Evidence for Christ

Jimmy Akin is a natural teacher. His writing is simple but not simplistic. He distills an incredible amount of information into very readable prose. If you have listened to Jimmy’s podcast or read his previous books, you already know this is the case. The book makes a strong case that Jesus is indeed the Jewish Messiah. Some strengths of this book include the following: 1) An outstanding rundown on the meaning of the word Messiah. 2) A strong rebuttal to Jesus mythicism 3) A helpful tiered approach to classifying and analyzing Messianic prophecies. 4) A fresh look at the evidence for the Resurrection and competing hypotheses One of my favorite aspects of the book is Jimmy’s ability to recognize important details in familiar texts that you may not have noticed. For example, I have read the end of John’s Gospel several times in my life, including the famous verse John 21:24 which reveals how the Gospel was based on testimony from the beloved disciple himself. Yet, Jimmy shows how the surrounding context strengthens the case that not only the disciple was an eyewitness, but that his identity was known to the early Christian community (which counts against the anonymous Gospel theory). See pages 99-100 for Jimmy’s discussion on that point. If anything is lacking, it was only because there were a few topics that I would have loved to read MORE about and learn from Jimmy’s insight at more length. For example, I know Jimmy has researched and debated Gospel Reliability. I know that section could’ve been a whole book in and of itself. Yet, due to the nature of this book being an updated, readable, succinct apologetic for Jesus as Messiah, an extended scholarly digression into Gospel reliability would’ve been out of place. Plus the information he does include, along with excellent examples, still has significant evidential weight. I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in Christian apologetics and making the case for Jesus.