Rating: 
Summary: Meet the Historic Jesus!
Review: Strobel leaves no stone unturned. He asks questions that are just dying to refute the accuracy of the Bible and the historical Jesus. Yet, the scholars (who were interviewed) answered them cogently and convincingly. I challenge you, the reader, to look up the points he made with the different scholars and see if Strobel is really being fair and objective. Furthermore, Strobel is not being biased by asking Christian scholars about the Bible and Jesus. He's asking them because if they're the ones making the claim that the Bible is historical and inspirational and that Jesus resurrected and claimed divinity, then it would be a good idea to question and debate them about these strong held beliefs.
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Summary: Wow -- a great book!
Review: This book and its sequel, "The Case for Faith," are two of my favorites. I loved the formats -- the writer, a former atheist, interviews experts on the historical evidence for Jesus in "The Case for Christ" and on the tough questions challenging Christianity in "The Case for Faith." As far as this book is concerned, the evidence for Jesus being the Son of God is spelled out with precision and persuasiveness. The book establishes the overall reliability of the Gospel accounts, examines Jesus' self-understanding and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, and analyses the resurrection from several different angles (including the empty tomb, eyewitness accounts, and corroborative evidence). Together, the evidence is very powerful -- which is probably the reason why atheists have tried to attack it. My suggestion is that you read this book for yourself -- and then pass it along to a friend who's investigating Christianity.
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Summary: Get Doherty and you'll see how vapid Strobel is!
Review: Hey folks, guess what. Even if Strobel and Christianity is right (which they ain't) there is no way to prove it. We don't have any Christian documents before the third century! NOBODY really knows what happened in the first couple of centuries of Christianity!Strobel and his "experts" dismiss alternate theories as "unbelievable" and yet they want us to believe a man rose from the dead. They want us to believe that the followers were executed for following Jesus. But not even the Bible documents such! There is no evidence of Christian persecution until Nero. Pick up Doherty's _Challenging the Verdict_. Some dismiss Doherty because he believes the Gospels were originally simply intended to be allegory and then later became viewed as history. People just dismiss Doherty as "outlandish" and yet have no real counter argument of substance. But its true that Doherty could be wrong on that. Nobody knows what happened. But one thing we can be dang sure of and that is nobody has ever survived death!
Rating: 
Summary: well written coverage in layman's language
Review: This is a very well written, and well researched book. It is written in a journalistic style, and is a succinct and easy read for those seeking answers about the historical Jesus. Mr. Strobel uses his background covering legal issues and criminal cases for the Chicago Tribune as a vehicle for setting up "The Case for Christ." Some reviewers take issue with Mr. Strobel's worldview, which is decidedly Christian, but he's quite open and honest about this from the outset. Other reviewers seem to find it distasteful that Mr. Strobel gives short shrift to popular, albeit absurd, theories concerning the historical Jesus. My view is that he gives them the short, direct answer and dismissal that many of them deserve. This book isn't meant as a college text, and it doesn't address each and every criticism of the Christian faith. It does however, address the core issues, and an honest seeker of truth will find this a refreshing treatise on the subject. Anyone reading this will find themselves much better informed on a subject about which perhaps unequalled error and even foolishness is often presented as sophisticated criticism. Truth is usually quite simple, and Mr. Strobel presents it so. The simplicity of his arguments, in keeping with his legal background, are eloquent.
