Customer Reviews

The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger (Strobel, Lee)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Lee Strobel's little bitty book, The Case for Christmas, does a good job at its intended purpose, which is to evangelize to non-Christians and skeptics. Like his other books, he presents counter arguments to those skeptics who do not really know Christianity. If you have read his other books, you have read everything in this book, too. The Christmas story itself is almost a minor topic. A Christian with the most basic knowledge of the Bible will not find much here. That is the weak point of the book for me, he just barely scratched the surface when there was potential for so much more.

Brother Lee does a good job of defending an early date for the Gospels (to support their credibility as eyewitness accounts). While he makes the case for the Synoptics, he leaves John at a later date, maybe 90 AD. Yet, when he talks about historical accuracy, he rightfully shows John is reliable, and one example he made was John 5:1-15, the story of the Pool of Bethesda, that pool with five porticoes. This place was not known in modern times until it was excavated by archeologist. It was just as John described.

That much is good, but Lee could have taken the next step. John talks about these pools in the present tense. The historian Josephus mentions that this northern district, where the pools were located, was incinerated early in the revolt by Cestius, in October of 68 C.E. (Jewish Wars 2.250). He also says that in May of 70 C.E., the Romans breached the first wall in the northern part of the city and destroyed it, in the district which he said had been previously destroyed "by Cestius" (Jewish Wars 5.302). Josephus tells that the entire city of Jerusalem, by order of Caesar, was razed to the foundations when the Romans overtook the Jews (Jewish Wars 7:1).So, if the Roman army destroyed the pools and porticos along with the rest of Jerusalem, than John's use of the present tense, . . . there IS a poll . . ., requires a pre-70 C.E. dating for John.

As for his comment on selecting December 25th as the birth date of Christ, that Pope Julius I declared it so in 385 AD to challenge the pagan celebration of the Roman god Saturnalia, that old argument is just too weak. The date was celebrated much earlier. The Nativity Feast was established by the early Church. Its origin goes back to the time of the Apostles. In the Apostolic Constitutions (Section 3, 13) it says, "Brethren, observe the feastdays; and first of all the Birth of Christ, which you are to celebrate on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month." In another place it also says, "Celebrate the day of the Nativity of Christ, on which unseen grace is given man by the birth of the Word of God from the Virgin Mary for the salvation of the world." Sextus Julius Africanus also says December 25 is Christ's birthday, mentioning in his Chronographiai (221). In the second century St Clement of Alexandria also indicates that the day of the Nativity of Christ is December 25. In the third century St Hippolytus of Rome mentions the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, and appoints the Gospel readings for this day from the opening chapters of St. Matthew. I could site more, but I have made my "case."

In summary, less fluff about the people he interviewed and more historical meat would have been nice.

if you're going to buy this, you might as well buy the Case for Christ instead. It has ALL the content in this book and Case for Easter and then some. Much more bank for your buck

The Case for Christmas was a much easier read than The Case for Christ. It's basically a preview to The Case for Christ without all of the overwhelming details and questions. I do wish there had been more of a focus specifically on the fact that Christ wasn't actually born on December 25th but overall, really good reading!

Mr. Strobel takes the word of biblical scholars and presents it as his case for believing in Christ and Christmas. The way he simply glazes over the fact that the date we now celebrate Christmas was picked by a Christian official years after Jesus' death to conflict with a Pagan holiday is stated and then completely ignored. The author does nothing to address real questions about Christ and how Christmas came to be, instead he simply glosses over major questions that any non-Christian or real investigator may have. I was very disappointed in this book.

short sweet and to the point, a good book to read if you doubt the virgin birth or want more "evidence" to support the possibility of Christ's birth as described by the Bible.

I work as a trainer and consultant in the field of Business Intelligence. As such I have a logical, analytical mind. I love to have facts that support the item I am studying. Mr Strobel does just that with this work.

It's the first of his books I've read, but it certainly won't be the last. I finished it early this morning, was so impressed I bought "Finding the Real Jesus: A Guide for Curious Christians and Skeptical Seekers" and am just about done with it, next on my list will be "The Case for Christ".

I love the interview process he does in the book, I feel like I am there in the room with the expert. Lee is asking the very types of questions I've always wanted to ask. The answers are laid out clearly, with supporting evidence and facts.

There are some reviewers who have given this book a low rating as Mr Strobel fails to present "both sides of the argument". As another reviewer so aptly pointed out, the books in this series are entitled "The Case FOR..." There is no intention of presenting a balanced view, but to provide evidence to support Lee's assertions about Jesus Christ. Any individual who bought the book expecting such a balance missed the premise of the book entirely.

If you are like me, and have a strong analytical mind, I highly recommend this book as being something as well suited for you as it is for me.

I felt that the author did his homework and made a sincere effort to do research, however I also got the feeling that a lot of his research landed on the cutting room floor. The interviews with various scholars all left me feeling that a great deal more was said than was presented. I felt that the author went into all of the interviews with a 'chip on his shoulder' (in fact, he pretty much came out and said so in a couple of places) and I feel strongly that that is NOT good reporting or investigative technique. At no point was the author rude or unpleasant, but his attitude was quite challenging, and that made me question the validity of the interview. On the other hand, he was scrupulously honest in admitting when the answers to his questions really made him see the other person's perspective or point, and that counts for a lot, IMO.

Overall, while I found this book to be very interesting, I felt that it was lost somewhere in the grey area between 'light reading' and 'scholarly writing'. It was written more towards the scholarly side, yet all the data and details weren't presented - it was 'dumbed down' a bit for the general reader. As someone whose tastes run more to the scholarly, I'd prefer it to have had a bit more 'meat', but I also recognize that the author was trying to appeal to a much wider audience, and can't fault him for that, just because of my personal tastes. In the end, I felt that the book protrayed the author as being too easily persuaded, due to the amount of informtion that was (most likely) presented at his interviews, but which didn't make it into the book. I'd recommend this for someone who wanted a little more than light reading, but didn't want to be bogged down with a heavy-duty scholarly tome.

Note on Kindle formatting: Very good. No issues noted.

I read this in one day and found it to be a quick and well written book confirming the importance of Jesus's birth. I have read "The Case for Christ" and there is definitely some duplication, but it was a great refresher and reminder of the divinity of Christ. Kudos and Merry Christmas.

Lee Strobel has this approach down to a science, having honed his skills in "The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith." He identifies questions that he presumably has or had about Christianity from his previous perspective as an atheist and skeptic, finds extremely intelligent and impressively credentialed academics to interview, and writes down their answers to his questions. For a logical, sequential thinker, this approach most definitely works.

"The Case for Christmas" is a shorter and less exhaustive work than "Christ" or "Faith," and it is ideal for distribution to spiritual seekers at a time of year when many are more open to consider spiritual things. Though I would consider his previous books to be more significant because of their greater length and depth (and would suggest them instead to anyone searching for some quality contemporary apologetics), I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who would like to hear some well-reasoned arguments that support the notion that the Christmas story, as told in the Bible, may have actually happened. If you're skeptical but willing to hear some facts and explanations which suggest that the story of Jesus in the Gospels may actually be true, then I'd encourage you to read this book.

If you ever wanted to read a thorough invetigation into the facts surrounding the Christmas Story this is it. Lee Strobel interviewed the leading authorities on all of the Biblical claims and concludes the matter in convincing style.