The Case For Christ

The anecdote that opens Strobel’s fourth chapter tells the story of Harry Aleman, a Chicago “crime syndicate hitman” (91) who found himself on trial for murder after Louis Almeida, one of his former associates, agreed to testify against him. The problem is that Almeida is not a reliable witness, so prosecutors had to find a second witness to corroborate, or confirm, his testimony. Strobel uses this example to show readers that “the more corroborative evidence, the stronger and more secure the case” (96). That is why Strobel now turns his attention to discovering whether other ancient documents exist that substantiate the stories in the gospels.

To do this, Strobel interviews Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, a historian at Miami University. Strobel and Yamauchi begin by discussing Josephus, whose writings Yamauchi use to refute the idea that there “isn’t a single word about [Jesus] in secular history” (100). Yamauchi explains that Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, wrote about both “[Jesus’s] crucifixion [and] his resurrection” (103). Despite the fact that Yamauchi believes certain elements of the passage were inserted later, Josephus still “corroborates important information about Jesus,” including the idea that he was “the martyred leader of the church in Jerusalem” (103).