Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

I. The Bible-trust it -- A. The uniqueness of the Bible -- An intelligent man who is seeking truth would certainly read and consider a book that has the historical qualifications that the Bible has -- These unique qualifications are factual, supported by history -- B. How was the Bible prepared? -- What materials were used? -- When did chapter and verses divisions come about? -- Why is the Bible divided the way it is? -- C. The canon -- Why do we have just 39 Old Testament books or 27 New Testament books? -- What about the Apocrypha? -- Why are the other gospels and epistles not included? -- D. The reliability of the Bible -- Confirmation by historical text -- Confirmation by archaeology.

II. The academy awards: if Jesus were not God, then He deserved an Oscar -- A. Jesus-a man of history: documented sources of the historical person of Christ apart from the Bible -- B. Jesus- God's Son: the explanation of the character of Christ and His claims to deity with an emphasis on secular and Jewish sources -- C. The trilemma-Lord, liar or lunatic? -- Who Jesus was -- Ruling out the foolish conclusions that He was just a good man or great prophet -- D. The great propositions -- The use of the "if ... then" argument is applied to Christ -- In other words, "if God became man, then what would He be like?" -- Incorporates many quotes and observations of great men, Christians and non-Christians, about the person, character, life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and His impact in the world for 2000 years.

E. The Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament fulfilled in Christ -- Several illustrations of the probabilities that all these prophecies could be fulfilled in one man to answer the critic who says, "it is all just a coincidence" -- There is a great emphasis on Jewish sources confirming these predictions as being Messianic to answer the accusation, "that's the way you Christians look at them, but what about the Jews?" -- F. The resurrection-a hoax or history? -- Heavily documented section that treats the proper historical approach to the resurrection -- The positive evidence for it and a categorical refutation (often using non-believers) of each theory set forth to explain away the miracle of the historical event of the resurrection of Christ.

III. God at work in history and human lives -- A. Prophecy fulfilled in history -- One of the great proofs that there is a living God behind the Bible and history -- Twelve prophecies that are dealt with in detail -- A listing of the prophecies, their dating, historical background, and a categorical outlining of the historical fulfillment of each prediction -- B. The uniqueness of the Christian experience -- So often the Christian negates the authority of a transformed life as evidence of Christ's reality because it is a subjective experience or argument -- This shows that it is supported by an objective reality-the resurrection of Jesus Christ -- C. I've got a satisfied mind-the testimony of how a relationship with Jesus Christ reformed the author's life -- D. Genealogy of Jesus.

Is Christianity credible? Is there an intellectual basis for faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God? Scholars throughout the centuries, as well as millions of students and older adults, would answer such questions with a resounding, "Yes!" That is what Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, is all about. His experience in speaking to student gatherings -- large rallies and small, plus classroom lectures and hundreds of counseling sessions, plus a magna cum laude degree from Talbot Theological Seminary and his extensive research on the historical evidences of the Christian faith -- have qualified Josh to speak and write with authority on the credibility of Christianity. - Foreword. No, this is not a book. It is a compilation of my notes prepared for my lecture series on "Christianity: Hoax or History?" There has been a dearth in the area of documentation of historical evidences for faith in Christ. Often students, professors and layman have asked, "How can we document and use what you and others teach?" It is my desire that these notes will help my brothers and sisters in Christ to write term papers, give speeches and inject in classroom dialogues their convictions about Christ, the Scriptures, and the relevancy of Christianity today. The proper motivation behind the use of these lecture notes is to glorify and magnify Christ -- not to win an argument. Apologetics is not for proving the Word of God but simply for providing a basis for faith. - Preface