Professor Sean McDowell Helps His Father Rewrite Book Showing The Truth Behind Jesus’ Life

May 1, 2018

Talbot School of Theology professor Sean McDowell recently helped his father, Josh McDowell, rewrite his book, “Evidence That Demands A Verdict.” The new edition includes new chapters providing a defense against critics of Christianity’s core beliefs.

“The original book appeared in the mid-1970s and had a major impact on many Christians and was instrumental in helping people see the rational basis for the Christian faith,” said Clint Arnold, dean of Talbot School of Theology. “In fact, it had a big impact on me personally.”

The book, originally published in 1979, follows the journey of Josh McDowell as he travels the world looking for evidence to refute or confirm the existence of Jesus Christ and the inerrancy of the Bible. This book is the culmination of that research and the evidence he found to support the life of Jesus.

Over the last few decades it has been rewritten and updated multiple times. This latest edition reached #16 on Amazon.

Sean McDowell explains why he and his father decided to rewrite and update the book for a third time.

“Although first written in 1972, the last edition of Evidence that Demands a Verdict came out in 1999. So, it’s been nearly two decades since its update,” said McDowell. “There is a ton of new evidence to include, some chapters to update, some new issues to cover and some popular objections to respond to. Simply put, there has been a significant growth of evidence for Christianity over the past couple decades that we wanted to be sure people had access to.”

The book is written as a reference source or a guide to help the reader through questions about Christianity. For example, there are five chapters on the historical reliability of Scripture, eight chapters on the historicity of Christ and his resurrection, 13 chapters on the reliability of the Old Testament and six chapters arguing against postmodernism. The book covers a broad range of topics but does so in a way that is easy to follow and find exactly what you need.

Updating the book and keeping it relevant is important to both Josh and Sean McDowell because our culture may be more resistant to truth today.

“Despite claims that we live in a post-truth culture, we have found people are remarkably open to truth,” said McDowell. “The recent Barna study on Gen Z concluded that 46% of teens are open to evidence for faith. People are made in the image of God and will always care about truth, even though, of course, many will choose not to follow it. And for Christians, it is more important to help ground them in the truth and reliability of Scripture than ever before.”

Since 1960, Josh McDowell has reached over 25,000,000 people through 27,000 talks in 125 countries. He has also written or co-authored 150 books including More Than A Carpenter, Set Free To Choose Right, and 77 FAQ’s About God and The Bible.

Purchase Evidence That Demands A Verdict online.

Learn more about the Talbot School of Theology and the programs they offer.

Written by Joshua Marsh, public relations intern. For more information, contact Media Relations at (562) 777-4061 or media.relations@biola.edu.