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Lee StrobelA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
This chapter marks the beginning of the third, and final, part of The Case for Christ. Titled “Researching the Resurrection,” Strobel uses this and the following four chapters to confront one of the most controversial and hard to believe elements of the Christian faith: that Jesus came back to life, fully healed, after his crucifixion. Once again, Strobel chooses to open with an anecdote. This one uses the story of Dr. Robert J. Stein, who was the coroner for Cook County, Illinois. His meticulous autopsies were often “the final nail in a defendant’s coffin” (255), which speaks to how “crucial medical evidence can be” (256). That is why Strobel visits with Dr. Alexander Metherell, a medical doctor who has studied the physical consequences of death by crucifixion. Strobel hopes to determine whether Jesus could have survived his torture on the cross, which many skeptics believe proves that the resurrection was nothing more “than an elaborate hoax” (256).
After providing the skeptic’s perspective, Strobel asks Metherell to discuss the medical realities of each portion of Jesus’s torture. Metherell begins at the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Bible claims he sweated blood. Metherell explains this is a condition called hematidrosis, where capillaries in the sweat glands break down under severe psychological stress. Metherell then goes on to explain the severe beating Jesus received before carrying his cross to Calvary. The flogging would “tear into the underlying skeletal muscles” (262), causing extreme trauma and hypovolemic shock. The shock would have cause four things: a racing heartbeat, low blood pressure and fainting, failing kidneys, and extreme thirst. That leads Metherell to conclude that Jesus was “already in serious to critical condition” (262) before he was nailed to the cross.
In terms of the actual crucifixion, Metherell explains that the nails would have been placed on central nerves to cause excruciating amounts of pain. Once the cross was raised, Jesus would have ultimately died of asphyxiation. In order to breathe, Jesus had to “push up on his feet so the tension on the muscles would be eased for a moment” (265). Once Jesus became too weak to do so, he would have suffocated to death. Metherell also explains the gush of water and blood that rushed from Jesus’s chest after he was stabbed by a Roman soldier. Asphyxiation causes heart failure, which makes fluid collect around the lungs and heart. The fluid would have been released, causing a clear gush of liquid and blood to spill out.
Given this, Strobel concludes with two final questions. First, he asks Metherell whether there was “any possible way” (269) for Jesus to survive. Metherell responds confidently, saying “absolutely not” (269). But given the horror of crucifixion, Strobel cannot help but wonder what would have motivated Jesus to endure such pain. In responding to this question, Metherell answers as a Christian, not a doctor. He tells Strobel that he supposes “the answer can be summed up in one word—and that would be love” (272).
Chapter 12 opens with the story of Helen Voorhees Brach, the heiress to a candy fortune who disappeared seemingly into thin air. Twenty years later and investigators still have no idea what happened to her, and although they suspect foul play, they have not found her body. Strobel says that unlike Helen, who disappeared without a trace, Jesus’s resurrection had witnesses who saw him die and then return to the living. He explains that he focuses on the resurrection in the last section of his book because it “is the very lynchpin of the Christian faith” (276). In other words, without Christ’s resurrection, Christianity would lose “the basis of Christian hope” (276).
To begin his research into whether the resurrection has basis in truth, Strobel meets with Dr. William Lane Craig, who is famous for his writings on “the intersection of science, philosophy, and theology” (279). Strobel opens their interview by asking whether Jesus was legitimately buried in a tomb, especially since the Jesus Seminar argues it was more likely that his body was dumped and eaten by dogs. Craig points out that the burial is specifically mentioned in an early creed, which is a formal statement of Christian beliefs. Furthermore, Joseph of Arimathea, who was given the body after the crucifixion, is mentioned in every gospel account of Jesus’s burial. Strobel latches onto this; given that Joseph was part of the Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus, he asks if it is unlikely that he would have preserved the body. Craig counters this idea, saying that Joseph was not present to vote on Jesus’s case. That makes it much more likely that he would have given Jesus an honorable burial.
