The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus Book

Rated 1 star for false advertising, poor journalism, poor investigation, poor argumentation, and poor scholarship.

There's not enough room here to critique all the specifics of this book, so I'll get right to the heart of things. (If you're interested in a more detailed critique, check out Robert M. Price's excellent The Case Against the Case for Christ. Or, check out the review at infidels.org). [Update 02/20] Or, check out this very thorough, in-depth review/rebuttal from godlesshaven.com. (Thanks to Natalie's review that alerted me to this fantastic resource.))

At the beginning of The Case for Christ Strobel presents himself as a journalist and a former atheist/skeptic who is about to conduct a serious investigative search into whether or not Jesus is exactly what orthodox/fundamentalist Christian churches teach him to be - the God Man with miraculous powers born of a virgin to die for the sins of the world, etc., etc.

But here's the problem - the contents of this book are nothing resembling serious investigative journalism. They are a collection of arguments, quotes, and information almost 100% of which are supplied by a small group of like-minded, Evangelical Christian apologists. Strobel never interviews any of the many, many other scholars with views that differ from that of this small, very conservative Evangelical group. (And there are plenty of scholars just as, if not more, qualified and respected who would disagree with what the members of Stobel's clique have to say.)

I rate TCFC at 1 star not because I disagree with the arguments presented in it (which I do), but because it's so dishonest. It claims to be investigative reporting when it presents only a mass of one-sided, biased apologetical material. After having spent years as an investigate journalist, Strobel is either clueless as to what constitutes investigative journalism (possible, but unlikely), or he began this project already possessing a set of strong religious convictions, proceeded to gather only those arguments, interviews, and info which support these particular convictions, and then combined that material into a book dishonestly marketed as investigative journalism (the more likely case).

Strobel is free to write whatever kind of books he wants, but he isn't free to make false claims without expecting to be called out on them.

The true intended audience for TCFC are Christians who are looking for somebody to tell them exactly what they want to hear, that all the traditional (and overly-simplistic) beliefs they were taught about Jesus in Sunday School are true and proven. TCFC is not a book written for critical thinkers looking for an honest exploration of well-researched and well-supported scholarship and arguments concerning who Jesus was.

[Updated 7/19]
I used to recommend Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? edited by Paul Copan as a more honest discussion of opposing viewpoints about Jesus written for the average reader where different sides get to present their own views in their own words (although one that is still quite slanted in it's presentation). I'd also like to add The Historical Jesus: Five Views edited by James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy to the list of recommendations as a book that offers a greater variety of opinions with less of a slanted presentation. In addition, here is a link to the The Early Christian Writings Historical Jesus webpage that offers an even wider range of theories and scholarship about the historical Jesus.