66 pages • 2 hours read
Lee StrobelThe Case For Christ
Lee StrobelNonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Examining the Record”
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “The Corroborating Evidence” with Dr. Edwin Yamauchi
The anecdote that opens Strobel’s fourth chapter tells the story of Harry Aleman, a Chicago “crime syndicate hitman” (91) who found himself on trial for murder after Louis Almeida, one of his former associates, agreed to testify against him. The problem is that Almeida is not a reliable witness, so prosecutors had to find a second witness to corroborate, or confirm, his testimony. Strobel uses this example to show readers that “the more corroborative evidence, the stronger and more secure the case” (96). That is why Strobel now turns his attention to discovering whether other ancient documents exist that substantiate the stories in the gospels.
To do this, Strobel interviews Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, a historian at Miami University. Strobel and Yamauchi begin by discussing Josephus, whose writings Yamauchi use to refute the idea that there “isn’t a single word about [Jesus] in secular history” (100). Yamauchi explains that Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, wrote about both “[Jesus’s] crucifixion [and] his resurrection” (103). Despite the fact that Yamauchi believes certain elements of the passage were inserted later, Josephus still “corroborates important information about Jesus,” including the idea that he was “the martyred leader of the church in Jerusalem” (103). Yamauchi explains that the references to Jesus in Josephus’s writings are short but important to corroborating the existence of Jesus.
Yamauchi and Strobel also discuss additional references to Jesus that appear in ancient texts. The first, written by Tacitus, provides “probably the most important reference to Jesus outside the New Testament” (107). This passage describes Jesus’s prosecution under Pontius Pilate and verifies the spread of Christianity before—and after—Jesus’s death. Another corroboration comes from Pliny the Elder, who also “attests to the spread of Christianity” (110). Strobel also finds historical references to other gospel claims, like the sky going dark at the moment of Jesus’s death, in Roman writings by Thallus and Julius Africanus. Even the Talmud, an important Jewish document written in 500 A.D., makes mention of Jesus as a false messiah—which supports the idea that Jesus was a real person.
The last major set of writings Yamauchi discusses comes from Paul, an apostle who came from a strong Jewish background. His writings, Yamauchi explains, imply Jesus’s messianic lineage and discuss the crucifixion and Jesus’s resurrection. The theological significance of the resurrection becomes the major focus of Paul’s writings, which reiterate important aspects of Jesus’s character, including “his humility, his obedience, [and] his love for sinners” (116). Thus, Yamauchi argues Paul’s letters are an “important witness to the deity of Christ” (116) and serve as important substantiation for the gospels’ claims of Jesus’s divinity. As Yamauchi finishes his discussion, Strobel asks once again how research has affected his faith. Like Blomberg and Metzger before him, Yamauchi says that he finds “alternative explanations, which try to account for the spread of Christianity through sociological reasons, are very weak” (119).
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: “The Scientific Evidence,” with Dr. John McRay
Strobel opens with another criminal anecdote, this time about Jeffrey MacDonald, a former emergency room physician who killed his wife and two daughters. Although he claimed his family was murdered by “drug-crazed hippies” (123), the forensic evidence revealed his guilt, and MacDonald was convicted. This story helps Strobel demonstrate the importance of scientific evidence in an investigation. To get a scientific perspective on the New Testament, Strobel visits with Dr. John McRay, an archaeologist who specializes in biblical research. McRay begins by explaining what archaeology cannot do: it “can’t prove whether the New Testament its he Word of God” (127). What it does do, he tells Strobel, is confirm that the Bible’s history and geography are accurate. In other words, archaeology can prove the accuracy of details in the Bible, which reinforces confidence about its spiritual narrative. With that in mind, Strobel asks whether McRay believes archaeology undermines the authenticity of the New Testament. McRay’s answer? No.
