The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Resurrection (Case for ... Series)

THE SCOPE: This short little work answers three primary questions about the facts surrounding the death the Jesus Christ from an investigative reporter’s lens. The three questions are: 1) did Jesus die by crucifixion, 2) was His tomb empty, and 3) did credible people encounter Jesus after His death? THE METHOD: As an investigative reporter, Lee Strobel interviews and interrogates experts on this remarkable event. In other words, the reader does not get bogged down in a myriad of historical details, but, through the author, challenges these experts. This process of establishing the credibility of those interviewed along with insightful questions gives the reader quick access to the facts surrounding the resurrection of Jesus. SOME OF THE EXPERTS: Regarding the actual death of Jesus, Lee interviews Medical Examiner Dr. Robert J Stein and research scientist Dr. Metherell to understand Roman crucifixions. Concerning the “missing body”, Lee interviews William Lane Craig, Ph.D., D.Th., who gives multiple reasons to support the empty tomb. To investigate the idea of credible witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, Lee Strobel interviews author, debater, and resurrection historian Gary Habermas, Ph.D., D.D, who asserts that …”by itself an empty grave does not a resurrection make.” Habermas make the case that credible people encountered Jesus after His death. SOME OF THE CONCLUSIONS: According to the medical experts, Jesus died on the cross. The most rational explanation for the events after the crucifixion of Christ was an empty tomb. Some of the cogent reasons for empty tomb include the very early development of resurrection creeds, the tomb sight was known (the Jerusalem factor), the recording of Mark’s Gospel was too near the event to be embellished by legends, the culturally embarrassing fact that the women were the first to witness the empty tomb, and the Jewish polemic presupposes an empty tomb. In addition, there were multiple sources who claimed to see the risen Christ. This includes specific names and five hundred witnesses. Many of these witnesses claimed to see Jesus alive after the tomb was empty and consequently died for their eyewitness reports. Generally, people are not willing to die for a lie. AN EMOTIONAL BYPRODUCT: The fact or fiction of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is more than an academic pursuit. The answer to this question has real world emotional consequences to those who are suffering or who have lost a love one. Some would say there is an eternal component. Philosopher J. P. Moreland describes the transformation in the attitude of the disciples. They went from discouragement and depression to enthusiastically proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus without any earthly payoff. They faced incredible hardships because they knew the Easter Story was true.

Lee is awesome at all these in the series. Good read and helpful for those having questions

Fantastic ,logical fact based analysis leveraging reason , experts, and scripture. Jesus is real, and he wants you in His kingdom. If you are on the fence, read this.

I have been a Christian for as long as I can remember. However, since I’ve been the only one in my family, I’ve had a lot of potholes, empty knowledge, places where I needed to have things filled in. Lee Strobel does an exceedingly excellent and important work in addressing point blank questions that Most people don’t dare to ask. He has access to people and things because of his work as a journalist, which gives us a bird eye and in fact and a direct in person seat with the top of theologians, and as a result is allowed to ask questions that get thorough and concise answers from experts in the field. The case for Easter is a must read and has provoked me to wanting to read more of his. Thank you Lee struggle for taking the time to investigate.

I recommend this book with one warning - most of this book is taken from Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ," with a few modifications. This is why I did not rate it 5 stars. I did not realize that this was the case when I bought it, and even then I didn't know until I happened to read the copyright notice. I think that the publisher and amazon.com should be more clear that that is what this is. As it stands it is not that clear that that is what this book is, which I thought was somewhat misleading on the publisher's part. In any case though, I thought that the book was good. In spite of being rather short, Strobel put a lot of information into this little book. If you have already studied a lot of apologetics, you will probably find that you already know a lot of the information in this book, but you will probably find a lot of new information as well. Strobel addresses issues such as: - Do different Gospel accounts give contradictory accounts? Although I would have liked to have seen a little more on this point, he raises some very good points that resolve many of the alleged contradictions between the gospel accounts. He also makes the interesting point that, if all the gospels told the exact same things in exactly the same way, that that would actually be evidence AGAINST them, not for them, because people would then suspect the authors of collusion! - Did Jesus really die, or could He have survived the cross? - Was Jesus really buried in a tomb? (Some allege that He was not, and that His body was later eaten by wild animals, thus explaining the absence of His body. Strobel shows that that isn't really plausable). - Was Jesus really crucified in the manner that the Gospels claim He was? Strobel addresses numerous specific issues, such as did crucifixion really use nails like the Gospels said it did? - Did Jesus really rise from the dead? - Did Jesus really appear to people after He rose from the dead? He addresses specific issues and objections here as well, such as, were Jesus' appearances simply hallucinations? Did the Disciples steal the body? Was there really a guard at the Tomb, and were they really Roman soldiers? In addition to provididing a solid defense of the Resurrection, Strobel makes several interesting points about the Gospel accounts themselves that I had not noticed before reading this book. For example, I had missed the significance of the fact that women were the first to see the empty Tomb before Strobel comments on that. Specifically, the testimony of women was considered practically worthless at that time, and women were not even allowed to testify in legal courts. Not only would the authors have no incentive to put this detail in if the account was not true, they almost certainly would have left it out if it didn't actually occur. If anything, this detail would have been highly embarassing for the Apostles! I recommend reading this book, especially if you have not studied much apologetics. It will strengthen your own faith and help equip you to defend your faith. This book is also a good witnessing tool. It is short enough that you can read it fairly quickly and then lend it to non-Christian friends to read (which is what I will probably end up doing with my copy now that I finished reading it). I also recommend this book strongly if you are considering becoming a Christian, or are a Christian who is struggling in your faith.

This was a really quick read that I picked up for fun, finished it in less than a day! Many people know about Strobel’s “A Case for Christ.” This book is additional evidence based on his research to support the Easter events specifically. The way he captures conversations with prominent theologians is great, and it was an added bonus for me having seen much work from the likes of William Lane Craig and Gary Habermas already, so I enjoyed reading their answers to Strobel’s questions. All in all, I would recommend this book for skeptics or for people who want to build their defense of our Scriptures. I may have known a lot of the arguments presented, but I still found this to be a great refresher and learned from it!

He visto que hay quejas de que está sesgado. Es cierto. Sin embargo, es posible que no hayan pensado que el objetivo del libro no es un análisis crítico de todos los planteamientos sobre la posible resurrección de Jesús de Nazaret, a pesar de que sí que incluye contraargumentos (de alguna manera, según se me ocurrían) y que cuesta 4€. Se lee de una tirada sin problema. En cualquier caso, si algún ateo lo lee, por lo menos le hará ir a otras fuentes a intentar rebatirlo. Si no, ya es su problema.

Never read anything this meticulous about the issues concerning Juses death, burrial, and resurrection as much as this book has done. What an amazing book.

I am 75 years old. I was born in a Christian family and I practice a if I can call it that a secular form of Christianity not enamoured by the fundamental type who believe that having doubts about what is written in the Bible is a mortal sin. This book helped to clear my mind about Jesus death on the Cross, the empty toumb and his subsequent appearance to his followers as presented by the author helped in clearing a lot of unwanted clutter from my mind.

Really easy to read but hard to put down. Lee bought out the best in each of the experts he interviewed. Highly recommended.

Une véritable enquête d'investigation, réalisée par un journaliste agnostique, qui révèle la vérité sur Jésus ! Croyants et athées se doivent de lire ce livre !