The Case For Christ

Ask Timothy McVeigh. He may have thought he committed the
perfect crime by avoiding eyewitnesses, but he nevertheless
landed on death row due to the circumstantial facts that pointed
toward him as devastatingly as any firsthand witness could have.
Having already considered the persuasive evidence for the empty
tomb, and eyewitness accounts of the risen Jesus, now it was time
for me to seek out any circumstantial evidence that might bolster
the case for the Resurrection. I knew that if an event as
extraordinary as the resurrection of Jesus had really occurred,
history would be littered with indirect evidence backing it up.
That quest took me once more to southern California, this time to
the office of a professor who masterfully blends expertise in
history, philosophy, and science.
THE THIRTEENTH INTERVIEW: J. P. MORELAND, PH.D.
J. P. Moreland's dark-gray hair, silvery mustache, and goldrimmed
glasses make him appear a little older than his fifty
years. Yet he is brimming with energy. He spoke in animated and
enthusiastic tones, frequently leaning forward in his swivel
chair to emphasize his points, actually bouncing a bit at times,
almost as if he were going to leap out and throttle me with his
arguments.
"I love this stuff," he exclaimed during one brief break-the only
time during our conversation when he stated the obvious.
Moreland's highly organized mind works so systematically, so
logically, that he seems to effortlessly construct his case in
complete sentences and whole paragraphs, without wasted words or
extraneous thoughts, ready for proofreading and printing. When
my tape recorder would stop, he would pause, give me time to slip
in a new cassette, and then pick up exactly where he had left
off, without missing a beat.
While Moreland is a well-known philosopher (with a doctorate from
the University of Southern California) and is comfortable
navigating the conceptual worlds of Kant and Kierkegaard, he
doesn't
dwell exclusively in the abstract. His background in science (he
has a chemistry degree from the University of Missouri) and
mastery of history (as demonstrated by his excellent book Scaling
the Secular City) anchor him in the everyday world and prevent
him from floating into purely ethereal thinking.
Moreland, who also has a master's degree in theology from Dallas