Rating: 
Summary: Case made!
Review: The proof exists. Page by page in this extraordinary book, Strobel proves his case (actually His case). Jesus was not a myth but an historical man and God incarnate. Read this book with an open mind and an open heart and see if you can still find a way to dismiss the teachings of the Savior of the World.
Rating: 
Summary: Read it for the right reasons.
Review: There are good reasons to read this book, and there are probably bad reasons to read this book. I read it as I was coming to Christ, and it helped me to feel more secure in my descision.Really the core question that this book is not "Did Christ live and is indeed the Savior of the world?", but "Can a reasonable person believe?" If you are reading the book to find the answer to the first question, then I do not think the book can make you believe the answer. It provides one person's answer to each of the common questions asked. Each of these experts are biased in their belief, and present "a" answer to the question presented to them, not nessesarily "the" answer. If you are truely searching for objective truth, then you are looking in the wrong place. (Objective truth is probably impossible to find on religious matters) If you are looking for the answer to the second question, then this is an excelent book. It shows how a studied and resonable person can believe. Each of the experts interviewed believe, and provide very solid reasonable explainations about how they can believe considering the common objections that they are questioned about. I believe that it is God's job to call you to faith. If you are feeling His call, this book can help you understand and explain that the Christian faith is not a blind faith.
Rating:
Summary: I'd add on 10 more stars if I could!
Review: A friend suggested this book when I indicated that I wanted to brush up on Christian Apologetics to make the most of this Thanksgiving with my agnostic in-laws. I bought the book for myself so that I could read it and see if I would be comfortable sharing it with my in-laws.
The book is absolutely wonderful! I could not put it down. It really does read like a novel rather than a stiff hard-to-understand spewing of data.
I learned quite a bit about the origins of my Christian faith and how so much of it really is based on evidence. Granted there were some points that seemed a bit stretched, but overall, I LOVED it. Beware, however, the chapter to support the accounts of the crucifiction will bring you to tears!
I'm going to send an e-mail out to all my family and friends offering to buy this for them--IT'S THAT GOOD!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: While Strobel attempts to present this book as a trial, we only hear from the defense, and virtually nothing from the prosecution. Strobel did not set out to clearly look at the issue but rather to reinforce his own views with leading Christian proponents. If you read this book as a Christian, you will still be one. If you don't believe, this will not be a convincing case. If you straddle the line and are not too discriminating in your logic, you may find it plausible.
Rating: 
Summary: Irrelevant
Review: The author of the epistle to the Hebrews may have assured his readers that "faith is the assurance of things unseen," but that teaching seems to have been lost on Mr. Strobel. For more than 2000 years, Christianity has judiciously made its spiritual claims based not on forensic evidence but on Spirit-inspired faith. Being a law school graduate and a former reporter, Mr. Strobel seems all-too-ready to take his readers out of the realm of the Spirit and into the world of questionable evidence. At best, Mr. Strobel's effort is a well intended, but useless attempt to prove the claims of faith in the court of world opinion. It is a sort of amusing parlor game: a cute and harmless diversion. It is nothing more than words and wishes unnecessary for believers and meaningless to skeptics. At worst, this book testifies to a new Gnosticism: an attempt to prove the claims of faith by a special knowledge, which ironically undermines the faith itself. Probably, Mr. Strobel's book is neither the best of what it could be, nor the worst. Probably, it is merely irrelevant.
Rating:
Summary: Who is the audience?
