As Easter draws near once again, perhaps you find yourself among the many Americans who have sincere doubts about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you do this is exactly the right little book for you in this season. The disciples of Jesus claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to them after his resurrection. Particularly in the last couple centuries, many people have vigorously debated these purported facts.
It is true, as the apostle Paul said, that the resurrection is the central tenet of the Christian faith. If Jesus did not really rise from the dead, then Christian faith collapses as a theological system, for it would then be based upon some kind of legend. Others are willing to allow Christian faith to continue by spiritualizing the concept of resurrection. As Strobel explains, the careful investigator must really look into three questions. Was Jesus really dead when buried? Was the tomb really empty as the faith says? Did the disciples really see Jesus after his death?
Lee Strobel was an investigative reporter by trade, and an atheist by belief. When his wife became a Christian, he decided to apply his investigative skills to the foundations of Christian belief. His thorough investigation involved interviews with leading experts and ultimately led to his own conversion to Christianity. He has written a trio of books documenting his findings.
This one is my first read of the three. Strobel’s previous atheism is obvious as he knows all the tough questions and brings them out one after another. As he interviews key experts, he does not easily take their information at face value, but probes with ever more difficult questions. However the people he has chosen to interview are in each case up to the task. His questions are incisively answered leading to the strong conclusion that Jesus did arise from the dead and that the testimony of the New Testament provides first century eyewitness accounts of that event.
I highly recommend this very small volume. I read it in part of an afternoon. For skeptics, you owe it to yourself to check out the facts that Lee Strobel has so carefully examined. For people of faith, it can provide a refreshing affirmation just in time to enrich your Easter worship.