Strobel then asks whether the tomb was secure against those who might remove Jesus’s body without anyone else’s knowledge. Craig explains that the tomb would have been sealed with large rocks that would have been nearly impossible to remove without the help of several men. Whether there were Roman guards at the tomb is a source of scholarly debate, though, especially since that detail is only mentioned in one gospel. Craig tells Strobel that the detail is not critical to proving that the burial actually happened.
The conversation then moves on to focus on the contradictions to the burial story, namely that the gospel accounts contain notable discrepancies around the event. Craig explains that discrepancies in small details, like “the names of the women, the exact time of the morning, [and] the number of the angels” (289)are secondary to the major points of the story. Craig asserts that the major elements of Jesus’s resurrection—that Jesus’s body is placed in a tomb, “the tomb is visited by a small group of women followers of Jesus early on the Sunday morning following his crucifixion, and they find that the tomb is empty” (289)before angels appear saying Jesus has risen—are consistent. Craig also addresses the question of whether the witnesses to the empty tomb could be trusted. Craig explains that women lacked social authority in that period, so the fact that they are credited with discovering the empty tomb at all “bespeaks the historicity of this tradition rather than its legendary status” (293).
Craig wraps up his argument by providing Strobel with six pieces of evidence that affirm Jesus was buried. First, Craig explains that the event is recorded in reliable sources. Second, the site of Jesus’s tomb was well known to Christians and Jews, which means Jews would have challenged Christian doctrine had the tomb not been empty. Third, Craig says the language of the passage indicates Mark got the story from an older and more reliable source, while the story’s simplicity and mention of women suggest its authenticity. For his last point, Craig references the Jewish tradition, which never denies the empty tomb. Strobel concludes this chapter by reaffirming Craig’s view that despite outside challenges, “each time, in the end, the tomb remains vacant” (300).
This chapter opens with the tragic story of Addie Mae Collins, who was killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. When her family decides to have her body exhumed and moved decades later, they find that her body is missing. Strobel includes this story to show that “a missing body is not conclusive proof” (308) of the resurrection. Strobel wants more proof, which is why he sits down with Dr. Gary Habermas, a distinguished professor and chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Theology at Liberty University.
Strobel begins by asking about eyewitnesses—or rather, the lack thereof since no one witnessed the actual resurrection. Habermas says that it is not unlike other scientific inferences; for example, people have never seen a dinosaur, but they can infer that they existed from their fossilized bones. The same holds for the resurrection. People saw Jesus die and walk again amongst the living, so the resurrection would be a reasonable inference even if it was not fully explained in the gospels. Like Craig and Blomberg, Habermas also uses the creed from 1 Corinthians 1:8, which outlines Jesus’s death, burial, resurrection, and post-resurrection appearances. Strobel stops Habermas here and asks him to prove that this passage is in fact an early creed, which is a formal statement of Christian beliefs. Habermas explains that Paul, the writer, uses “technical rabbinic terms” and phrasing “indicating he’s passing along a holy tradition” (309). Additionally, scholars from many Christian theological backgrounds agree that 1 Corinthians is a church creed dating back to within “twenty years of the Resurrection” (310).
Strobel then turns his questioning to events associated with Jesus’s reappearance that are only reported in one place, like his appearance to 500 people at once in 1 Corinthians 15. That story appears nowhere else in either the Bible or secular historical texts. Habermas agrees with Strobel about the passage appearing once, but he also explains that it is “the earliest and best-authenticated passage of all” (312). Additionally, the passage indicates that Paul had spoken to some of the witnesses directly, which means he is reporting on first-hand accounts. Strobel concludes this line of questioning by asking about the order of Jesus’s appearance as mentioned by the creed, which lists Peter first and ignores the women who discovered his tomb. Habermas echoes Craig’s earlier sentiments that the omission has more to do with women’s place in society than with a lack of accuracy.
