A journalist investigates scientific evidence that points toward God.

Softcover: 427 pages
Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company (March, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN: 0310252946
Product Dimensions: 6.75 x 4.25 inches

From the back cover:

“My road to atheism was paved by science . . . But, ironically, so was my later journey to God.” - Lee Strobel.

During his academic years, Lee Strobel became convinced that God was outmoded, a belief that colored his ensuing career as an award-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune. Science had made the idea of a Creator irrelevant - or so Strobel thought.
But today science is pointing in a different direction. In recent years, a diverse and impressive body of research has increasingly supported the conclusion that the universe was intelligently designed. At the same time, Darwinism has faltered in the face of concrete facts and hard reason.

Has science discovered God? At the very least, it’s giving faith an immense boost as new findings emerge about the incredible complexity of our universe. Join Strobel as he reexamines the theories that once led him away from God. Through his compelling and highly readable account, you’ll encounter the mind-stretching discoveries from cosmology, cellular biology, DNA research, astronomy, physics, and human consciousness that present astonishing evidence in The Case for a Creator.

Mass market edition available in packs of six.

Lee Strobel interviews some wellknown devout Christian Biblical scholars for the answers to questions that he puts to them. The contents of the book are divided into chapters with the following titles, the name of the interviewee in parenthesis:

1. Doubts about Darwinism (Jonathan Wells)
2. Where science meets faith (Stephen C. Meyer
3. The evidence of cosmology: beginning with a bang (William Lane Craig)
4. The evidence of physics: the cosmos on a razor’s edge (Robin Collins)
5. The evidence of astronomy: the privileged planet (Guillermo Gonzales & Jay Wesley Richards)
6. The evidence of biochemistry: the complexity of molecular machines (Michael J. Behe)
7. The evidence of biological information: the challenge of DNA and the origin of life (Stephen C. Meyer)
8. The evidence of consciousness: the enigma of the mind (J.P. Moreland)

Lee Strobel concludes with a chapter entitled The Cumulative Case for a Creator, and provides excellent notes and references for further exploration.

Again, another great book from Lee Strobel, one I have enjoyed reading and can recommend to provide answers to challenges aimed at the Christian faith.

A journalist investigates the toughest objections to Christianity.

Softcover: 409 pages
Publisher: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2000)
Language: English
ISBN: 0-310-23528-6
Product Dimensions: 6.75 x 4.25 inches

One reviewer who posted to Amazon.com had the following to say:

“If you have questions about your faith, then this is a good starting point for your investigation. There are other books that go into more detail on all the issues raised here, and you may want to purchase these as well for further study. But this is a very good starting point for answering those nagging doubts about your faith in Christianity and one’s faith in the person of Jesus.”

Lee Strobel, a former atheist and now devout Christian, has a Master of Studies in Law degree from Yale Law School and was the award winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune. He brings his skills as a legal investigative journalist to the examination of evidence in support of the Christian faith, asking wellknown Christian Biblical scholars for their answers to some of the toughest questions asked of Christianity.

The following are the objections (questions) raised to which the book gives a rational and intelligent response:
1. Since evil and suffering exist, a loving God cannot.
2. Since miracles contradict science, they cannot be true.
3. Evolution explains life, so God isn’t needed.
4. God isn’t worthy of worship if He kills innocent children.
5. It’s offensive to claim Jesus is the only way to God.
6. A loving God would never torture people in hell.
7. Church history is littered with oppression and violence.
8. I still have doubts, so I can’t be a Christian.

Lee Strobel concludes with a chapter called The Power of Faith, and provides excellent notes and references for further study.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book as a worthwhile introduction to some of the most difficult questions that are raised to challenge the faith and beliefs of Christians. Also, the responses herein may well bring a seeker to faith in Christ.

An investigative legal affairs journalist probes the evidence for the divinity of Jesus.

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (September 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN: 0310209307
Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches

Lee Strobel, former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune and a former non-Christian skeptic, sets out in his book to “determine if there’s credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God.” He interviews 13 devout Christian Biblical scholars and puts to each of them basic questions concerning credible evidence that supports the divinity of Jesus. He continues to probe their answers to produce a compact and interesting summary of the apologia that exists to support the case for Christ.

One major criticism of his work is that no critics of Christianity are interviewed, and so no counter-arguments are explored except very briefly in the form of questions to develop the answer of his interviewee. The result therefore is hardly balanced reporting although he does produce a good case for one side of the debate, a case that cannot be dismissed without serious consideration.

All the same, as the publisher comments on the back page: “This remarkable book reads like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it’s not fiction. It’s a riveting quest for the truth about history’s most compelling figure. What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ?”

