HOUSTON (BP) — Author and apologist Lee Strobel has joined Houston Baptist University’s School of Christian Thought in the department of apologetics.
“As one of the most well-known apologists of the last two decades, Lee Strobel has spoken to audiences both young and old, including tens of thousands of university students,” said Robert B. Sloan Jr., HBU’s president.
“He is an engaging advocate for the historical and truthful character of the Christian faith, and his personal testimony is compelling. We believe having him join our already outstanding group of nationally and internationally known apologists will be a blessing both to the university and to all who are courageous enough to hear the case for Christ and are willing to be challenged and encouraged by the truthfulness of the Christian faith,” Sloan said.
Strobel, an award-winning former legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, is one of several HBU hires in the School of Christian Thought. Others include Nancy Pearcey, who The Economist called “America’s pre-eminent evangelic Protestant female intellectual,” and Mike Licona.
Licona’s interpretation of the raised saints passage in Matthew 27 led various evangelical scholars to express concerns over his commitment to biblical inerrancy. Baptist Press covered the matter in several articles.
Strobel, described in The Washington Post as “one of the evangelical community’s most popular apologists,” became a Christian in 1981 after a nearly two-year investigation of the evidence for Jesus. Beginning in 1987, he served on the staffs of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., and Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., before shifting his focus to writing.
In 2005, he shared the Christian Book of the Year award for a curriculum he co-authored with Garry Poole about the movie “The Passion of the Christ.” Strobel also won Gold Medallions for his books “The Case for Christ,” “The Case for Faith” and “The Case for a Creator,” all of which have been made into documentaries distributed by Lionsgate.
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Compiled by Baptist Press writer Beth Byrd and assistant editor Erin Roach. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).
