Book Club Questions for The Case for Christ

1.Strobel describes himself at the start of his investigation as a legal journalist and a committed atheist. What assumptions did he bring into his inquiry, and how did those assumptions both help and potentially hinder his search?

2.His wife Leslie's conversion to Christianity is what prompted Strobel's investigation. How do you think you would have reacted in his place — would you have been curious, threatened, dismissive, or something else?

3.Strobel structures the book around the legal and journalistic standards used to evaluate evidence. What are those standards, and why does he think they are the right tools to apply to historical and religious claims?

1.Dr. Craig Blomberg argues that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were either written by eyewitnesses or by people directly connected to eyewitnesses. What specific evidence does he offer for this claim?

2.Blomberg distinguishes between different kinds of genre in ancient literature and argues that the Gospels are best understood as ancient biographies (bioi). Why does the genre identification matter when assessing their reliability?

3.One of Strobel's key objections is that the Gospels weren't written down until decades after the events they describe. How does Blomberg respond to this, and how does the role of oral tradition in first-century Jewish culture factor into his answer?

1.Blomberg walks Strobel through several standard tests historians apply to ancient documents: the bibliographical test, the internal evidence test, and the external evidence test. Briefly describe each one in your own words. Which did you find most compelling?

2.The bibliographical test compares the number and age of existing manuscript copies. The New Testament vastly outperforms other ancient works like Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars or Homer's Iliad in both categories. Were you aware of this before reading the chapter? How does it affect your confidence in the New Testament text?

3.The internal evidence test asks whether the documents claim to be based on eyewitness testimony and whether they contradict themselves in ways that would undermine their credibility. How does the New Testament fare by this standard?

1.Dr. Bruce Metzger spent his career studying the thousands of ancient manuscripts of the New Testament. What was his overall verdict on whether the New Testament we read today accurately reflects the original writings?

2.Metzger acknowledges that there are variants — differences among the ancient manuscripts. How many are there, and what percentage of them are theologically significant? How did his answer surprise or reassure Strobel?

3.Strobel presses Metzger on the most famous textual controversy — the longer ending of Mark (16:9-20) and the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:11). How does Metzger handle these passages, and what does his handling of them tell you about the integrity of textual scholarship?

1.Dr. Edwin Yamauchi walks Strobel through a list of ancient non-Christian writers who mention Jesus or the early Christian movement — including Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny the Younger, and Suetonius. What facts about Jesus do these sources confirm, independent of the New Testament?

2.Tacitus, a Roman historian writing around AD 116, described Nero's persecution of Christians and mentioned that "Christus" had been executed under Pontius Pilate. Why is this passage particularly significant as historical evidence, given that Tacitus was no friend of Christianity?

3.The Jewish historian Josephus wrote about Jesus in a passage known as the Testimonium Flavianum. There is debate about how much of this passage is original and how much was added by later Christian scribes. How does Yamauchi assess this passage, and what can be said about it with reasonable confidence?

1.Dr. John McRay has spent his career excavating the ancient world of the New Testament. What is his overall assessment of how archaeology relates to the reliability of the Gospel accounts?

2.Strobel asks McRay about specific cases where critics once claimed the Gospels or Acts contained historical errors — only for archaeology to later vindicate the biblical account. Can you recall one or two examples from the chapter? What do these vindications suggest about how we should treat apparent errors in the text?

3.McRay discusses the Pool of Bethesda (mentioned in John 5), which was once thought to be a fictional detail — until it was excavated exactly as described, with five porticoes. How does this kind of discovery function as evidence for the reliability of John's Gospel specifically?

1.Dr. Gregory Boyd addresses the claim made by some scholars that the Jesus of the Gospels is a mythologized figure — that the real, historical Jesus was simply a wandering teacher whose followers later turned him into a divine being. What is Boyd's response to this claim?

2.Boyd discusses the criteria scholars use to identify authentic sayings and actions of Jesus — such as the criterion of multiple attestation and the criterion of dissimilarity. What do these criteria reveal when applied rigorously to the Gospel material?

3.Some critics argue that the early church invented or heavily embellished the Gospel accounts to serve theological purposes. Boyd responds by pointing to the extremely short time frame between the events and the earliest written records. How does the brevity of that gap undermine the legend hypothesis?

1.Dr. Ben Witherington argues that Jesus did, in fact, make extraordinary claims about his own identity during his ministry — that these claims are embedded even in the earliest Gospel material. What are the key claims or actions of Jesus that Witherington points to as evidence of Jesus' self-understanding as divine?

2.Witherington discusses the significance of Jesus forgiving sins — an act that first-century Jews would have recognized as something only God could do. Why is this detail so theologically loaded in its original Jewish context?

