Counterfeit Christs : Finding the Real Jesus Among the Impostors

by Trent Horn

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Turns out that today, as back then, this question has a lot of different answers. So many groups want to appropriate Jesus—tweaking his identity until he looks and sounds like one of them. But then you no longer have the Lord, says Trent Horn (Why We’re Catholic). You have an impostor. In Counterfeit Christs, Trent looks at eighteen phony versions of Jesus that we encounter today. Some are the creation of like skeptics who dismiss Jesus as a fictional composite of ancient myths, secular humanists who think he was just a Nice Man, or adherents of other religions who claim him as a prophet or guru in their own tradition. Others stem from Christian or quasi-Christian theology gone so far wrong that its founder is no longer recognizable. Think of the greed-affirming Jesus of “prosperity gospel” preachers or the sects that strip Christ of his divinity. And of course there are enthusiasts for ideological causes who make him a model Marxist (or Democrat or Republican), or enlist him as a convenient spokesman for “tolerance” of the thing they want to do or promote. In all these examples and more, the authentic Jesus of Scripture and Tradition is obscured by a pale imitator, and so is the saving power of his wisdom and grace. Read Counterfeit Christs, then,and be able to recognize the fakes when you see them, explain why they’re phony, and make a case for the full truth and beauty of who Jesus the Christ, son of the living God (Matt. 16:16).

Genres: Catholic, Religion, Theology, Nonfiction, Faith, Christianity, Christian

167 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 30, 2019

About the author

After his conversion to the Catholic faith, Trent Horn pursued an undergraduate degree in history from Arizona State University. He then earned a graduate degree in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in philosophy from Holy Apostles College.

Trent is a regular guest on the radio program Catholic Answers Live, a lecturer who speaks across the country on issues related to the Catholic faith, and the author of two books, Answering Atheism and Persuasive Pro-life.

Reviews

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of many of the misinterpretations of Christ's true nature and mission (if I can put it that way). Some of these are due to misinterpretations of Scripture or history. Some are willful as seen through a one-issue focus. Trent Horn explains their origins and refutes them while pointing out what can be known of Christ from the evidence of scripture, Church Fathers, etc. some of these were new to me but even when I knew of a misinterpretation (such as the prosperity gospel) there was always some information that I hadn't known before. Definitely recommended.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compendium of various false views of Christ from points of view of various religions to secular and atheist points of view. Really good overviews of these various views of Christ along with showing the weakness of the supporting arguments. There are also extensive footnotes which are quite worth reading. A solid reference work.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the counterfeit Christs that interested me more than the arguments against. There are so many denominations and stripes of Christians that I am ignorant of many of their beliefs. The author explains quite a few specific examples before listing reasons they don't match up with the Bible or history. Most of these reasons were well argued with tons of end notes for anyone who wants to read more on a particular subject. Overall, a clear case for the real Christ.

[cellomerl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trent Horn is a bit of an apologetics superstar. This book starts by dismantling the fallacy of the warm, cuddly and gentle Christ, blows away several common heresies, including the cults of JW and Mormon, carefully explains how the Holy Trinity works, blasts apart the fallacies of the “prosperity gospel”, socialist Christ and sexually permissive Christ, and ends by taking apart the fallacy of the nasty, mean-spirited, retributive Christ. The arguments are clear, matter of fact and backed by Scripture and other historical record. Highly recommended. Audiobook, read by the author.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overview of false beliefs, from the historical ludicrous to the finer (but vital) details of theology.

[Leslie Moellering · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written to be easy to follow, this is a good overview on many ways today's culture misunderstands Jesus.

[Phishy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trent Horn is great because he gets straight to the point and uses scripture to back up his work.

[bethany]

A lot to chew on with this book, spit some out and still chewing on some. Overall it’s a broad read and only touched surface level on many topics. Definitely requires a deeper supplemental study.

[Shenika · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're told that the Lord created us in His image. I never stopped to think that we create God (Jesus, in this case) in ours. We all view events through the lenses of our own perspectives and understanding; there's nothing inherently wrong with this- that's how we were created. The problems lies when people try to shape Jesus into One that fits and supports their narrative. For example, the Bible teaches that homosexuality is wrong and is a sin, yet we have a Jesus who seems to affirm this lifestyle. This is just one of the counterfeits covered in this book

This book addresses 18 different counterfeits, then looks at how each differs from the true, Biblical Jesus. Scriptural support is given to defend each point. I especially liked seeing the scriptural evidence for each genuine Jesus.

This book was very readable. I expected it to be a little dense and even almost textbook-like but it wasn't. I didn't find it difficult to get into this book and to conceptualize what was being discussed. This is a good read, for sure.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some great moments (the postscript is especially worth reading) and most all of its arguments are solid, but it is ultimately limited by its brevity and its structure. I never thought I’d say this about a book, but I wish it was longer. Some of the counterfeit Christs need to be refuted more thoroughly. I can’t imagine a Muslim or Jew being satisfied with, “here are 10 short pages on why you’re wrong about Jesus.” The flaw in the book’s structure is that all chapters are about this long. When Horn is refuting people like Deepak Chopra, this chapter length proves sufficient. There isn’t much substance to Chopra’s counterfeit Christ to begin with, so 10 pages provides enough room to construct a thorough rebuttal. However, the book devotes roughly the same amount of time to refuting Chopra as it does to refuting atheists, Muslims, and Jews. Chapters aimed toward the latter groups could easily be four times as long. This is especially true given that the entire book is not that long, so Horn could quadruple the length of the most important chapters without rendering the book unwieldy in size.

