by Josh McDowell
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Product Description
Whether debating Marxists, college professors, or Islamic apologists, Josh McDowell's hallmark has always been to walk boldly into enemy territory and speak truth. This book is based on the expectation that, with a growing number of adults becoming increasingly skeptical toward Christianity, there is a need for a solid body of persuasive evidence to be presented to them. This is a sourcebook for doubting seekers as well as current believers who need persuasive information to share with friends. Evidence for Christianity is McDowell's compelling answer to the hard questions so many Christians are afraid to discuss.
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Average Customer Review:
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
 This book should be a basic part of everyone's personal library., 2008-03-25
So many times we hear about skeptics of Christianity and/or the Christian rant and rave on YouTube-like sites and various discussion boards. Some skeptics have already made their mind up because they were hurt by someone in the past. Therefore arguing is therapeutic for such people. However if you are a person who desires honest answers and technical/detailed evidence, which goes beyond the noise of semantic bantering and false analogies typical of many "so-called" free thinkers, you will love this book. This book should be a basic part of everyone's personal library. So much powerful evidence to make even the most outspoken skeptics of Christianity into some of its most ardent defenders and become devoted followers of Christ. The exhaustive amount of archeological finds, historical accounts, and ancient cultural evidence presented by this book debunks a myriad of objections proliferated by the academic elites within our secular universities by presenting just raw evidence and facts. While bible skeptics invent allegations and devise speculations that were never supported by the archaeological evidence, this book methodically supplies real evidence and hard data that would hold up in a court room. If you once considered yourself a Christian but now have labeled yourself an atheist or agnostic because you thought Christianity was just a bunch of "made-up stories" and is not supported by any real evidence, you will be pleasantly surprised that it is those supporting facts and hard evidence presented by "Evidences for Christianity" that set Christianity apart from every world religion and the religion of atheism.
Those who claimed see the risen Christ and His ascension would not put their lives on the line if they actually knew it was not true. Those who analyze the vast amount of prophetical fulfillment wrought by Christ, and acknowledge the fact that He violated Hebrew culture and expectations of what their messiah should do by NOT SEEKING to conquer the Roman Empire, will find it difficult to convince even themselves that these JEWISH converts would have just "made up" the story about Jesus when even those who persecuted Christians not only verified Jesus' existence but even confirmed what those early Christians believed about Him and the sufferings they faced for those beliefs.
http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com
1 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
 A book for those already persuaded, 2008-03-01
McDowell's book may be useful for those who already share his beliefs and be of some use for those evangelizing the less thoughtful and less well-educated.
For example, in discussing the atonement, McDowell must ignore historical and anthropological data that show that the belief human sacrifice is necessary to please the god(s) has antecedents thousands of years before Christianity. Obviously many people still find credible the idea that only a human sacrifice can please God (yes, we all know Christians believe Jesus to be God, but Jesus suffered horribly as a human being). A god who requires human sacrifice (note precedents in OT) because all human beings inherit the guilt of their supposed first parents, Adam and Eve, is a bronze age god. The old, bloody ideas of collective, inherited guilt requiring human sacrifice keep marching on.
The author does not consider the effect of charismatic personalities upon the beliefs of the early Church. Prophets in our time have had their prophecies falsified by events not occurring which they predicted. Yet most of their followers continue to believe. Something that Jesus predicted---his coming again in glory within the lifetimes of some of those who saw him before his death---manifestly did not happen. And that does not daunt the faithful at all.
In the early days of Christianity, Jesus' followers identified him as the Messiah sent by God, according to Jewish expectations, to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. His mission was to re-establish the Jews as the chosen of God and re-establish the rule of the House of David. But the Kingdom did not come within or after the life of Jesus and 2000 years later the Kingdom of God still has not arrived. The second coming, nevertheless, is still emphasized by evangelical Christians. The early Christians described Jesus as "the first fruits of the Kingdom of God," which encouraged them to postulate his second coming at the end of history. Many parts of the New Testament reflect this mentality, such as I Thessalonians and I Corinthians 15 and the apocalyptic chapters in Mark (13), Matthew (24) and Luke (21) in the gospels. In the book of Acts at the time of the ascension (chapter 1) two angels announce to the assembled disciples that "as you have seen him depart, so you will see him come again." The idea of the second coming is thus writ large in the early expectations of the first Christians.
The earliest record in Paul ascribed the Resurrection to an act of God raising Jesus into the presence of God. In Paul, God raised Jesus, Jesus does not rise. If this is an action of God then that act does not occur in human history. However, people living in human history seek to make sense out of that experience. Whatever Easter was it caused the disciples, who had forsaken Jesus in fear when he was arrested, to be reconstituted and empowered in dramatic ways. It caused his Jewish disciples to redefine God so that Jesus was included in that definition.
the first gospel writer, Mark, tells the story of Easter without portraying anyone ever seeing the risen Christ. The first stories of people seeing the raised Jesus occur only in the 9th decade when Matthew writes. Matthew gives us two resurrection episodes, both of which are strange. First, he has the women see the risen Christ in the garden and says that "they worshipped him." That is interesting because Mark, Matthew's primary source, says the women never saw him. Luke relates Mark's version not Matthew's. So the gospels are two to one against it being accurate to say that the women saw the raised Jesus.
