Book Review: "Jesus On Trial: A Lawyer Affirms The Truth Of The Gospel" By David Limbaugh (Regnery Press:Wash. D.C., 2014) -- By: Craig A. Parton

Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 12:1 (Oct 2014)
Article: Book Review: "Jesus On Trial: A Lawyer Affirms The Truth Of The Gospel" By David Limbaugh (Regnery Press:Wash. D.C., 2014)
Author: Craig A. Parton


Book Review:
Jesus On Trial: A Lawyer Affirms The Truth Of The Gospel
By David Limbaugh (Regnery Press:Wash. D.C., 2014)

Craig Parton, Esq.

Craig Parton is a trial lawyer and partner with a law firm in Santa Barbara, California. He is the author of three books on the defense of the Christian faith, as well as numerous articles published in legal and theological journals. Mr. Parton is the United States Director of the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism, and Human Rights, which meets each July in Strasbourg, France (www.apologeticsacademy.eu).

David Limbaugh’s recent best-selling book, “Jesus on Trial,” had at least three things running in its favor before I ever cracked a page:

1. The title showed an obvious interest in legal apologetics. With “trial,” “lawyer,” and “truth” in the title, my legal chops were salivating to dig into a veritable 3-flower Michelin Guide feast of legal apologetics.

2. It is written by a self-described “practicing lawyer and former law professor.” Good sign number two, I assured myself, as clearly this author will be familiar with the long history of lawyers interested in the apologetic task and in the application of legal and evidentiary methods to the most sophisticated secular challenges to Christian truth claims.

3. Obviously this will be concise and focused, well written and thoroughly documented—since it is 406 pages long and has over 750 endnotes and is written by a “New York Times bestselling author” and brother of the wildly popular conservative political commentator and talk show host, Rush Limbaugh.

I should never have underestimated the Shekinah glory attached to a celebrity last name and its ability to land a lucrative book contract along with a nationwide media tour to create the maximum buzz for that book. (In fact, Limbaugh’s marketing “team” is one of the over 30 people and ministries that four pages of his “Acknowledgments” section pronounces a blessing on, including his “awesome children,” his uncles, his aunts, his paternal grandparents, his maternal grandparents, and last but not least, his Big Brother Rush.)

What one first gets with “Jesus on Trial” is page after mind-numbing page of what has just blessed Limbaugh out of his socks from his own reading of the Bible. It all comes from someone who sounds an awful lot like a self-taught layman who managed to string together citation after citation of sermonic statements from “awesome” pastors and equally “awesome” Bible teachers (yes, he cites his own pastor too, who is not only “extraordinary” but a “friend”). Rather than showing any familiarity with the over 120 works of legal apologetics since A.D. 1600 alone, Limbaugh shows exactly zero...

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