The questions asked (and the scholars who respond) are as follows:
1. Can the biographies of Jesus be trusted? (Dr Craig Blomberg)
2. Do the biographies of Jesus stand up to scrutiny? (Dr Craig Blomberg)
3. Were Jesus’ biographies reliably preserved for us? (Dr Bruce Metzger)
4. Is there credible evidence for Jesus outside His biographies? (Dr Edwin Yamauchi)
5. Does archaeology confirm or contradict Jesus’ biographies? (Dr John McRay)
6. Is the Jesus of history the same as the Jesus of faith? (Dr Gregory Boyd)
7. Was Jesus really convinced that He was the Son of God? (Dr Ben Witherington III)
8. Was Jesus crazy when He claimed to be the Son of God? (Dr Gary Collins)
9. Did Jesus fulfill the attributes of God? (Dr D. A. Carson)
10. Did Jesus - and Jesus alone - match the identity of the Messiah? (Louis Lapides, M.Div., Th.M.)
11. Was Jesus’ death a sham and His resurrection a hoax? (Dr Alexander Metherell)
12. Was Jesus’ body really absent from His tomb? (Dr William Craig Lane)
13. Was Jesus seen alive after His death on the cross? (Dr Gary Habermas)
14. Are there any supporting facts that point to the resurrection? ((Dr J. P. Moreland)

There is a summary conclusion that addreses the question: What does the evidence establish, and what does it mean today?
Strobel’s bibliographical recommendations at the end of each chapter seem to be generally excellent.

This is a worthwhile book for those seeking intelligent rational answers in support of Christian beliefs about Jesus.

A car breaks down in a remote isolated area and a few moments later another vehicle turns up, stops and the occupants are able to help. The anxious driver of the first vehicle is greatly relieved and later tells the story, exclaiming “It was a miracle!”

A home owner has put his house on the market and it sells immediately. The fortunate seller is very happy, now able to go ahead with the purchase of another property, and grins “It was a bit of a miracle!”

I work the soil in my garden and make it ready for sowing some seeds. With careful weeding and watering, in time my garden is a mass of colourful blossoms and the neighbour looking over the fence comments on the “miracle” of new life every Spring.

But what exactly is a miracle?

So often when I hear this word used in everyday conversation its meaning appears to be along the lines of something very good that happened just at the right time, or something we might have known would happen (as in the case of my flowers) and is very nice that it does. Sometimes there is a sense of awe about the event, enough for a few thoughts of reflection, enough to reassure that all is as it ought to be, but usually only the amount required to balance the anxiety experienced in the first place and no more.

First of all, “miracle” is a word that I think has had the stuffing knocked out of it. It is a feature of this post-modern age that stuffing gets knocked out of things. Where there is a rejection of any ultimate foundation upon which knowledge or reality is based, we are left with the notion that objectivity is an illusion. We are told that it is not possible to know reality because the only thing we can know is our own perception of reality, not reality itself. So that gives licence to the use of the word “miracle” in any way we wish. If I think something is a miracle, then so it is - for me. If you disagree that it is a miracle, then for you it isn’t a miracle. There is no way of knowing if in reality it is really a miracle or not. In short, anything goes.

Since I am very uncomfortable with the definitions and philosophy of postmodernism, and have a strong preference for the notion that an ultimate foundation does exist and that reality can be known directly, my idea of what constitutes a miracle is neither politically correct nor in agreement with a loose use of the word. Yes, I was told in Church and Sunday School that “life is a miracle” and that “every Spring we see the miracle of rebirth” and that God is behind all of that. That is certainly one way to use the word that allows God some entry into His world. But to me, a miracle is something far more pronounced than the experience of mere good fortune illustrated by the first two examples up above.

I like the following definition of Richard L. Purtill cited by Josh McDowell in The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, (Nelson, TN, 1999):

A miracle is an event brought about by the power of God that is a temporary exception to the ordinary course of nature for the purpose of showing that God has acted in history.

Miracles to me have a supernatural quality about them - something that doesn’t ordinarily happen, but are compatible with characteristics of God, the Creator. Obvious examples would be those amazing events that skeptics are constantly tripping over - instantaneous healings, the Virgin Birth, Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus walking on water, the Resurrection, the Ascension. A miracle is the direct entry of God into His world in a way that promotes good and glorifies His being.

These days it is not politically correct to believe in miracles, those events that have a supernatural quality about them, and so the word “miracle” has become suitably redefined in our language to cover all manner of fortuitous happenings and no longer offend those who might otherwise be offended. Remove the content and the word is benign. Whereas these fortuitous happenings may well be the direct hand of God, were they miracles whereby something outside the normal course of nature took place? Just how many folk using that word actually mean to praise God and speak of His goodness by doing so? Or how much is just lip service, the stuffing knocked out by the postmodern “content-free” revision of our language?

What do you understand by the word “miracle”?