Habermas goes on to explain that Jesus’s appearances after the resurrection were more than just a “fleeting observance of a shadowy figure by one or two people” (316). Jesus was seen by hundreds of people, often in groups, in full flesh. In fact, he spoke, touched, and even ate with the witnesses. Habermas also counters Strobel’s concerns about the fact that Mark—the oldest gospel—does not mention the resurrection. He tells Strobel that Mark 16:7 says that Peter is told to go to Galilee where “there you will see him, just as he told you” (319), which is a reference to the resurrected Christ.
Finally, Strobel asks Habermas to address two alternative theories to the resurrection: that Jesus’s “appearances are legendary” (320) and that the appearances are “hallucinations” (321). To Strobel’s first point, Habermas points out that the legend theory cannot explain the existence of the early eyewitness accounts or the existence of the creed in 1 Corinthians, which predates the gospels. Habermas also addresses the idea that people hallucinated Jesus’s reappearance by explaining that “hallucinations are individual occurrences” (322), which means a group of people would not have collectively imagined the reappearance of Jesus. As the interview draws to a close, Strobel decides to ask Habermas why he personally believes in the resurrection. Habermas tells Strobel about his wife, Debbie, who died of stomach cancer in 1998: “If there’s a resurrection, there’s a heaven. If Jesus was raised, Debbie was raised. And I will be someday, too. Then I’ll see them both” (327). In other words, the resurrection is what substantiates Christians’ belief in heaven and eternal life. Without Jesus’s resurrection, Christianity loses its entire purpose.
This is the final chapter in The Case for Christ, and Strobel uses it to discuss the circumstantial, or indirect, evidence for Christianity. To do this, Strobel sits down with Dr. J. P. Moreland, a professor at the Talbot School of Theology and well-known theological philosopher and ethicist. Strobel quickly cuts to the chase and asks Moreland to give him “circumstantial evidence that convince you Jesus rose from the dead” (332). Moreland gives Strobel the following five pieces of evidence: the disciples dying for their beliefs, the conversion of skeptics, the changes to key social structures, communion and baptism, and the emergence of the church.
Moreland starts his argument by addressing the fact that many of the disciples were beaten, ostracized, imprisoned, and killed for their belief in the promises of Jesus. Moreland explains that the “apostles were willing to die for something they had seen with their own eyes and to ached with their own hands”(334).In other words, they were willing to die for something that they believed was 100 percent true. Additionally, Moreland cites the immediate and widespread conversion of skeptics after the crucifixion. When Strobel asks Moreland how that differs from the Muslim belief in Muhammad, Moreland explains that the early followers of Jesus “claimed to have seen public events that others saw as well” (336), including miracles and the resurrection.
Moreland then addresses his third piece of evidence: that the resurrection changed fundamental elements of Jewish culture. He begins by explaining the importance of social institutions to Jews, who were persecuted for their culture and beliefs. Moreland says that Jews “believed these institutions were intruded to them by God” and “that to abandon these institutions would be to risk their souls being damned to hell after death” (338). But within five weeks of Jesus’s crucifixion, “over ten thousand Jews” (338) convert to Christianity, which Moreland argues is extremely significant given the Jewish emphasis on culture. Moreland then walks Strobel through specific changes to daily Jewish life, including the abandonment of animal sacrifice, distancing themselves from Moses’s laws, worshipping on the Sabbath, belief in the trinity, and an understanding that the messiah died for the sins of the world. Moreland explains that the “changes to the Jewish social structures were not just minor adjustments […] they were absolutely monumental” (341)cultural shifts.
Moreland then turns his attention to his final two pieces of evidence: communion and baptism, and the emergence of the early church. Communion is a sacrament of the Christian church that celebrates Jesus’s death. After acknowledging this is an odd practice, Moreland explains its significance—he says early Christians celebrated Jesus’s execution “because they were convinced they had seen him alive from the tomb” (342). Baptism also celebrates the significance of Jesus’s sacrifice. Moreland points out that “by going under the water, you’re celebrating his death, and by being brought out of the water, you’re celebrating the fact that Jesus was raised to newness of life” (342). Lastly, Moreland focuses on the emergence of the early church as evidence of Christianity’s authenticity. The Christian church grows despite facing competing ideologies in ancient Rome, which shows the power of its fundamental beliefs.
