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More Evidence That Demands A Verdict: Historical Evidences For The Christian Faith
Among important books in the defense of Christianity, this one has few equals. Evidence That Demands a Verdict is an easy-to-read, front-line defense for Christians facing the tough questions of critics and skeptics. Using secular evidences and other historical sources, Josh McDowell's faith-building book is a "must read" for every Christian.
389 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
About the author
Josh McDowell
510 books663 followersJosh McDowell is a bestselling Christian apologist, evangelist, and author of over 150 books, including Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter. Once an agnostic, he converted to Christianity while investigating its historical claims. He went on to earn degrees from Wheaton College and Talbot Theological Seminary. For decades, McDowell has been a prominent speaker with Campus Crusade for Christ, addressing issues of faith, character, and youth culture worldwide. His work emphasizes historical and legal evidence for Christianity and tackles challenges posed by skepticism and non-Christian beliefs. He lives in California with his wife, Dottie, and is the father of four children, including fellow apologist Sean McDowell.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 5, 2016
Great for disproving the documentary hypothesis and proving that Moses wrote the Pentetauch.
These books have made me even more confident in the accuracy of the Bible accounts. They don't replace faith, of course, but who hasn't struggled with doubt?
These books have made me even more confident in the accuracy of the Bible accounts. They don't replace faith, of course, but who hasn't struggled with doubt?
June 17, 2017
I loved this book! As someone who has sat through troubling lectures on higher criticism, the JEPD theory and more Old Testament hog wash this is an invaluable book. I wish I had discovered it 30 years ago.
Although the format may not be the easiest to read since it was in an outline format, I liked that I could follow certain lines of the argument through and get to the facts quickly if I wanted to jump ahead. McDowell clearly lays out the fallacies that have leaked into biblical studies and uniformly shows the errors in thinking and the failure of these liberal ideas to take in consideration all the archeological data that is piling up.
This is an excellent source for any Bible teacher or someone who comes in contact with liberal ideas and wonders how to work through the issues.
Here are just a few of some of the things I loved:
Since the late 180o's liberal Bible scholars have doubted just about everything. One thing in particular is the very existence of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is true there was no proof outside the Bible that those cities existed. But that wouldn't necessitate a disbelief. The very nature of the issue could be proof. When God destroys something it pretty much is wiped out. But in 1975 some tablets were found way up in northern Syria with those cities clearly etched in clay. End of argument.
The theory of evolution also crept in to Biblical studies. There was an idea that monotheistic religion evolved from a polytheistic background. That doesn't hold water. That is not a tendency of any polytheistic culture to move towards diminishing their number of gods, the contrary is more likely.
Also I loved his treatment of details that we may gloss over in our Bible reading. We can fail to take note of the importance of these seemingly inconsequential things. For example the mention of the word "door" so many times in the Sodom and Gomorrah narrative. This strong door is important for various reasons. Its strength denotes that it had to be strong because of the extreme lawlessness in that city. Also that this story could not have been written later as doors would not be as strong or even used by some people.
Joseph's bones are another detail. Very clearly Joseph asked for his bones to be taken back to the Promised land. Moses remembered this and took the along. In Joshua 24.32 it states that the bones were brought to Shechem. For centuries there was a tomb there, reverenced as Joseph's. A few years ago it was opened and what was found inside confirmed that the body had been mummified and contained a sword of the kind used by Egyptian officials.
The second half dealt with New Testament critics. I skimmed through that since none of the arguments they pose have been an issue for me.
There are a bunch of gems in this book! This is not a book to be hurried through but it is well worth the time spent.
Although the format may not be the easiest to read since it was in an outline format, I liked that I could follow certain lines of the argument through and get to the facts quickly if I wanted to jump ahead. McDowell clearly lays out the fallacies that have leaked into biblical studies and uniformly shows the errors in thinking and the failure of these liberal ideas to take in consideration all the archeological data that is piling up.
