J. Warner Wallace. Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, September 21, 2021. 326 pp.
5 out of 5
Purchase: Amazon
What does a top tier cold case detective think about the veracity of Christianity? In this book by Jim Warner Wallace he presents to readers his apologetics for the Christian faith but with a unique approach using the methods and analogy of a detective investigating a missing person murder case. An atheist turned Christian Jim Warner Wallace’s background as a police officer, detective, architect and artist is all brought to bear in this book as he presents something that is compelling both intellectually and also hard to put down in terms of human interests. If you have read other books by Jim Warner Wallace before be assured this is not another book that rehashes things he’s previously said and wrote; in fact I was stunned at how incredibly comprehensive and fresh this book was and I was very impressed with his materials from start to finish.
The book consists of ten chapters and a postscript. Wallace has appeared more on NBC dateline than any other detective and in this book he uses a real life cold case murder investigation that he conducted in which the victim’s body was missing and unavailable and yet there’s good reasons to believe there was a murder. Wallace explains how a murder often is similar to a bomb explosion in that there’s a timefuse leading up to the murder and the aftermath of a murder that’s a lot of effects and “debris” as the murder’s fall-out. Using this template Wallace argues why he knows Jesus came on earth to die for our sins but examining the fuse that led to Jesus’ appearance in history at the moment that He did and also the fallout with the impact Jesus left in history across various spheres of life. Chapter one explains all this with the chapter being titled “The Fuse and the Fallout.” Here Wallace explains that we can reconstruct Jesus without the New Testament. Chapters two through four looks at the different “fuse” of why Jesus’ appearance happened the time that it did with chapter two looking at the cultural fuse, chapter three the spiritual fuse and chapter four the prophetic fuse. I am thoroughly blown away with these three chapters and these three chapters alone are worth buying the book. Chapters five is titled “In the fullness of t Time” and is about Jesus’ arrival. Chapters six through ten is about the fallout after Jesus’ arrival that demonstrate Jesus’ coming and also His significance. These chapters include looking at literary historical sources on Jesus outside the New Testament such as early Christian sources, sympathetic non-Christians and hostile non-Christians. There’s also the impact Jesus made in the sphere of music, education, science and also other religions.
There’s so much I learned from this book. I’ve always heard the early Christian church fathers’ writing alone quotes so much from the New Testament one can reconstruct its teachings even if the New Testament manuscripts were to be nonexistent today; Wallace gives the hard date on this where as an example 87.3% of Mark is quoted within by church fathers within the first three hundred years of Christian history, and 86.0% of Luke, and 97.8% of John respectively. I also thought this wasn’t your typical evidential apologetics’ book for Warner Wallace at times in this book read like Schaeffer’s look at Christianity’s impact on culture; only difference is I felt Wallace’s argument was tighter and argues in a new direction of how what we see in music, education, science with their innovators and pioneers in their belief in Christianity wasn’t only just beneficial for civilization but they held beliefs that agree with the Gospels. I rejoice to see Wallace being aware of worldviews and presuppositions (presuppositions in the sense of not assumptions but beliefs that are foundational for human intelligibility and meaningfulness). There’s a sense I really applaud the author for his book bringing to bear various disciplines from Classical history, Old Testament studies, the humanities, history of science, comparative religion, etc. The amount of footnotes in this book was a treasure trove for further research, citation of primary sources and also further observations and arguments, in addition to links to Wallace’s site where one can get more information and also see pictures in the book in bigger appearances.
The book is physically bigger than other books Wallace wrote; I mean that in terms of width and length. This at first threw me off but when I read it and saw the book’s numerous illustrations that visually drives the point home I realized the publishers blessed us with something that allows readers to see the pictures more better than if the book was a traditional size. Again the amount of illustrations in this book illustrated by the author is incredible, I don’t think he’s illustrated as much as in his other books and they are extremely helpful.
As usual as one expect from J Warner Wallace his illustrations from the world of crime solving provides us practical examples of his methodology that is easy to understand and also interesting to the readers. Wallace is also a great story teller!
I’m grateful that J. Warner Wallace published this book. What a gift this is for Christian apologetics and also what a gift J. Warner Wallace himself is for the Church today. I enjoyed this book so much I purchased a copy as a Christmas gift for someone who works in forensics science and investigation. I recommend this!
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by the author without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied
Thanks for the great review. I really appreciate his work and look forward to reading it.
Blessings.
Reblogged this on clydeherrin.
Sounds like a fascinating book!
Indeed!! I love it when I see God work through an author and book! How are you doing??? How is Florida treating you?? How is Nathan enjoying his time there???