To elaborate on his opinion, McRay explains that archaeology validates many claims from ancient writings, like Josephus’s description of the harbor at Piraeus. This, McRay explains, also gives credence to Josephus’s assertions about Jesus. McRay also discusses the writings of Luke, and he explains that “archaeological discoveries are showing over and over again that Luke is accurate in what he has to say” (129). In fact, many historical facts in Luke’s writings, which were previously thought to be wrong, have been proven correct in recent years. One example is Luke’s use of the term “politarchs” (131) to describe city officials in Thessalonica. Scholars thought Luke was mistaken since no Roman documents reference the term “politarch,” but archaeologists have recently discovered multiple inscriptions of the word, some which were found in Thessalonica. “If Luke was so painstakingly accurate in his historical reporting,” McRay says, we may also logically conclude that he was accurate “in his reporting” of the life and divinity of Jesus (132).
Finally, Strobel asks McRay to comment on four other archaeological puzzles associated with the Bible: the Roman census, the existence of Nazareth, the slaughter at Bethlehem, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. McRay explains that the Roman census, which is mentioned in the gospels, did indeed happen during the time of Jesus’s birth. Additionally, he tells Strobel that archaeologists have found evidence of Nazareth, Jesus’s childhood home, though “there has never really been a big doubt about the location of Nazareth” (138) in the archaeological community. The slaughter at Bethlehem references a biblical event where King Herod, upon hearing of the birth of the Messiah, orders that every child in Bethlehem younger than two years old be killed. Strobel says that there are no records of the slaughter, but McRay counters by arguing that Herod was bloodthirsty, so this order would not have registered as a major event. Lastly, McRay addresses the controversy of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a set of ancient writings discovered in 1947. The scrolls discuss Jewish history, contain fragments of the Book of Mark, and allude to Jesus. The scrolls are controversial, although McRay explains that recent scholarship has found they contain references to Jesus being the Jewish messiah. Strobel concludes his interview—and the chapter—by remarking that the evidence he has amassed so far appears to be both accurate and compelling.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary: “The Rebuttal Evidence,” with Dr. Gregory Boyd
Strobel opens Chapter 6 by defining the term “rebuttal evidence,” which is evidence presented to disprove a witness’s account. He uses an example from the case of Richard Moss, who stood accused of murder. But Moss’s friend, Ed Passeri, took the stand and claimed to be the murderer instead. Prosecutors ultimately disproved Ed Passeri’s claim through rebuttal evidence, which included other eyewitness accounts. Strobel’s goal is to examine, at the Jesus Seminar, a vocal group of fringe theologians that challenge the divinity of Jesus and offer rebuttal evidence through an interview with Dr. Gregory A. Boyd.
Boyd is an Ivy League-educated professor of theology at Bethel College, and he also serves as a pastor at Woodland Hills Church. But more importantly, he is one of the most vocal critics of the Jesus Seminar. Along with engaging in public debates, he has authored multiple articles criticizing their arguments. His discussion with Strobel begins by explaining that the Jesus Seminar represents a minority of “far, far left wing […] New Testament thinking” and does “not represent mainstream scholarship” (152). The Jesus Seminar believes in a naturalistic view of Jesus; they think Jesus is a man and not divine.
Throughout the rest of the chapter, Strobel presents the Jesus Seminar’s beliefs point by point and allows Boyd to offer a countering perspective. The Jesus Seminar developed a set of criteria that determined that 82 percent of the gospel’s sayings could not be attributed to Jesus. Boyd believes these criteria are based on a series of false assumptions and work like “loaded dice” (157) in that they influence the evidence to fit the Seminar’s preconceived agenda. The Jesus Seminar also believes that Jesus’s ability to work miracles was not unique, which points to the gospels telling a mythic—rather than a historical—narrative. The seminar cites stories of a man named Apollonius, who also raised the dead and exorcised demons. He is most concerned with the fact that Apollonius’s narrative comes from a single source, written centuries after Apollonius’s death. Thus, Boyd concludes the Apollonius story fails the Jesus Seminar’s own multiple attestation test, which requires that sayings and stories appear in multiple sources for them to be true.