This is an excellent source for any Bible teacher or someone who comes in contact with liberal ideas and wonders how to work through the issues.
Here are just a few of some of the things I loved:
Since the late 180o's liberal Bible scholars have doubted just about everything. One thing in particular is the very existence of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is true there was no proof outside the Bible that those cities existed. But that wouldn't necessitate a disbelief. The very nature of the issue could be proof. When God destroys something it pretty much is wiped out. But in 1975 some tablets were found way up in northern Syria with those cities clearly etched in clay. End of argument.
The theory of evolution also crept in to Biblical studies. There was an idea that monotheistic religion evolved from a polytheistic background. That doesn't hold water. That is not a tendency of any polytheistic culture to move towards diminishing their number of gods, the contrary is more likely.
Also I loved his treatment of details that we may gloss over in our Bible reading. We can fail to take note of the importance of these seemingly inconsequential things. For example the mention of the word "door" so many times in the Sodom and Gomorrah narrative. This strong door is important for various reasons. Its strength denotes that it had to be strong because of the extreme lawlessness in that city. Also that this story could not have been written later as doors would not be as strong or even used by some people.
Joseph's bones are another detail. Very clearly Joseph asked for his bones to be taken back to the Promised land. Moses remembered this and took the along. In Joshua 24.32 it states that the bones were brought to Shechem. For centuries there was a tomb there, reverenced as Joseph's. A few years ago it was opened and what was found inside confirmed that the body had been mummified and contained a sword of the kind used by Egyptian officials.
The second half dealt with New Testament critics. I skimmed through that since none of the arguments they pose have been an issue for me.
There are a bunch of gems in this book! This is not a book to be hurried through but it is well worth the time spent.
December 3, 2018
This is a VERY VERY VERY interesting book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is skeptical of Christianity and wants to know the truth, although you should read the first "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" before you read this one.
September 4, 2024
VOLUME II OF "EVIDENCE" DEALS WITH SEVERAL TYPES OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM
Joslin "Josh" McDowell (born 1939) is a Christian author best known for his many works of apologetic; he has been affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ (now "Cru") since 1964. His many books include 'Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Historical Evidence for the Christian Faith,' 'Daniel in the Critics' Den,' 'More Than a Carpenter,' 'The Islam Debate,' 'The Resurrection Factor,' 'Jesus: A Biblical Defense of His Deity,' 'He Walked Among Us,' 'Josh McDowell Answers Five Tough Questions,' etc. His life story was told in Joe Musser's book Josh: Excitement of the Unexpected and also in the DVD 'Undaunted.'
This 1975 book is very different from the broad presentation in Volume I; this book targets "radical critics" of the Bible. He says in the Preface, "I will probably be accused of being unfair or lopsided in the presentation of the material in this volume. It will more than likely be said that more space was given to the answers to radical criticism than to its assumptions and their support. I am of the opinion that the university textbooks are abounding with explanations of the assumptions of radical criticism. However, there seem to be few answers in textbooks (if any, in the majority of them)." (Pg. iv)
He also clarifies, "I have included long quotes so that individuals using the material can better understand the context... Another criticism is that many quotes are very similar and therefore unnecessary. Again my purpose here is to give the person using the material ample sources so that he can choose what he thinks is relevant... Others will criticize that I didn't deal with Source Criticism, Historical Criticism, the New Quest... the Q document or the Synoptic Problem... etc. The purpose of this book is to clarify the issues and give some practical answers to the questions that students have asked me over the last three years. It is not to give the pros and cons of the multitudes of problems, questions and schools of criticism." (Pg. v)
He begins the book with a long critique of the "anti-supernaturalism" of the critics (e.g. "We live in a closed system... There is no supernatural... Miracles are not possible..."), arguing that "The anti-supernaturalist... rejects evidence indicating the supernatural no matter how convincing." [While he makes some valid points, one could also wonder whether this is not "ad hominem" argumentation.]
