E-Book Overview
Has modern scholarship debunked the traditional Christ? Has the church suppressed the truth about Jesus to advance its own agenda? What if the real Jesus is far different from the atoning Savior worshipped through the centuries? In The Case for the Real Jesus, former award-winning legal editor Lee Strobel explores such hot-button questions as: * Did the church suppress ancient non-biblical documents that paint a more accurate picture of Jesus than the four Gospels? * Did the church distort the truth about Jesus by tampering with early New Testament texts? * Do new insights and explanations finally disprove the resurrection? * Have fresh arguments disqualified Jesus from being the Messiah? * Did Christianity steal its core ideas from earlier mythology? Evaluate the arguments and evidence being advanced by prominent atheists, liberal theologians, Muslim scholars, and others. Sift through expert testimony. Then reach your own verdict in The Case for the Real Jesus.
E-Book Content
Resources by Lee Strobel The Case for Christ The Case for Christ (audio) The Case for Christ — Student Edition (with Jane Vogel) The Case for Christ for Kids (with Rob Suggs) The Case for Christmas The Case for Christmas (audio) The Case for a Creator The Case for a Creator (audio) The Case for a Creator — Student Edition (with Jane Vogel) The Case for a Creator for Kids (with Rob Suggs) The Case for Easter The Case for Faith The Case for Faith (audio) The Case for Faith — Student Edition (with Jane Vogel) The Case for Faith for Kids (with Rob Suggs) Discussing the Da Vinci Code (curriculum; with Garry Poole) Discussing the Da Vinci Code (discussion guide; with Garry Poole) Exploring the Da Vinci Code (with Garry Poole) Experiencing the Passion of Jesus (with Garry Poole) Faith Under Fire (curriculum series) God’s Outrageous Claims Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary Off My Case for Kids (with Robert Elmer) Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage (with Leslie Strobel) Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage (audio) What Jesus Would Say
THE
CASE FOR THE
REAL JESUS A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ
Lee Strobel
The Case for the Real Jesus Adobe® Acrobat® eBook Reader® format Copyright © 2007 by Lee Strobel This title is also available as a Zondervan audio product. Visit www.zondervan.com/audiopages for more information. Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
ISBN-13: 978-0-3102-7576-3 ISBN-10: 0-310-27576-8 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) printed in this book are offered as a resource to you. These are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design: Kurt Dietsch Cover photo: David Paterson / Alamy
For Frank Cate Who’s at Home with the real Jesus
CONTENTS Introduction: Searching for the Real Jesus
9
Challenge #1 “Scholars Are Uncovering a Radically Different Jesus in Ancient Documents Just as Credible as the Four Gospels”
23
Challenge #2 “The Bible’s Portrait of Jesus Can’t Be Trusted Because the Church Tampered with the Text”
65
Challenge #3 Part 1: “New Explanations Have Refut