Review: I am reading this Christianity v. atheism flamefest, and it seems as if quite a few reviewers aren't looking at the book for what it is and what it isn't. Let's look at the intended audience. This book is for people who are either looking for ways to logically defend their faith, or for people who may be earnestly searching for the truth and want to see logical evidence for Christianity. In that, for the most part, it's pretty good. The only weak spot I found was when Strobel and Prof. D.A. Carson were discussing slavery and the issue of race. To bring up Thomas Sowell's perspective on slavery in this discussion may turn off many people of color who may already mistakenly see Christianity as a "white man's religion" or that see Christians as not deeming important major issues of race in our culture stemming from slavery. If I remember correctly, Thomas Sowell is the same scholar that argued that blacks do not belong in Ivy League schools such as Harvard. Seeing his name mentioned in a discussion on slavery and race in a beginning apologetics book made me wince, and this can be very distracting and misleading for people who may be searching for truth and really need to see an accurate picture of who Jesus was and is. If you are looking to minister to lost people of color, especially African-Americans, I'd recommend the book with caution. Overall, the book was good. It presented arguments that were easy to understand and made sense. It also added a human element to it, as Strobel's interviewees each told of how they came to Christ. Of course, it was not objective. The truth is, you will NEVER find a book on the subject, whether Christian or atheist, that is objective, because on this subject, it is nearly impossible to ride the fence. But lack of objectivity doesn't invalidate the evidence itself. The best thing for both sides to do when it comes to works like this is to look at the evidence for yourself, and be honest with what you see from it, even if it means that it challenges your present view.
Rating: 
Summary: This is the defendant argument, not the final ruling
Review: This is a book where the lay person can find a lot of information on resources to do his/her own research. In my opinion the title of this book is wrong, because Lee Strobel doesn't act like a judge when presenting the case, instead his a firm ( sometimes naive ) believer in what he is discussing. Having said that, the book is insteresting to somebody who'd like to be introduced to the study of Christ, both on a theological and on an historical point of view. Overall, the book opens more areas for people who doesn't believe presenting their case then otherwise. Although strong in the arguments in favor, the points that it tries striking on the arguments against its case is naive, to say the least. Besides, you can clearly see its biased position in the material that is presented for further study. The books of people who's opinion is favorable to the existence of Jesus are neatly collected at the end of each chapter. On the other hand, the material from people who are against the existence of Jesus are presented in notes at page foot... All in all, you can say that it is a good starting point.
Rating:
Summary: Investigative Report on Evidence for Jesus Christ
Review: Jesus the Messiah (Christ) is here investigated the same as one would for a trial or the late-night news. You run with theses and seek expert opinions on them. This Strobel does with the precision that were his trade: a journalist specializing in law, which he had the academic background to do. He examines the skepticism against the LORD from nearly all perspectives, archaelogical, historical, medical, pshycholigical, Biblical, etc. In each of them, an expert is sought to defend historic Christianity's position, with Strobel acting as investigator and cross-examiner. With each topic and expert's answers, Strobel provides discussion questions as well as further reading lists. This is rehash of arguments that have been made for quite some time, yet here Strobel places them on a level that most of the public can relate to. He trys and succeeds at bringing sophisticated arguments down to laypeople terms, with illustrations that help present what's being discussed. Above all, this work exposes the presuppositions which the skeptics all start with and cannot really defend. As happened with Strobel and others (cf. Frank Morrison "Who Moved the Stone"), the evidence stacks up quickly in favor of the Biblical Jesus. This can immensely aid the faithful in not only supplying them with objective looks at their faith, but also serve as resource to share with unbelievers. Disagreeing wholeheartedly with "preaching to the choir," anyone who "claims" to be intellectual and open-minded will take the time to read and refute these positions if they have the goods. I don't think many of them will do either. But we can try, and God will use this apologetic I'm certain with some of our friends, family and contacts.
Rating:
Summary: Excrement
Review: This book was given to me by a friend and it's a great example of Christian "junk truth". A few facts here, and some speculation there do not add up to provable fact. If this were true, I'm sure there's a flying saucer chasing Hale Bopp right now. So many zealots have been buying into this nonsense since "Countdown to Armageddon" came out in the early 80's. These books are squeezed out by the metric ton and I have yet to come across one that hasn't been totally saturated with disinformation and outright falsehoods.
I wish I could get the time back that I spend reading this worthless propaganda.
Rating:
Summary: Apologetics Lite
Review: If you're looking for a book to prove to you that Christianity is correct this isn't it. But if you've already accepted the truth and are interested in finding out more about the evidence for Jesus being the Christ then this is something you should read. It is a very easy read with great sources from Bruce Metzger to Dr. J.P. Moreland. If you've never looked into why logical people are so convinced that Christianity is the true religion then this is the place to start. Strobel does a great job of tying anecdotes to his chapters and of providing a look at the evidence that leads so many people to Jesus.
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