The second section of the book looks critically at the JEPD documentary hypothesis of Pentateuch (i.e., five books of Moses). This widely used yet admittedly speculative theory is examined in detail, and many of its flaws and unsupported assumptions are pointed out; although, at times, Josh seems mostly to counteract the assertion of a "radical critic" with some assertions by "conservative" scholars, without really refuting the critic.
The section on the New Testament is only about half as long as the section on the Pentateuch. He makes many telling points against the assumptions of scholars such as Bultmann. Unfortunately, he does not deal in any real detailed way with the divergencies between the various gospels; the issue of the historicity of the fourth gospel; the authorship of the most disputed New Testament documents (e.g., Jude; 2 Peter, etc.).
Overall, the critique of the JEPD theory is effective, but the remainder of the book is much less effective. This book is not one a Christian would normally hand to a non-Christian for evangelistic purposes, as the non-Christian would probably get lost in a forest of quotations. (Josh's other, later books are much better in this regard.) This book makes an excellent reference work for Christians, however.
Joslin "Josh" McDowell (born 1939) is a Christian author best known for his many works of apologetic; he has been affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ (now "Cru") since 1964. His many books include 'Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Historical Evidence for the Christian Faith,' 'Daniel in the Critics' Den,' 'More Than a Carpenter,' 'The Islam Debate,' 'The Resurrection Factor,' 'Jesus: A Biblical Defense of His Deity,' 'He Walked Among Us,' 'Josh McDowell Answers Five Tough Questions,' etc. His life story was told in Joe Musser's book Josh: Excitement of the Unexpected and also in the DVD 'Undaunted.'
This 1975 book is very different from the broad presentation in Volume I; this book targets "radical critics" of the Bible. He says in the Preface, "I will probably be accused of being unfair or lopsided in the presentation of the material in this volume. It will more than likely be said that more space was given to the answers to radical criticism than to its assumptions and their support. I am of the opinion that the university textbooks are abounding with explanations of the assumptions of radical criticism. However, there seem to be few answers in textbooks (if any, in the majority of them)." (Pg. iv)
He also clarifies, "I have included long quotes so that individuals using the material can better understand the context... Another criticism is that many quotes are very similar and therefore unnecessary. Again my purpose here is to give the person using the material ample sources so that he can choose what he thinks is relevant... Others will criticize that I didn't deal with Source Criticism, Historical Criticism, the New Quest... the Q document or the Synoptic Problem... etc. The purpose of this book is to clarify the issues and give some practical answers to the questions that students have asked me over the last three years. It is not to give the pros and cons of the multitudes of problems, questions and schools of criticism." (Pg. v)
He begins the book with a long critique of the "anti-supernaturalism" of the critics (e.g. "We live in a closed system... There is no supernatural... Miracles are not possible..."), arguing that "The anti-supernaturalist... rejects evidence indicating the supernatural no matter how convincing." [While he makes some valid points, one could also wonder whether this is not "ad hominem" argumentation.]
The second section of the book looks critically at the JEPD documentary hypothesis of Pentateuch (i.e., five books of Moses). This widely used yet admittedly speculative theory is examined in detail, and many of its flaws and unsupported assumptions are pointed out; although, at times, Josh seems mostly to counteract the assertion of a "radical critic" with some assertions by "conservative" scholars, without really refuting the critic.
The section on the New Testament is only about half as long as the section on the Pentateuch. He makes many telling points against the assumptions of scholars such as Bultmann. Unfortunately, he does not deal in any real detailed way with the divergencies between the various gospels; the issue of the historicity of the fourth gospel; the authorship of the most disputed New Testament documents (e.g., Jude; 2 Peter, etc.).
Overall, the critique of the JEPD theory is effective, but the remainder of the book is much less effective. This book is not one a Christian would normally hand to a non-Christian for evangelistic purposes, as the non-Christian would probably get lost in a forest of quotations. (Josh's other, later books are much better in this regard.) This book makes an excellent reference work for Christians, however.
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April 17, 2009More Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell (?)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews