Home Page Dr Pravin Thevathasan's Reviews page   Dr Pravin Thevathasan's home page Review by Dr Pravin Thevathasan The Case For Christ A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus Lee Strobel Zondervan Did Jesus exist? Is there evidence for Jesus outside the Bible? Was the resurrection a real event? How reliable is the New Testament? These are among the questions that Lee Strobel asks a panel of Biblical experts. It is somewhat easy to read and I would classify it as an introduction rather than an in-depth study. It is, after all, a journalist's personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus, not a theological study. When I say personal, I mean deeply so because the author was an atheist at the start and became a Christian because of his investigation. It is a brilliant and exciting work and a reminder to us Catholics that we have more in common with Evangelicals than with liberal Christians- yes, even liberal Catholics. I am reminded of a much touted Jesuit expression: an ecumenism of hate. In reality, this is an ecumenism of charity and truth. We do not say that there are no differences between Evangelicals and us, merely that the differences are not insurmountable. The chasm between liberal and orthodox Christianity on the other hand.... The book is divided in three parts. Examining the record, Analyzing Jesus and Researching the resurrection. The first part examines the eyewitness evidence, the documentary evidence, the corroborating evidence and the scientific evidence. The author concludes that the New Testament is reliable, the evidence for Jesus outside the Bible is credible and archaeological findings are consistent with the Bible story. The second part examines the identity evidence. Did Jesus claim to be God? The profile evidence asks if Jesus fulfills the attributes of God. I found this section particularly helpful. Did Jesus and Jesus alone match the identity of the expected Jewish Messiah? We have a resounding yes. He could have made certain things happen, like riding on a donkey. But there was no way for him to have planned his birth story or his death on Calvary. The third part asks whether he could have merely pretended to have died. The author asks this of a medical doctor. Was the resurrection a sham? Was his body absent from the tomb? Was Jesus really seen alive after his death? These are among the questions the author asks and at the end of his investigation he comes to a definite conclusion: Jesus really and truly rose from the dead. It has little to do with the mental states of his followers. If Jesus is God, why did he not say so at the beginning of his public ministry? Ben Witherington gives us the answer: had he done so, his public ministry would not have lasted a few years but a few days. Jesus acted as God. He chose twelve Apostles just as God had chosen twelve tribes of Israel. In his day, two or more witnesses were required before a religious truth could be proclaimed. In contrast, Jesus said: "Amen, I say to you..." Did Jesus think of himself as God? Yes. In the John chapter 8 he proclaims himself as sinless. Did his followers think of him as God? Yes. His disciples were led to conclude that he knew all things and that all authority was given to him. There are forty prophesies concerning the coming of the Messiah and Jesus fulfills them all. The Gospels were written soon after the events. Had they fabricated these events, they could have been easily exposed as cheats by living witnesses. There is another reason to like this book: the atheists really, really hate it. Copyright ©; Dr Pravin Thevathasan 2017 Version: 12th September 2017 Home Page Dr Pravin Thevathasan's Reviews page   Dr Pravin Thevathasan's home page