Book Review: Body of Proof by Jeremiah Johnston

The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a perfect life on our behalf and died for our sins on our behalf then was raised to life on the third day. We see the Bible saying Jesus was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25) and if the Resurrection never happened, our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17). 

Many have tried to make the Resurrection a fairy tale but have been unsuccessful. There are Christians who believe that Jesus died from them but was never raised. Can we believe that Jesus was raised from the dead? The answer that is yes. Jeremiah J. Johnston's latest book takes a look at the Resurrection and seven reasons why it is true. The book is titled, Body of Proof. 

The book begins with looking at if the Resurrection was a made-up story, which is it clearly not. Then Johnston looks at the different theories about how Jesus survived the Crucifixion which is possible for Him to be alive during the time of the Apostles. I really love the theory that Jesus passed out while on the cross and then was revived while in the tomb than somehow moved a big rock while He was in the shape He was, which is called the Swoon Theory. 

Then Johnston goes into the seven best reasons to believe that the Resurrection happened as the subtitle of the book suggests. He said the best reasons not biblical reasons. Not saying Johnston went against the Bible, but to say these are the best reasons is almost saying these make sense to me and they should to you. I will say some of these reasons have a lot of Biblical support but there is one where I scratched my head at because there was only verse that supported Johnston's claim. More on that in a moment.

The seven reasons Johnston says we can believe in the Resurrection are:

1. Society is transformed everywhere Christianity is introduced and embraced.

2. Jesus called it.

3. Jesus demonstrated resurrection power.

4. No motivation to invent Jesus' resurrection narrative is evident.

5. Written and archeological sources overwhelmingly support the Gospel's resurrection narrative.

6. Only Jesus' resurrection convincingly explains the conversion of people not previously his followers.

7. Jesus' resurrection is the only basis for making sense of suffering.

For the most part, I think Johnston did a decent job in explaining his claims as to why we can believe in the Resurrection. However, the one claim which was the weakest was the first one, "Society is transformed everywhere Christianity is introduced and embraced." Why is this the weakest? It almost sounds like the Resurrection happened for the betterment of society. This is almost making a social gospel issue with the Resurrection.

Johnston pondered what would happen if Winston Churchill had given up and surrendered. Would Hitler have won World War II if the Resurrection never happened? Johnston continues to say that because of the Resurrection, Christians have had an impact of the world that improved ethics and morality in society. I don't doubt that Christians have had an effect on society but to say this is proof of the Resurrection sounds like Jesus came for society not sinners. As Darrell Harrison of the Just Thinking Podcast has said, "Jesus came to save sinners not society." 

This first reason is not called a Biblical reason, but a "best" reason along with the other six, which had good arguments.  The conclusions from reason one were weak and lacked a lot of Biblical evidence. Johnston does say John 3:16 is show us God loves humanity, which goes with his argument that the revelation of God's love was key to a change in society. Not a strong case and gave me a desire not to continue with the rest of the book.

I received this book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Unimaginable: What Our World Would Be Like Without Christianity by Jeremiah J. Johnston

Growing up, one of the most interesting comic books that I read was the "What If...?" series from Marvel. What this series was about was taking a popular story in Marvel Comics and ask what would happen if this situation happen such instead of the original outcome. It was an interesting take on how certain stories in Marvel might have happened if some their famous stories ended differently.

Jeremiah J. Johnston does his own version of "What If...?" with Christianity in his book, Unimaginable: What Our World Would Be Like Without Christianity. Johnston serves as president of the Christian Thinkers Society and is a professor at Houston Baptist University. In this book, Johnston takes a look at what would happen if Christianity never had the impact it did on the world.

The beginning of the book discusses what the world was before Christianity. A world full of suffering and fear. As I read these chapters, it was a very historical approach to the world before Christ came. The next part of the book deals with the "What If...?" factor. What would the world look like if Christianity never happened. How people would still be in slavery, not just in their sin, but physical slavery. The world would be more influenced with the thinking of men like Adolf Hitler and more.

The final chapters of the book deal look what impact Christianity has made in the world. Jesus came so that we may the abundant life that God has blessed those who are called Children of God. Christians have made a significant impact in their world around them and have even stopped some of the great injustices of our world.

As I read this book, there were some parts I liked and others I was asking myself, "where is he going with this?" I felt there was a lot of jargon and not a lot of depth into a book that looked at what would happen if Christianity never came into the world.

Thanks Bethany House for allowing me to review this book.