I was glad to find this book. After stumbling upon and naively reading a book written by someone associated with the Jesus Seminar (of which I had no prior knowledge), thankfully I found this book, which addresses and refutes the Seminar's claims.
Since reading Strobel's book, I have read the books of a good number of other pastors and scholars who also believe that the Jesus Seminar was way off base in its claims.
If you are unaware of the Jesus Seminar, it was a group of about 150 Biblical scholars and laymen who, during the 1980s and 1990s wrote books and papers on the historical Jesus. (Note: not the Jesus of faith and Christian theology.)
When all was said and done, they refuted much of the gospels' claims about his life and sayings, reducing Jesus to basically a crackpot who was crucified, but definitely did not rise from the grave. Or that's what the book I read did.
It was entitled, The Gospel Truth: On the Trail of the Historical Jesus by Russell Shorto.
Who wants a God like that? I sure don't. What would be the point of being a Christian? Shorto seemed to think that people could relate better to a fully human Jesus than they could to the God-Man that traditional Christianity believes in.
Well, that's sure not what I want from Jesus. I need him to be my redeemer, and I need to believe in the possibility of eternal life. Christ as fully God and fully man is our only hope.
Anyway, Lee Strobel, a journalist and former atheist, examines some of the claims about Jesus through the centuries, beginning with the Gnostics. He then goes on to present a powerful case for believing in the accuracy of the Bible. He then demonstrates that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophesies. He examines the historical Jesus, who truly lived and truly died on the cross. In the final chapter, he presents a very strong case for Christ's resurrection.
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