3.Jesus frequently used the phrase "Truly, truly I say to you" ("Amen, amen") rather than the prophetic formula "Thus says the LORD." What does Witherington say this distinction reveals about how Jesus positioned himself in relation to God and the Old Testament prophets?

1.Dr. Gary Collins, a psychologist, is asked to evaluate Jesus' mental health based on the Gospel accounts. What criteria do mental health professionals use to assess delusion or psychological disorder, and how does Jesus fare when those criteria are applied?

2.Collins points out that people suffering from the kind of grandiose delusion that would lead someone to claim to be God typically display signs of disconnect from reality — erratic behavior, inability to function socially, lack of concern for others. How do the Gospels' portraits of Jesus compare to this profile?

3.Jesus displayed remarkable emotional intelligence, empathy, and the ability to engage people at deep levels — from Nicodemus the Pharisee to the Samaritan woman at the well. How does Collins interpret this interpersonal capacity in light of the psychological question?

1.Dr. Louis Lapides, a Jewish man who came to faith in Jesus, walks Strobel through the major Old Testament prophecies that he believes point to Jesus as the Messiah. Which prophecies did you find most striking, and why?

2.Lapides mentions that the odds of one person fulfilling even a handful of specific Old Testament prophecies by chance are astronomically small. While Strobel doesn't get into detailed probability calculations, what is the intuitive force of this argument?

3.Strobel raises the common objection that Jesus might have deliberately arranged events in his life to fulfill known prophecies — for example, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Lapides responds by pointing to prophecies Jesus could not have staged. What examples does he give?

1.Dr. Alexander Metherell provides a detailed medical analysis of the crucifixion process — beginning with the Roman flogging Jesus received before even reaching the cross. What does Metherell say about the physical effects of the flogging alone, and why does this matter for evaluating whether Jesus could have survived the crucifixion?

2.Metherell describes the physiological process of death by crucifixion in clinical detail — including asphyxiation, cardiac trauma, and the buildup of fluid around the heart. How does the medical evidence from John 19:34 (blood and water flowing from Jesus' side) fit into this picture?

3.Strobel asks about the "swoon theory" — the idea that Jesus didn't actually die but only fainted on the cross and later revived in the cool of the tomb. What is Metherell's medical assessment of this theory?

1.Dr. Gary Habermas presents what he calls the "minimal facts" approach to the resurrection — a set of historical facts that are accepted by the vast majority of scholars, including skeptical ones. What are those minimal facts, and why does Habermas believe they are sufficient to make the case for the resurrection?

2.One of the most powerful minimal facts is the transformation of the disciples — men who had abandoned Jesus at his arrest and were hiding in fear, who within weeks were boldly proclaiming his resurrection at the cost of their lives. What hypotheses do critics offer to explain this transformation, and how does Habermas respond to them?

3.Dr. William Lane Craig addresses the evidence for the empty tomb — including the fact that the early preaching of the resurrection took place in Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus had been buried. Why is the location of that preaching significant?

1.Dr. J.P. Moreland presents what he calls "circumstantial evidence" for the resurrection — evidence that doesn't directly prove the event but is best explained by it. What are the five key pieces of circumstantial evidence he offers? Which do you find most surprising or underappreciated?

2.Moreland points to the rapid growth of the early church in Jerusalem — in the very city where Jesus was crucified — as a piece of circumstantial evidence. Why would it be extraordinarily difficult to sustain a resurrection movement in the location of the alleged tomb if the tomb were not empty?

3.The early church changed its day of worship from Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath) to Sunday — the day of the resurrection. Moreland argues this is a significant change that requires a significant explanation. Do you find this argument compelling? Why or why not?

1.Strobel describes the moment when, after nearly two years of investigation, he concluded that the evidence for Christianity was compelling enough that it would take more faith to be an atheist than to believe. What was the cumulative weight of evidence that brought him to that conclusion?

2.He reflects that accepting the evidence intellectually is not the same as making a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. What was the difference for him, and what did that final step require beyond rational persuasion?

3.Strobel prays a simple prayer of commitment and describes the changes that followed in his life and marriage. Do you think his personal transformation is itself a form of evidence — or is that circular reasoning? How do you evaluate the "changed life" argument?

1.Looking back across all thirteen interviews and three major sections of the book, which piece of evidence or argument do you find most compelling? Which was most surprising to you?

2.Has your understanding of the historical foundations of Christianity changed through this study? If so, how? Were there claims you assumed were uncertain that turned out to have strong support, or vice versa?

3.The book addresses three broad questions: Can the Gospels be trusted? Who was Jesus? Did he rise from the dead? Which of these three areas do you feel you understand most confidently now — and which still feels like unfinished business for you?