[Deborah Eater · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book's greatest strength is that the author draws arguments from a wide variety of sources. Horn counters the heterodox religious portrayals of Christ with scriptural references and biblical exegesis. He counters secular objections with quotes from secular histories and from atheists.

One thing I personally didn't like about it is simply a tiny matter of form. The repeated chapter subheadings, "But how can that be true if ...," just struck me as a rather corny device. In some chapters I barely noticed it, but other places it felt very contrived.

The range and number of counterfeits addressed was satisfying. There's no new scholarship here, so the arguments on both sides will be familiar to those who've already done some reading on the topic. Horn does a reasonable job of portraying each of the views he opposes on their own terms rather than constructing straw men to be batted down. I don't know if I would find his rebuttals convincing if I didn't already agree with him.

I think this book would be most helpful to someone who wants to believe in Christ, or more-or-less believes in Christ, but isn't sure what (or whom) to believe about him.

[Sergio Velazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Primer libro que leo de Tren Horn (ya me habían recomendado otro). La portada me llamó mucho la atención y la verdad es que no decepcionó para nada. Cada capitulo refuta ideas erróneas que se tienen de Jesús (guru, predicador de la prosperidad, juez duro). No sólo te habla tomando como base las enseñanzas de la Iglesia, sino que se dirige a las Sagradas Escrituras y cuando ciertos grupos tergiversan versículos, él profundiza en las raíces griegas y nos da un mayor significado de las palabras. Todo esto enriquece las palabras de la Biblia y sobre todo, de Jesús. Siempre te pone en contexto de lo que ocurría en tiempos de Nuestro Señor y de la idiosincrasia del pueblo judío. Como ciertas cosas que dicen ciertos "grupos cristianos" están totalmente fuera de lugar y sólo lo usan para apoyar su vertiente ideológica. Trent ve todo el panorama y lo pone ante tus ojos.

[Audra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really admire Trent Horn for his wisdom and courage to tackle many of these false concepts or modern ideologies of who Christ is perceived to be. He covered a great variety of beliefs around the Christ (pagan copycat, a prophet named Isa, Jehovah's greatest creation, our eldest brother, socialist liberator, prosperity preacher, etc.).
However, with the amount of topics he sought to debunk, his arguments could have been strengthened by lengthening the book. He tackled 18 different false views of Jesus, averaging about 7-10 pages for each. I would have loved it if he could've gone deeper and further into each of those topics. This seemed to skim the surface for me.

[Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trent Horn did an excellent great job on this book. I think he did a fantastic job with combating the false "christs". Where Trent went wrong was trying to combat protestant views. Now granted, Trent is a Catholic apologist who debates Protestants so it is to be expected. Every other topic that is absolutely spot on and very well researched. Trent's argument on Prosperity gospels is a good but the last four chapters (including the appendix) are definitely his weakest.

A protestant version of this book would be very beneficial. Beyond these final chapters, the book would provide very good research and apologetics.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who was/is Jesus of Nazareth? A non-judgmental buddy? An ancient New-Age guru? A communist revolutionary? An advocate of the sexual revolution? A lunatic? The author, an adjunct professor of apologetics at Holy Apostles College, argues that Jesus was none of the preceding. Arguing from the New Testament and the witness of early Christians, the author says Jesus was/is Christ, the son of God. Fairly easy to read and understand. The author is Catholic, but Christians of other denominations will likely find themselves agreeing with much of the book's content.

[Michael Tatum · Rating 2 out of 5]

A reincarnated Pharisee pleads his case for why he’s better than most and apparently free of sin because he sure does cast a whole lot of stones. He opens up the book by avoiding a compassionate stance or an active role of adoption. Instead he’s yelling “sinner” and “killer” at some poor girl who is unfortunately going to an abortion clinic. I think the only counterfeit Christ in this book is the author who has a serious god complex. But, who am I to judge?

[Brian Ulczynski · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about the different depictions/views of Jesus. Basic format of a chapter starts out describing the particular view, then shows why that view isn't correct or accurate. There are probably close to 10 different depictions Trent Horn talks about. Some I readily knew about, but there were others that came out of left field to me.

[Dan Harazin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise, well researched book that tackles the issue of “counterfeit Christs” very effectively. As the description says, it seems that today every group of people wants Jesus to be “on their side” and they’re willing to twist history and theology to make that happen.

[Stu Blyde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterful

A satisfying summary of the ways many films have appropriated Jesus to fit their own ideology instead of recognizing his true self and bowing before him in submission and humility. A very good read.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was enjoyable read and I learn alot. But a few parts were very hard to read and get thru. Very long winded and dry in explaining. But I power thru.

[John Swaringen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hits the Nail on the Head

This book takes an alternate approach to Jesus. Show what he isn’t instead of what is up until the last chapter. Really worth the read

[Ruth M · Rating 4 out of 5]

An apologetics book

Even knowing that Trent Horn is a Catholic Apologist did not prepare me for the format. I could have wished for more exposition rather than refutation.

[Susan Eberhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appreciated reading Trent Horn's Biblical references to what Jesus really would say or do as opposed to what people think Jesus would say or do. God's thoughts are not our thoughts.

[Chimpanzee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fully covers many different views of Jesus Christ in a fun, informative and simple way

[Thomas Wiltshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading for defending theology in the modern classroom.

[Leisan Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this dissection of false gospels, and love trent horn’s intellect!

[Jeremiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sensational! Great explanations of how corruption occurs.