History and Christianity by John Warwick Montgomery

History and Christianity Reviews

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  Nick Barrett

  This is a great overview of the historical and judicial evidences for Christianity, the reliability of the New Testament, and Jesus’ Resurrection! I especially loved the judicial approach and treating historical belief with the same mindset as judging a courtroom case!
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  Zack Ross

  I’ll keep this review as short as the book - inerrancy is essential.
  
  Believe it or not - reading this little book will help to address oppositions and develop a fully-orbed view of the topic.
• 
  Adam

  Very good little book. Based on a couple of Prof. Montgomery’s lectures, this is a sort of “90 Minutes to Textual Criticism” introduction. It’s more a synthesis of strong arguments, quoting a wide range of authorities, than an original polemic.
  
  Included as an appendix to the book is a long transcript of a panel discussion among academics representing different viewpoints on Biblical criticism, and Prof. Montgomery is one of them. While the transcript begins with some specialized terminology, readers should not be frightened off, as it evolves as a very interesting--and relatively accessible--debate.
  
  Some readers, no doubt, will find the book a natural stepping stone into the work of F.F. Bruce.
• 
  Michael Walker

  A defense of the Christian faith employing philosophical categories, Dr. Montgomery was a brilliant apologist. Short, easy read.
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  Chuck

  Good information, but possibly dated.
  
  Although the edition I was reading was copyright 2014, I wonder how much of it is carried over from the original1964 edition. The information about the Dead Sea Scrolls and Josephus seemed like information I had read thirty years ago. It is probably accurate but seemed anachronistic. This was an assigned text for an apologetics course I'm taking.
  
• 
  Damon Hawkins

  I enjoyed reading this short book. Although the citations are dated (as is the book itself), the topic and content are evergreen.
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  Erik Graff

  Fundamentalist Protestantism was very popular in Park Ridge, Illinois when I was growing up there. Two such organizations, one of them The Campus Crusade for Christ, met regularly after the school day at Maine Twp. H.S. South. For years the only cafe and hangout for teens in town was what came to be called "The Hinge", sponsored by Coffee House Ministries. Fundamentalist rotating book racks were prominently displayed in several stores.
  
  Normally the fundamentalists were right-wing Republicans or worse, an ideology institutionally represented by the town's South Park Church. The sixties and early seventies, however, were not normal times and some peers of a countercultural persuasion were involved in the movement, mostly through the coffee house. Some were even active in what became the suburban Willowcreek megachurch, then meeting in a movie theatre. Thus it was that the fundamentalists were drawing kids from some of the more established, denominational churches.
  
  This peculiar alliance of the traditional right and elements of the counterculture led to some (literally) strange bedfellows. Indeed, by the mid-seventies it led to indictments of some of the elders, including one 'Christian' psychologist, for sex crimes involving pederasty and illegal gay pornography among other things. It also meant that there were hosts of supposedly conservative Christians, mostly younger ones, who took illegal drugs and practiced 'liberated' forms of sexual congress.
  
  I read this particular book before the indictments hit the front page of the NY Times. I read it out of respect for some of my friends who were involved with this business, friends whom I respected. Montgomery is a biblical inerrancist of a Lutheran persuasion, interested in the occult and the fringes of Christianity.
  
  As regards his arguments for the facticity of the bible, I certainly wasn't convinced. About the most one can say is that he has a point that classicists and ancient historians tend to be far more credulous as regards their sources than many biblical scholars are with their own.
  
  Later on I went on to read another unusually intelligent fundamentalist, F.F. Bruce.
  
  Most of my 'Christian' friends from that period have either left the fold--some of the victims, quite angrily--or returned to more conventional denominations.
• 
  David Bonikowsky

  Excellent book describing the historical evidence surrounding Jesus of Nazareth. Montgomery argues that the ample data available concerning Jesus is both consistent and widespread. Multiple historians, through the accounts set forth primarily in the Gospels and Pauline letters, provide unique but consistent testimonies of the events surrounding Jesus's life. The evidence drives to go the almost inevitable conclusion that Jesus was who He claimed to be: the Son of God.
  
  Digressing from a strict review, I found Montgomery's choice of wording very interesting. He writes that “the weight of historical probability lies on the side of the validity of Jesus’ claim to be God incarnate” (Kindle loc. 805). It reminded me of the claim Richard Dawkins makes often in his book The God Delusion. According to Dawkins, most atheists (including himself) don’t categorically deny the existence of God. Atheists evaluate evidence to determine the probability of God’s existence. Dawkins writes: “I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there” (Kindle loc. 885). Montgomery provides ample evidence to the contrary.
• 
  Steve

  I downloaded this for free onto my Kindle.
  
  It was a relatively short read so it never really got too in depth in its argument for the historical evidence of Jesus. So don't confuse "vigorous" in the title with detail.
  
  The arguments were all sound and while I don't necessarily disagree with any of them, in my opinion they will not convince someone that is looking for a reason to be convinced. And I seriously doubt they would change someones opinion if they held a different view when they opened the book.
  
  I have read any other works by this author but I believe he is a well respected apologist. This book provided numerous defenses but it never really went into great detail on any of them.
  
  Still a good read though.
• 
  Amanda Oster

  A great little book coming in at just over 100 pages (the last 25 being a multi-paneled discussion between "esteemed" theologians on the topic of historicity).
  
  This book was originally a series of lectures that went on to be articles and then compiled as a book. The point of this book deals with the historical evidence surrounding Jesus, not only as a man, but that history supports him to be God. A very strong argument in the case for Christ.
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  Gerald Thomson

  Readable, but still academic, book on the trustworthiness of the Gospel accounts of Jesus. Really interesting arguments about why the early followers of Jesus would not have deified Jesus, as they presented a Messiah who was nothing like the Messiah the Jews were waiting for. Montgomery spends quite a bit of time about what it means for something to be historically believed, which puts the Gospel accounts in perspective. Certainly worth a read.
• 
  Bob

  I loved the first part of this little book and found it quite informative. The long appendix, though, cost it a star. My advice is to relish the first 80 pages and then skip the rest.