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Summary: Well-done compilation of the evidence for Jesus
Review: It was refreshing to see the historic case for Jesus spelled out with this book's captivating and creative approach. In recent years, a lot of people have been making outlandish claims in which they merely revise ancient history based on rank speculation. It seems they begin with a premise -- Jesus never even existed or he never claimed to be the Son of God -- and then they construct whatever revisionist "evidence" is necessary to support their view. I find those efforts to be dismal failures. None of them has been able to undermine the basic foundation of Christianity. On the other hand, this book presents the historic evidence in a new format. It examines all kinds of objections to Christianity and then demonstrates how the evidence overrules them. (Some reviewers have objected that the book answers objections that people aren't making, such as whether Jesus was insane. But look at the Bible itself -- that claim was made in Jesus' own day! So it was an objection the author had to deal with or be accused by these same critics of failing to answer all possible issues.) While the author was an award-winning journalist who became a Christian after examining the evidence, the book is clearly written from his now-Christian perspective and consequently the charges by some reviewers that the book lacked "objectivity" are misplaced. The author can no longer be purely objective now that he has been convinced by the evidence, but he can be balanced and fair in examining both sides, which he is in this book. He took on all the credible objections to Christianity in this book and its sequel, "The Case for Faith," although he wisely didn't engage with the fringe few who take absurd positions such as that Jesus never even walked the planet. Personally, I found this book helpful in my own life and in the lives of my friends who are not Christians but who are sincerely open to checking out the evidence themselves. It hardly surprises me that this book would garner its share of critics, because it takes a point of view -- that Jesus is the Son of God -- that causes many to bristle. That's okay. None of their make-it-up-as-you-go revisionism has yet to demolish the deeply rooted historical foundation of the Christian faith.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Introduction, But Not The Whole Story
Review: As someone who has defended Christianity against the claims of its detractors, I can recommend Strobel's book as an introduction to apologetics. However, it's not the whole story since it does not take into consideration many of the points raised by those who doubt the tenets of Christianity. As an example, take Earl Doherty's book "Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-Examination of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" which is available for purchase at Amazon. If all you have is Strobel's book, then you'll be easily skewered by skeptics like Doherty. Instead, this book should just be the start of one's journey into Christian apologetics.
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Summary: Will Not Convince Any Atheists...
Review: I guess I should start off by saying I was never able to finish this book. I read the first part, on the accuracy of the gospels, then skimmed the rest to see if it got any better. It did not. I was hoping this would be an objective look at the claims of Christianity. It was not. Strobel interviewed no one on the opposite side of the Christian viewpoint, and his own questions I found rather lacking. While reading the section on the accuracy of the gospels, I was thinking up in my head dozens of questions I wanted to ask and challenge on. But Strobel asked few tough questions, and when he did he let the interviewees off very easily. If you are not already a Christian who agrees with Strobel's point of view that Christianity is true, then I do not recommend this book for you. If you are a Christian who wants an apology for Christianity which affirms what you already believe, then you might like this book.
Rating: 
Summary: When right-wing meets propaganda...
Review: I give this book a three-stars, mainly because it has a lot of use for a Christian, and some for an atheist. However, I have a lot of complaints about the book. First, he refutes arguments that NOBODY HAS EVER MADE and then acts almost indignant about it. Prime example, his refutation to the idea that Jesus was insane. This isn't even an atheistic assertion, this was part of the trinity fallacy proposed by C.S. Lewis and later repeated by Josh McDowell. Basically, Jesus was either the direct son of God, a liar, or a mental nut-case, a trifurcation, (only giving three possible outcomes). Atheists and followers of orthodox Judaism give at least two other very plausible alternatives: Jesus never said he was the Son of God. Later on Christians attributed specific mythological elements to Christ, because they were looking for a saviour. They turned a prophet into a Messaih. Atheists most often accepted paradigm is that Jesus was an essene teacher, who had words post-mortum put into his mouth. Exceptions may be made to Earl Doherty, (who has a great book refuting this one), Acharya S, Robert Price, Wells, and a few others, who believe that Jesus never existed. (Wells believes a Jesus existed, just not the one from the New Testament). The only person arguing for Jesus being mentally insane would be someone following C.S. Lewis' line of thought! Next, he says that he is un-biased and that he has looked at atheist sources and is "refuting" them, but amazing that he missed Robert Price's detailed critique of William Craig. It certainly can't be that he never read Price's work, after all, he wrote a rebuttal to Price's piece that 1 Corinthians contains an insertion from another writer! Even Christian sources have refuted Craig's attempts to exhume Jesus! Also the failure to address the Gospel of Q as "nothing more than a hypothesis." There's a significant substratum of work that shows that a "Q" did exist. Scholars who don't believe in Q find themselves faced with a lot of questions, and no good answers. (I've read plenty of apologetic material). He also fails to talk about the fact that human reliability of oral transmission is inaccurate. The common claim, (the same one, ironically, used by Muslims), is that people lived, "in an oral age". Not really. Certain PEOPLE were trained specially as an oral storyteller, yet the Bible only relates that the supposed writers of the gospel were poor fisherman, (exception to Luke and Matthew. I'm not sure of the historical Matthew's life, but his greek is just excellent, but, then again, if Matthew was supposed to be a book based upon oral composition, we don't really know who eventually wrote this down). Regardless, the writers of the Bible show no signs of being specially trained oral learners, rhetorics, or any type of an oral teacher! It'd be like saying that because we live in a World which now has the highest literacy rate, everyone in America ought to be fantastic writers! It's absurd, only people with training can write, and even fewer can write well. None of the historical gospel writers give any indication of having been trained by a rhetoric or in oral storytelling. Indeed, all throughout the Bible the disciples fail to understand very simple parables, which I think constitutes as proof that they were not learned men in the arts of oral learning.
Rating:
Summary: confirms your worst fears
Review: Strobel's book supposedly sets itself apart from other apologetics by bringing journalistic objectivity and rigor to the question of Christ, but despite Strobel's tedious reminders that his is an award-winning journalist, he makes no attempt at objectivity. Rather than summarizing both ends of any issue before entering into analysis, Strobel cursorily outlines what he derisively refers to as 'liberal' views before trotting out an 'expert' to refute fragments of an argument that is never presented in its entirety. Rather than playing the part of the 'tough minded skeptic', he dogmatically accepts the speculation of his experts, and acts (to a rather unfortunately comic effect) as though all doubt has been dispelled for all time. Most surprisingly, Strobel interchangably refers to contrary viewpoints as 'liberal' and 'preposterous', even though liberals are presumably the target audience for his book. Whatever awards Strobel may have won, does he really expect to convert his readership by repeatedly insulting them? This book only serves to validate the pre-existing views of the reader. A Christian's sense of righteousness will be reaffirmed, as will a skeptic's revulsion to Christian self-righteousness. As a result, there is no reason to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Very thought provoking, not completely convincing however
Review: I reccomend that everyone read this book. If nothing else, you'll get to join in all the fun discussions surrounding it. Strobel is a talented writer and his style makes this an easy read. It tells much more like a novel than a work or research, which is good if you dont want it to put you to sleep..but it's not exactly a tome of historical knowledge since about half of it is filled with his own personal stories, his interviewees crudentials, and their physical appearance as they answer each of his questions. The questions asked by Strobel are probably my biggest complaint with this book. While I was impressed by the knowledge of all the people he interviewed. I have trouble believing the claim that he was actually an atheist at the time of the interviews. I believe he was probably already heavily leaning towards christianity and I'll tell you why. Out of the many questions that he asked all of the scholars, there were only a couple that I myself would have asked if I had the chance to interview these men. (I myself am an atheist...sort of) He didn't ask a single question or raise a single point that leading atheist scholars would have asked. Speaking of which...If he really wanted to convince people that this is the strongest argument out there, then why DIDNT he interview any atheist scholars, even after his last apologetic interview was finished he didnt go back and take his evidence to even one atheist scholar and say "well what do you have to say to this?" If this case is so strong then I would assume the best a disbeliever could have done would be to dodge the question or come up with some explanation that just wouldnt quite fit. That is my challenge to Strobel...write one more book. Get the opposing side. Lets see some heavy-weight apologists against some heavy-weight atheists and see what we come up with. I'm sure that Every Christian and every atheist out there would read, that's twice the money. And on one last note, there are many people out there who twist the words of the Bible and of other documents out of context in an attempt to disprove it..and I was glad to see Strobel address many of those and provide the true explanation...I was later disgusted when I saw him take many beliefs of eastern religions completely out of context in order to disprove them..tsk tsk
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