The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict

 by Josh McDowell,
Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1999,
760 pages, hardback, $24.95

Over the years, Josh McDowell has written two volumes of Evidence That Demands a Verdict. He has also written several books on scientific evidences and the evolution/creation issue which, in the opinion of this reviewer, have been of lower quality and less usefulness than his verdict books.

 This book is an expansion of McDowell's verdict books. Like the earlier versions, this book uses history and philosophy as the primary tools in arguing for the existence of God and the validity of the Bible as God's Word.

 The book is divided into four parts:

  1.  The case for the Bible--historical reliability and uniqueness
  2. The case for Jesus--supports for His deity and resurrection
  3. The case for and against Christianity--biblical criticism, and evidences
  4. "Truth or Consequences"--an evangelistic appeal
 Section 3 is some 250 pages of the book. There are numerous charts, most of which are quite useful. Documentation is extensive in the book, and arguments are clearly stated and easy to understand. There is a useful index, and sections are labeled and can be used to find specific topics. If there is a weakness in the book it is that the author tries to cover too much ground. This reader found the treatment of religions outside of Christianity to be so general as to not be too useful. The book is very useful, however, to answer a great deal of criticism of the Bible and Christianity, and we recommend it highly for that purpose.

Back to Contents Does God Exist?, MarApr01.