Matthew's second resurrection story depicts a transformed Jesus coming out of the clouds of heaven. To view the resurrection as a physical, bodily coming back to the life of this world event, is an idea that is added to Christianity in the 9th decade. It is not original to the Easter story.
Whatever Easter was it caused the disciples, who had forsaken Jesus in fear when he was arrested, to be reconstituted and empowered in dramatic ways. It caused his Jewish disciples to redefine God so that Jesus was included in that definition. It caused a new holy day, the first day of the week to be born and eventually to rival the Sabbath. So the effects of Easter were in history but Easter itself was not.
The first gospel writer, Mark, tells the story of Easter without portraying anyone as ever seeing the risen Christ. The first stories of people seeing the raised Jesus occur only in the 9th decade when Matthew writes. Matthew gives us two resurrection episodes, both of which are strange. First, he has the women see the risen Christ in the garden and says that "they worshipped him." That is interesting because Mark, Matthew's primary source, says the women never saw him. Luke relates Mark's version not Matthew's. So the gospels are two to one against it being accurate to say that the women saw the raised Jesus.
Matthew's second resurrection story depicts a transformed Jesus coming out of the clouds of heaven. To view the resurrection as a physical, bodily coming back to the life of this world event, is an idea that is added to Christianity in the 9th decade. It is not original to the Easter story. So I fail to see how anyone can say that physical resuscitation is what the resurrection was.
A useful study of how religions adapt to failed prophecies is Diana Tumminia, When Prophecy Never Fails, Oxford UP.
Robin Lane Fox, Truth and Fiction in the Bible is a book by an eminent historian, but perhaps not for readers who prefer faith (the evidence of things not seen) to reasoning and evidence.
Books by J D Crossan (Jesus: a Revolutionary Biography, for ex, John Shelby Spong (e.g., Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism) and Marcus Borg are also valuable.
For serious students of the issues McDowell raises, Hume's treatise "Of Miracles" is helpful in rationally considering the arguments of evangelists.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Evidence for Christianity, 2007-10-14
This work (compendium, really) was not intended to be read straight through. It was intended to bring together the basics of the evidence for the Christian faith. All of the historical evidence cannot be contained in one book, and the author does not try. He instead lays out a logical outline that helps the reader find what he's looking for, and gives easily-understood information and excellent citations of the top scholars, secular and Christian, in that particular area.
Although there is enough material for a lifetime of discussion and argument in this book, the reader is warned by McDowell that the evidence he has pulled together is not the primary focus. That focus should not be on winning arguments by throwing out evidence, but on the valid questions people bring to the table in their spiritual journey, and how the evidence can help address those questions. For the seeker, then, this book represents a treasure trove of sources to investigate on one's own or with a friend.
For the Christian layman, if approached as intended, this book will be a wonderful resource for answering specific questions concerning historical evidences for the Bible and Christianity. It is not intended to teach one how to debate non-Christians. It will be very helpful, though, in addressing the distressing lack of historical knowledge about Christianity so prevalent in our churches and society at large today.
I find this book continually open on my desk as I prepare papers, lessons for Sunday School, or Bible study. The beauty of this book is that I don't have to read several pages in order to jump into the author's stream of thought. This book should be on every pastor's and lay leader's bookshelf.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
 Decent Piece of Work, 2007-07-05
Evidence For Christianity
Josh McDowell
Josh McDowell's Evidence For Christianity is a conglomeration of material gleaned from his earlier apologetic works with some new material thrown in. The book is meant as a sourcebook more than a work read cover to cover. The book is full of interesting information gleaned from archeology and other sources. If one is not familiar with F. F. Bruce of Norman Geisler, you will be by the time you wade through this material.
In its better moments, the book has some fascinating historical tidbits. However, it is an apologetic work, not a book by or for the historian.
Like many apologists, McDowell often relies on circular reasoning to get to certain points. The Biblical texts are often cited as proof of themselves. After reading this the evidence will show you that the early Church believed that Christ was God and rose again on the third day, but nothing can actually prove the case. That is a matter of faith.
All told it is not a bad book. There is some very useful information in it. Some of this information would have been useful when I attended college. However, if you intend to debate someone who has a more liberal philosophy be careful using some of the arguments here. My professors would have poked holes in many of the arguments found here. While I agree with McDowell's beliefs, some of his reasoning will leave you open to easy rebuttal.
Read the book and glean the data. Find your own arguments.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Scholarly and honest., 2007-06-09
To be honest the book is "loaded" with so much information it overwhelmed me a bit.I guess I expected a more concise demonstration of evidence.If I were an atheist or skeptic this book would raise questions that would not be easily answered in my mind.Hopefully it will persuade some to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
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