The Case For Christ
The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel's attempt to "determine if there's credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God." The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.
The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel's attempt to "determine if there's credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God." The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
"What do you mean?" I asked.<br />
"Jesus says, 'If 1, by the finger of God, cast out demons, then<br />
you will know that the kingdom of God has come upon you.' He's<br />
not like other miracle workers who do amazing things and then<br />
life proceeds as it always has. No-to Jesus, his miracles are a<br />
sign indicating the coming of the kingdom of God. <strong>The</strong>y are a<br />
foretaste of what the kingdom is going to be like. And that sets<br />
Jesus apart."<br />
Again I interrupted. "Elaborate on that a bit," I said. "How does<br />
it set him apart?"<br />
"Jesus sees his miracles as bringing about something<br />
unprecedented-the coming of God's dominion," replied<br />
Witherington. "He<br />
doesn't merely see himself as a worker of miracles; he sees<br />
himself as the one in whom and through whom the promises of God<br />
come to pass. And that's a not-too-thinly-veiled claim of<br />
transcendence." I nodded. Now his point made sense to me. With<br />
that I turned to the words- 'of Jesus, in search of more clues<br />
concerning his selfunderstanding.<br />
"He was called Rabbouni, or 'Rabbi,' by his followers," I said.<br />
"Doesn't this imply that he merely taught like the other rabbis<br />
of his day?"<br />
Witherington grinned. "Actually," he said, "Jesus taught in a<br />
radical new way. He begins his teachings with the phrase 'Amen I<br />
say to you,' which is to say, 'I swear in advance to the<br />
truthfulness of what I'm about to say.' This was absolutely<br />
revolutionary."<br />
"How so?" I asked.<br />
He replied, "In Judaism you needed the testimony of two<br />
witnesses, so witness A could witness the truth of witness B and<br />
vice versa. But Jesus witnesses to the truth of his own sayings.<br />
Instead of basing his teaching on the authority of others, he<br />
speaks on his own authority. "So here is someone who considered<br />
himself to have authority above and beyond what the Old Testament<br />
prophets had. He believed he possessed not only divine<br />
inspiration, as King David did, but also divine authority and the<br />
power of direct divine utterance." In addition to employing the<br />
"Amen" phrase in his teaching, Jesus used the term "Abba" when he<br />
was relating to God. "What does that tell us about what he<br />
thought about himself?" I asked. "'Abba' connotes intimacy in a
Change language