As Strobel wraps up the interview, Moreland offers one more piece of evidence. While the resurrection happened millennia ago, Moreland says that encounters with Jesus continue to happen “all over the world, in every culture, to people from all kinds of backgrounds and personalities” (345). Moreland then shares the story of his own spiritual encounter with Jesus in 1968, which prompted him to take a step of faith and embrace Christianity. While Moreland is not saying that people should blindly trust their experiences, he does argue that careful consideration of the evidence for Christianity can—and does—lead to personal experiences with Jesus. He calls this an “experiential test,” and he argues that it is the “final confirmation of the evidence” (347) for Christ.
The conclusion to The Case for Christ can be split into two sections. The first is Strobel’s brief summary of each chapter that addresses its central argument in a short paragraph. The second, and more important, section has to do with Strobel’s own spiritual journey. He tells readers that after examining the evidence, the “cumulative facts and data pointed unmistakably toward a conclusion that [he] wasn’t entirely comfortable in reaching” (356).
What ultimately convinces Strobel that Christianity is real is how quickly the belief system springs up after the crucifixion. Scholars like N. Sherwin-White argue that mythological beliefs take generations to solidify, but the narrative of Jesus was “already being recited by Christians as soon as twenty-four months after the Crucifixion” (357). According to credible scholars, that would not be enough time for the story to grow to legendary proportions, so the overwhelming likelihood is that the story of Jesus—of who he is, what he did, and how he died—is true. Thus, Strobel abandons his legend thesis and comes to the “conclusion that Jesus was who he claimed to be: the one and only Son of God” (359). This prompts Strobel to convert, which he does on November 8, 1981—a day which he later calls “the pivotal even of [his] entire life” (365).
The last portion of the conclusion addresses two types of readers, those who now believe in Christianity and those who remain skeptical. To those who now believe, Strobel presents the framework of Christian conversion. First, a person must believe not only that Jesus is the Son of God who died for man’s sins, but that sin fundamentally separates every person from God. Once a person believes those things, he/she can receive grace through faith. By “admitting and turning from […] wrongdoing” (364)and professing faith in a sincere prayer, God absolves a person of his/her sins. This all results in becoming a Christian, which also involves being transformed in terms of “priorities,” “values,” and “character” (364) by following Jesus’s teachings. But Strobel makes one thing clear: “the verdict is yours and yours alone” (365).
Strobel then addresses those who remain skeptical of Christianity, even after reading The Case for Christ. He says he understands; after all, “no single book can deal with every nuance” (365) of the religion. But he encourages skeptics to take their new knowledge and continue to seek answers to their questions from reliable sources. Strobel gives those who do not believe his “sincere encouragement” as they “continue on their spiritual quest” (365), even as he encourages them to make this journey their highest priority. He explains that if Christianity is right, that means that the skeptic’s decision will be the most important one of their lives.
By the time readers finish The Case for Christ, they may find themselves confused about what type of book they have just read. On the one hand, Strobel positions this book as a factual investigation into the life of Jesus and the authenticity of Christianity. He interviews experts, fact-checks their statements, and plays devil’s advocate to make sure the readers’ questions are addressed. However, as the book unfolds, savvy readers also realize that Strobel begins to add his own interpretation to the facts. For example, as Dr. Alexander Metherell explains the process of crucifixion, Strobel tells readers that he “winced at the image and squirmed” (264)in his chair. That detail does not add factual evidence to Strobel’s story, but it does tell readers how he—and by association, they—should feel: uncomfortable. Likewise, Strobel often adds his own assessment of an expert’s argumentative point into the narrative. One such moment happens after Dr. Bill Craig argues that Jesus’s tomb was guarded after his burial. Instead of letting Craig’s argument speak for itself, Strobel says that after “weighing the evidence, I felt persuaded that guards have been present” (287). Again, this is not a factual observation; this is Strobel’s own opinion on Craig’s argument. And of course, the book’s conclusion is an extremely personal look into Strobel’s own conversion from atheism to Christianity.