Boyd applies the same logic to the Secret Mark and the Gospel of Thomas, two apocryphal (or non-canonical) texts. Strobel explains Secret Mark is thought to be an uncensored version of the gospel of Mark that portrays Jesus as a magician. Boyd tells Strobel that there is only one mention of Secret Mark in a historical text, but the original document no longer exists. The seminar also believes that the Gospel of Thomas shows Jesus to be nothing more than a great teacher. Boyd counters that assertion by pointing out that the Gospel of Thomas post-dates the original gospels by more than a century and cannot pass the criteria that would enter it into the biblical canon.
With all this in mind, Boyd ends his conversation with Strobel on a much more personal note. He tells Strobel that the Jesus he believes in is one of history and faith, and he compares his love for Jesus to his love for his wife. Boyd loves his wife based on facts—she is “gorgeous,” “nice,” and “sweet”(168)—but his love for her also extends beyond the evidence. He feels the same way about his faith in Jesus, which Boyd believes is well placed.
Part 1, Chapters 4-6 Analysis
One of the difficulties of any kind of theory—whether its scientific, social, philosophical, or otherwise—is proving its accuracy. This is especially true for religions, which often make sweeping claims with little regard to believability. Rather, religious texts are often more concerned with teaching ideals than they are with preserving the truth. This presents a huge hurdle, who must first convince readers that the Bible is a factual account, not a fictionalized story. To do this, Strobel begins by laying out a critical foundation for his argument in his book’s first five chapters. Before he can dig into the religious aspects of the Bible—namely, whether Jesus was indeed God—he must first try to prove that the Bible itself is a reliable resource for Jesus’s life.
Strobel begins that process in the last section, and he continues the discussion through Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 as he examines outside, secular evidence that helps verify elements of the Bible. But how does this work? To answer this question, one must turn to Strobel’s own textual evidence. A good example comes from Chapter 5, where Dr. John McRay discusses the city of Jericho. The Bible tells the story of the War of Jericho, where the Israelites—who at this time have been led out of Egypt by Moses—marched on the city. Jericho was a city known for its fortifications, and the Bible explains that on the command of God, the Israelites marched around the walls for six days. On the seventh day, Jericho’s walls crumble to the ground, and the Israelites take the city.
This story has all the makings of a myth. By definition, a myth is a story that explains the world view, belief, or perspective of a group of people. Myths also explain natural phenomenon about how the world came to be. But more critically, myths hold only a kernel of truth; while they may be based on something that actually happened, the story grows beyond the bounds of historical authenticity. After all, it is hard to believe that a week of marching without any actual attack could cause fortified walls to crumble to dust. In that way, the story of Jericho fits within a traditional mythic structure, where myths meant to teach people something about the world around them, not preserve historical facts. Given this, it becomes clear that the narratives that support many belief systems are mythic in nature; it is the meaning of their stories—not the historical accuracy of their content—that matters most.
But as Strobel points out, this becomes problematic for Christianity, which operates on the premise it that Jesus actually existed. As Dr. Craig Blomberg aptly states in the first chapter: “Jesus’ life and teachings and miracles […] were meaningless if it were not historically factual that Christ died and was raised from the dead and that this provided atonement, or forgiveness, of the sins of humanity” (30-31). Before Strobel can ever worry about whether Jesus is the Son of God, he must first prove that the Bible is not a mythological text but a historical work. And that is where McRay comes in. He explains to Strobel that there is archaeological evidence that Jericho not only existed, but that it was located “in at least four different locations” after the city was “destroyed and resettled” (131). The same science that teaches people about ancient Rome and Greece does the same here; not only does archaeology prove that Jericho was real, its multiple locations also explain how Jesus can walk into and walk out of Jericho when he heals Bartimaeus in the gospels. In fact, Jericho is just one example of how Strobel compiles a list of verifiable outside evidence that corroborates events portrayed in the Bible. But more critically, proving the Bible’s historical accuracy when it comes to real events helps Strobel and his expert witnesses convince readers that the book is a factual recounting of history, not a mythological fairy tale.
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