Nathan is ready to return home. Florida was great! I am thankful for the opportunity to be with Nathan, PQ and my Mom in FL. There was a time when I didn’t know if this would ever happen again. Praise God for each day and time we have with our loved ones!
Excellent summary Jim. I too was amazed at the huge amount of research that J. Warner Wallace put into this book, how it was organized and as you have indicated, the source footnotes are a treasure house! I also gained a whole new appreciation and perspective of how God our heavenly Father orchestrated the arrival of His Son. I will repost this. Blessings Jim.
“ I also gained a whole new appreciation and perspective of how God our heavenly Father orchestrated the arrival of His Son.” Response: same here! He is so insightful here with the right timing to allow the Gospel to spread when Jesus comes, with the development of writing, roads, Pax Romana, etc. Such an impressive work, very well presented!!! I am so grateful for Jim Warner Wallace. Have you read his other books?
Oh yes, but for some reason, this one painted a picture for me that I had not previously seen. Hard to put my finger on it, but what Jim shared in his new book, really mattered for me. Almost like icing on the cake or a finishing touch I had not seen before. Loved it! Blessings Jim.
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For such a time as this….sounds like perfet timeing
Amen
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
I didn’t realize this, but it’s a good point to keep in mind: “I’ve always heard the early Christian church fathers’ writing alone quotes so much from the New Testament one can reconstruct its teachings even if the New Testament manuscripts were to be nonexistent today”.
Yeah the evidence is so overwhelming! There’s nothing like it in history…have a blessed Monday brother, thanks for all your love and support both here and Mewe
Thanks for this review and introducing us to this book. The growing number of secularists would like to paint believers as idiots, but they must ignore an amazing amount of evidence.
Amen. I thought I know a lot on the evidence for Christianity and the arguments but man J Warner Wallace gives a lot of details that I learned from this book! Did you do more leaves today???
There’s snow on the ground leftover from yesterday, so no working on the leaves today. Just as well. I needed a break after the work weekend. I had lunch with an old friend from Kodak and then bought a new Chromebook. My previous Chromebook self-destructed, one of my screen hinges broke. Never buy an Asus. Glad to be up and running with a new Chromebook. It’s hard to blog using the dinosaur PC in the basement.
You give us a very good sampling of the book’s themes and they are all very pertinent to the skeptical view of the Bible that is so fraught with error. It sounds similar in technique to “The Case for Christ,” though this one is lengthier, which I read decades back. Hope you’re having a praise-filled day!
I think methodologically this was a lot more rigorous whereas I felt case for Christ seems to be more summarizing things; but they both are similar since both are evidentialists. I do wish more Christians can deal with the evidence as conscious of method as Wallace does! Reading any apologetics books lately??
None. If only the stack of books I have now to read would shrink!!!
Great review, Jim. I read Person of Interest and I agree, it is an excellent book.
Awesome that you read it too! And your comment reinforce how good this was! How is your daughter doing with her mission??
My daughter loves the work she is doing with the Afghan refugees. She has been asked to stay to the end of the mission, which may be as long as two years. She agreed to stay because she loves it. She is especially fond of the precious Afghan children.
Thanks for the recommendation, Jim. This sounds like a great book to give to someone near and dear to me, who recently asked me why Jesus came when He did. If He wanted to save the world, why didn’t He come when He could speak on the internet and be seen and heard by millions at a time? I’ll be interested in seeing how Wallace addresses that issue.
Wow I’m praying for that person to have that questions and others like it be answered; this is someone who is an unbeliever or someone who is a believer with questions?
Someone who claims there still isn’t enough evidence. (Since they’ve known me for over 50 years, I’m trying not to take it personally. 🙄) This person claims to want to believe, but I know the only way people get saved is by the Holy Spirit’s drawing them. So … more prayers. (Thanks for joining me!)
P.S. I ordered the book last night.
Thanks much. Sounds great!
Just perfect for Christmas! A book arguing for his timing of His coming!
Just looked up some of his videos, he’s a good trainer
Proverbs 4:18
But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.
I hope you don’t mind my inclination of adding Bible scripture to your comments that are so relevant. 🌈
That’s awesome sister!! I’m blessed by it!!! I hope you know that!!! Hope your day is going well sister!!!
Yes, just super busy…
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I love Jesus …and He loves me 😀..He’s been with me since before I was born ✍️💙✍️
Just in time for Christmas shopping for others
J Warner Wallace is polite but always spoiling nonbelievers favorite theories with . . facts and stuff!
[…] more recently Warner Wallace have done that well, see Wallace’s book which I review here: Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible . Also I think in a post-2020 world I think there’s a shift on the masses to think about […]