In that way, The Case for Christ is not strictly journalistic nonfiction, which defines itself by presenting readers with an unbiased look at the facts. Journalistic nonfiction is free of opinion and outside inference, which is not the case for Strobel’s book. Because Strobel tries to create a longer, more novel-like story around his investigation, The Case for Christ is more accurately categorized as narrative nonfiction.
Narrative nonfiction—which is sometimes called creative nonfiction, long-form journalism, or narrative journalism—is a genre in which facts are presented within the framework of storytelling. It is an alternative to the traditional newspaper structure, which presents all the facts surrounding an incident in order of importance and as quickly as possible. Unlike news reporting, which strictly reports the facts, narrative nonfiction joins factual research with a more comprehensive story structure that makes the book read more like a novel. This structure not only adds interest to the narrative, it helps keep the readers’ attention while allowing the writer to dive deeper into a specific topic or event. A good example of this is Strobel’s inclusion of introductory anecdotes in each chapter. For instance, Strobel’s discussion of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, does not directly contribute to the facts surrounding Jesus’s resurrection. Strobel even makes inferences about McVeigh’s perspective on the bombing, saying that “he may have thought he committed the perfect crime by avoiding eyewitnesses, but he nevertheless leaned on death row” (330). This is a strong example of how narrative nonfiction functions. Strobel pulls in a story that engages the reader by capturing their attention, then he relates it back to the topic at hand by explaining the importance of circumstantial evidence. Through these anecdotes, Strobel adds interest, clarity, and emotion to help make The Case for Christ easier to read.
In addition to narrative nonfiction, Strobel also incorporates an additional genre into The Case for Christ: the personal memoir. The personal memoir is a factual collection of memories and events that take place in the writer’s life. In other words, a memoir is a writer’s own recollections about personal events that happened to them during their lifetime. They differ from autobiographies in that an autobiography focuses on someone’s entire life, whereas a memoir focuses on memories and experiences around a certain theme. In this case, Strobel only gives readers insight into his spiritual journey, which aligns most closely with memoir. More to the point, memoirs offer an intimate perspective by virtue of their connection to personal experience. While the bulk of The Case for Christ focuses on presenting the facts, the last chapter of the book allows readers to see Strobel’s own journey to Christianity. After converting, Strobel tells readers that opening himself to Jesus’s “transforming power” caused his “priorities, [his] values, and [his] character” (364) to gradually change. He concludes by explaining that he believes that “the day [he] made a decision in the case for Christ was nothing less than the pivotal event of [his] entire life” (364-65).
So that begs the question: why include elements of memoir at all? The answer comes from the second critical shift in Strobel’s book. If the chapters represent Strobel’s quasi-legal examination of expert witnesses in the case for Christ, then the conclusion is Strobel’s closing argument. He summarizes the book’s main points, but then he makes a passionate emotional appeal to readers on behalf of Christianity as a whole. By sharing his own story, he explains how an atheist and skeptic could come to find enough evidence for Jesus’s divinity; in fact, Strobel believes “it would require much more faith” to remain atheist than it would “to trust in Jesus” (358). He uses his personal story to connect once again with readers in an attempt to persuade them to his perspective, and he stresses that the “magnitude of this matter” (366)cannot be understated. Thus, the genre shift signals a shift in Strobel’s purpose, too. Now that he has revealed the facts surrounding Christianity through narrative nonfiction, he hopes to leverage the art of memoir to sway readers to his own conclusion: that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Christianity offers people the path to “forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus” (363).