Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-Examination of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" [Paperback]

Earl Doherty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2001

In the face of modern critical scholarship, which is steadily eroding the historical reliability of the Gospels and their presentation of Jesus, conservative writers have been making valiant attempts to re-establish confidence in the Christian record and doctrine. The most prominent of these, in popular exposure and commercial success, has been Lee Strobel, in his 1998 book 'The Case for Christ'. In that book, Lee Strobel, an ex-court journalist, conducts a series of 14 interviews with well-known conservative and evangelical scholars of the New Testament, such as Craig Blomberg, William Lane Craig and Gary Habermas, in an attempt to establish the reliability of the Gospel account and the truth of the Resurrection. Within the context of a scholarly critique, Earl Doherty, author of 'The Jesus Puzzle' takes quotations from those interviews and sets up his own dialogue with them, as though cross-examining Strobel and his witnesses in a courtroom before judge and jury. This makes for gripping reading, a strong atmosphere and an effective way to present the case in favour of a more rational and coherent view of the Christian record and the origins of Christianity. This book exposes the deficiencies, the fallacies, the selective and misleading use of evidence inherent in 'The Case for Christ', and offers more reasonable alternatives.<

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Challenging the Verdict is the first published book by Age of Reason Publications. It makes an ideal introduction to our stated purpose in introducing principles of rationality and scientific investigation to all aspects of society’s laws, ethics and beliefs. We sincerely hope that books like this can provide a stimulus to the application of rational thought in our culture, something that has been absent in many critical areas for too long.

Does rationality matter? If people gain support and comfort through believing in a God and a supernatural dimension of angels, saints and a heavenly afterlife, ought those who have concluded that there is no rational basis for such beliefs seek to change their minds? In principle, it seems almost axiomatic that when a society formulates much of its views of the universe, its philosophy and ethics, its public policy and education, on things which have no basis in reality, such a course can hardly be advantageous to that society’s health. Indeed, it may cause great harm. Our understanding of the world around us, our progress in finding ways to get the best out of this world, to live in harmony with it and with each other, to achieve the maximum in human happiness and the availability of human rights, cannot help but suffer.

Lee Strobel, in The Case for Christ, goes through the motions of a ‘scientific’ reasoned approach to the Christian record, in an attempt to support the validity of the Gospel content and the truth of the resurrection. But the deficiencies and contradictions of that record will not bear the weight of such an enterprise, and the realities of the ancient world setting in which Christianity arose impose on us their own understanding of the Christian movement and how it began. Challenging the Verdict is the challenge of history, rationality and scientific research to the full body of Christian doctrine, in the hope that our 21st century will see the passing away of such irrationalities and the arrival of an Age of Reason.

From the Author

Challenging the Verdict is designed as a useful tool for promoting reason within the context of North America’s dominant faith in the reliability of the Gospel story and of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. It grew out of an intended book review for The Jesus Puzzle web site, one that was not originally envisioned to be longer than my other reviews. But the format I decided upon proved unexpectedly fruitful: a courtroom setting in which I adopt the role of cross-examining attorney, setting up a dialogue before judge and jury between myself and those scholars whom Lee Strobel interviews in his book, using quoted words spoken during those interviews. Not only was I able to address the claims and conclusions offered by Lee Strobel’s ‘experts’ with an unexpected degree of realism, the vividness between opposing sets of views comes across to the reader in a highly lucid and compelling fashion. Those who have read the book have called it a real page-turner.

One cannot change the world overnight, or even within a lifetime, and there are many forms of irrationality in present-day society. It is not possible to address them all, and I have no delusions on that score. But I have attempted in my own limited way to make some contribution to the promotion of reason and science in the belief systems our society has adopted, and especially in the field of Christian origins, both in my two books and on my web site.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Age of Reason Publications,Canada (September 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968925901
• ISBN-13: 978-0968925904
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #682,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I've read Strobel and Doherty - Doherty is better, March 1, 2002

By 

Paul Doland (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-Examination of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" (Paperback)

I've read and reviewed here Strobel's books. (See more about me.)

Okay, much has been said about Doherty's style of using a courtroom setting. Yes, I understand it is a literary device. And yes, I know, he's poking some fun at Strobel's self-portrail of being a "tough, investigative reporter". Okay, I understand it, but I still don't care for it. But while I don't care for the style, what is more important, to me anyway, is the material. And the material is good.

Since I'm very poor at history, there is much here that I can't really honestly say whether Strobel's version or Doherty's is more accurate. I wish I could, but I can't. But when Doherty is able to demonstrate logic errors and circular reasoning in Strobel's work that I didn't catch myself when reading it, that to me lends credence to his work. One good example of this is where Doherty points out that Dr. Craig used the Gospel of Matthew's account of the guards at the tomb as an alternate-source verification of, well, Matthew's account of the guards at the tomb!

Another interesting point that Doherty makes is in the discussion of the medical evidence. In Strobel, Dr. Metherell portrays crucifixion being a form of torture to which even breathing is difficult due to the way the victim is hung. And yet the gospels portray Jesus as carrying on conversations, including with the bandits that were also being crucified. And Doherty also points out how the scene gets embellished from one gospel to the next.

There's a lot more than these couple of items I've pointed out. Get the book. If you read the other reviews of the book, you'll find that the negative reviews usually call Doherty "outlandish" or some such, but few seem to have any actual evidence to dispute him.

The negative reviews also harp on Doherty's belief that Jesus may not have existed at all. Though Doherty does discuss this opinion of his, it is not central to this work. I'm not sure I buy that theory myself. But even if Doherty is all wet on that theory, it is not significant to this work.

Finally, the negative reviews also condemn the literary style, which as I said, I agree with the criticism to some extent. But ignoring the style, there is a lot of good stuff here. Don't let the positive or negative opinions here sway you, read the book and make up your own mind.

90 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No book is going to settle the arguments over Jesus, January 4, 2005

By 

David P. Graf (Chatham, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-Examination of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" (Paperback)

As a Christian apologist, I have dealt with skeptics and their arguments over the years. However, it is not my intent to refute Doherty in this review. Instead, I want to make the point that there is no definitive argument or evidence which would convince both skeptics and believers. If there was, then the issue of Jesus would have been resolved centuries ago. Even so, Doherty's book demonstrates how a thoughtful skeptic can address many of the arguments made by believers like Strobel. From that perspective, I found this to be a valuable book.

47 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No One is Refuting Doherty's Points, November 17, 2004

By 

V. Capota "capov07" (Green Bay, Wisconsin United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-Examination of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" (Paperback)

All these religionist reviews on here attack everything but Doherty's arguments. Gimme a break you guys, I am seeing all these 1-star ratings without any of Doherty's points actually challenged. You guys keep claiming that Doherty did not interview any of Strobel's witnesses yet Strobel never interviewed any unbelievers in his own book. The book is a response and I have yet to see works that respond to his specific arguments.