Investigative Journalism at Its Finest

Lee Strobel is a journalist’s journalist – the kind of hard-boiled newsroom reporter who came of age during the heyday of investigative journalism at the Chicago Tribune. It’s no surprise then that he was an atheist much of his life, since skepticism and even a thin layer of cynicism are common traits of journalists

For many in the field, this is due as much to the apparent inability to quantify something as ephemeral as faith, as it is a form of self preservation not to allow oneself to feel too much and too deeply. Coming in contact with so many victims, as well as so many people who victimize – especially when you’re in a big city – takes a toll on the open-hearted person. It is safer to feign feeling that to actually experience it.

Strobel’s long path into exploring Christianity and then espousing it, took breaking down some tremendous barriers.

He wrote his first persuasive book, “The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus,” in 1998. It became the first of his series of books investigating Christianity from historical, factual, philosophical and scientific angles. The tough journalist interviews experts in their fields, and discovers that there is plenty of evidence for believing in God, and specifically, in Jesus.

What’s really impressive is Strobel’s attention to detail in his books and his voluminous footnotes and references to other works. It’s not usual to find more than a hundred works cited in a single volume.

Lately, I’ve been listening to his book “The Case For A Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God.” It reminds me that sometimes print is a far more useful medium that audio, because I would like to go back and reread some of the passages to do with scientific principles and experiments that once were used to discredit faith – and now are being discredited. Also, I imagine that some of the images referenced are in the book, but of course can only be described on the recording. Ah well, I guess it means that I’ll have to buy the book, too.

Strobel’s latest book, “The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks On The Identity of Christ” is next on my reading list. On paper.