goes to interview yet ANOTHER evangelical Christian scholar who is well known for defending scholarship from the “heretical” Jesus seminar.

It was at this point the book began to go downhill from me. All the promises of genuine journalistic enquiry into what we know about Jesus were beginning to sink lower and lower. I think I realised at this point this book wasn’t indented for sceptics who have done a little research on both sides. This book sole purpose is to convince those who have already been convinced. Sorry Lee, I think you’re a top bloke but if your idea of genuine enquiry into truth is too interview one side’s proponents one after the other, you’ve lost me.

Although I found the book very one sided, let’s remember that Lee is an author. Authors don’t write books that no will buy. They are usually aimed at a specific targeted audience. But the problem I have with this book is it’s presented as an honest, open journey for truth when it shows clear signs it isn’t. The obvious being his lack of interest in alternative views, but more subtly the language he chooses to use. On many occasions I caught Lee phrasing a sentence that seemed quite odd for someone who is supposedly on a search for genuine truth. For example, at the beginning of chapter 6, he refers to the Jesus seminars views as “troubling and wildly publicised”. Why would someone on “a quest for truth” who according to page 14 is “setting aside my self-interest and prejudices” find an alternative view “troubling”?

Lee has extensive knowledge of the legal system and how court cases work, knowledge he acquired through his years as a journalistic investigator. He often refers to real life stories that have taken place in a court to use as a type of metaphor to set up his interviews:

“In this quest for truth, I’ve used my experience as a legal affairs journalist to look at numerous categories of proof...These are the same classifications that you’d encounter in a courtroom. And maybe taking a legal perspective is the best way to envision this process – with you in the role of a juror.” Page 15

Well the most obvious problem I see with the analogy of a court case is that Lee fails to interview any scholars or sceptics that have different points of view to the ‘experts’ he’s interviewing. This is rather like having a court case in which we only hear from the defence and not the prosecution (or vice versa). Does that sound fair? Does that sound like someone who is genuinely after truth?

But I refuse to fall prey to the same crime of ignoring information I’m accusing Lee of, so here is a response I’ve found from Lee on why he didn’t interview any liberal scholars with alternative views in his book, make of it what you will. (I recommend reading the comments too):

Lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-2

Overall I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in biblical scholarship. It’s at best a good collection of the arguments from one particular side of the spectrum. But don’t be swayed by Lee’s provocative writing style, one only needs to take a step back and look at the book as a whole too see this wasn’t a genuine search for truth. There is always another side to the story. If you’re going to read this book than I recommend you follow it up with Misquotting Jesus by Bart D Ehrman, Jesus: A revolutionary biography by John Dominic Crossan, Jesus for the non religious by John Shelby Spong or for a direct response point by point, The case against 'the case for Christ' by Robert M Price. This will give you a far broader perspective of biblical scholarship and open your mind to a number of different possibilities. Then you will truly be able to, in the words of Lee, “reach your own verdict”.