RAISING JESUS: THE SKEPTIC’S GUIDE TO FAITH IN THE RESURRECTION
By E.J. Sweeney
Jesus’ Resurrection is the most important event in the history of the world—IF it’s true. If it is, then Jesus is the Lord of the Universe, Ultimate Reality itself. In Him, we can find everything we long for most: the meaning of life, the secret of happiness, the way to eternal life.
As a skeptic, I need to see to believe. And when it comes to Jesus’ Resurrection, I have. Despite the fact that it’s the most unbelievable event ever recorded—a dead man returning to life in a glorified body that transcends the limitations of space and time—the evidence is simply overwhelming.
This evidence enabled me to “see and believe”, and that transformed my life. There is nothing better than a relationship with Christ, in this world or the next!
However, when I would try to point people—skeptics and (nominal) believers alike—to this evidence in the hope it would transform their lives too, they would tell me that the books I recommended were either too academic, and therefore, too difficult to read; or conversely, too simplistic, and therefore, unconvincing. Raising Jesus was inspired to fill this gap. It is written for people who want to see the evidence presented in a substantial and compelling but readable and engaging way.
Raising Jesus is different from other books on the evidence for the Resurrection in three significant ways:
–It presents the most balanced and up-to-date scholarship—scholarship which has recently yielded critical insights into the evidence, and in turn, generated further arguments for the Resurrection. It does this in an easy-to-follow format, using engaging illustrations that shed compelling new light into complex arguments.
–In a way that hasn’t been done before, it shows how the historical context of Jesus’ life—the well-accepted historical facts surrounding His life and ministry—provide uncanny corroboration for the Resurrection itself.
–And in light of all this historical evidence, it tackles the philosophical objection that is the most common obstacle to belief in the Resurrection—that in our modern, scientific age, it is irrational to believe someone could miraculously come back from the dead. Hitting this question head-on, Raising Jesus reveals how supremely rational it is to believe.