I’ve heard the Bible referred to as fiction, not relevant to the times in which we are living. The person of Jesus? Well, he was a good teacher. But was he (is he) more than that? Does it matter? Dateline featured, cold-case homicide detective J. Warner Wallace investigates Jesus in his soon-to-be released new book, Person of Interest. It is fascinating to read as he weaves together history and culture using a criminal investigative strategy called the fuse and the fallout.
If you don’t believe the Bible is true, that’s okay. Wallace himself admits he believed the Bible to be a collection of carefully crafted myths. He spent months investigating for himself the claims of the New Testament writers. That’s the focus of one of his previous books, Cold-Case Christianity. In this new book, however, Wallace examines the evidence as if Jesus were a person of interest in a no-body homicide case.
“If Jesus was truly the smartest, most interesting, and most transformative man who ever lived – if he was truly God – we ought to be able to make a case for his existence and impact, even without a body or any evidence from the New Testament.”
J. Warner Wallace
Why did our calendar change about the same time of Jesus’ appearance? Are the two related? What was so significant about this man named Jesus? How did he impact history? Does he still matter today?
“Jesus was born in a tiny, irrelevant town in the Roman Empire and raised in another small village. He had to walk from one place to the next, and as an adult he never traveled more than two hundred miles from the town where he was born.
“He had none of the resources people use today to make an impact: no social media platform, no podcast audience, no clever videos, and no website. He didn’t even have the resources people used in the first century to make an impact: he never held a political office, never ruled a nation, never led an army, and never authored a book…
“…Yet this is the man who changed history, inaugurated the Common Era, and forever transformed the most important and revered aspects of human culture. How is it possible that a single man – a man like Jesus – could have this impact?”
Person of Interest by J. Warner Wallace
This book is like nothing I have read before. It is thorough and thoughtful. I had no idea J. Warner Wallace is the artist he is – for anyone who is a visual learner, you will love his sketches and drawings throughout the book. (For this reason, I would say make sure you get the actual copy of the book rather than an audio version.)
You can pre-order the book now through most booksellers. Click here to go to J. Warner Wallace’s website where you can read more and download a chapter.
CINDY DIEHL 