Greatest Question: Is Jesus Man, Myth or Messiah?

Was Jesus just a man? Was he a myth? Or is He truly the Messiah. Author Rice Broocks suggests that history's greatest question is just who was Jesus; and he sets out to answer it in his recently released book Man Myth Messiah: Answering History's Greatest Question ( W Publishing Group, 2016).

As Dr Gary Habermas points out in the forward, Broocks builds a strong Christian foundation from which action should proceed. Historical facts and reliability of scripture make up the first few chapters, then Broocks  moves on to the facts behind the resurrection and crucifixion, and then the deity of Jesus.  But he doesn't stop there.  As Christians we are called to carry the good news and so Broocks devotes some space to showing why believers need to be engaged in discipleship and evangelism.

In his introduction Broocks points out that churches are starting to see a real need to equip people to defend their faith (p xviii). Fifty years ago that might not have been needed, but in this age of millennials, post-modernism, and  an increasingly diverse demographic in most of our neighborhoods, it's often not enough think that we know what we believe, we have to know why we believe it, and be able to explain why.

Broocks has done an excellent job of compiling information from scholars and theologians, and putting it into language that the average church person can understand.  He provides answers to the most frequent arguments that a Christian is likely to encounter, and as I read this book, I finally felt that I was also gaining the confidence needed to share and defend my faith in Jesus the Messiah.

Notice I said gain the confidence. I have been sure of and confident in my faith for quite some time, however that doesn't mean that I have felt comfortable proclaiming it, and when challenged, I was likely to back down. I didn't change my idea of Jesus, but I felt definitely unprepared  to get into a prolonged discussion of why. Now I feel that I have the information I need to explain the what and why of my faith.

This book serves as a stand-alone read, or could easily be used in a Sunday school class or small group, and  could serve as a valuable resource for Pastors to use in preparing sermons or evangelism training.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my review.

4.5/5