Dr. Montgomery's book is an outstanding treatment of the historicity of the New Testament. It is well written, succint, and it complete guts the arguments of the "scholars" from the ineptly named "Jesus Seminar". What is even better is that it was written many years prior to their "scholarship".

In an age of controversy concerning the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth, Dr. Montgomery's book is still a refreshing look at who is Jesus. If you want to read a text devoid of the higher critcism tactics utilized by the "Jesus Seminar" then this is definitely a book that you should buy!

This text was first published in the 1960s and has proven to be a classic work inspiring other Christian apologists like Josh McDowell. The book arose out of a series of lectures delivered in Canada. Montgomery's style is eminently readable. He sets out three essential tests in historiography and applies each test to the gospel records. His purpose is to demonstrate that the gospel accounts are historically sound and reliable sources of data for the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. From the quantity and quality of extant Greek manuscripts of the gospels, the internal eyewitness value of the documents and the external verification of them, Montgomery shows we can depend on them. He then explores the portrait of Jesus as the incarnation of God and delves into the evidence for his bodily resurrection from the dead. This is a superb, succinct treatment of the subject, and its continuing circulation in print is a testament to its worth. A book that non-Christians can grapple with if they doubt the veracity of the Gospels.

What with China and all the concern worldwide for human rights and dignity, this book should have a resurgence. Montgomery is adept at pointing out the foibles on both sides, liberalism and conservative Christianity.

He seeks in his exploration of the topic to answer the question: What rights does one have just because he's human?"

Suprising what this respected Christian thinker and author comes up with for his answer, especially since he proclaims: "Theological reflection will in fact turn out to be the only route by which the dilemmas of human rights can be resolved."

Montgomery is a lawyer, theologian and human rights specialist. He has recently retired as Professor of Law & Humanities at the University of Luton (England). He previously taught in theology and jurisprudence in North America, and for three years served as Director of Studies at the International Institute of Human Rights. In this text Montgomery surveys the field of human rights. He examines existing protections, covenants, conventions, and non-government organizations upholding human rights. He then shifts over to an intriguing discussion about the definition of human rights and assesses a number of competing positions. After weighing the existing definitions as inadequate, Montgomery defines 'rights' as 'entitlements' which implies interpersonal relationships. He then examines several major philosophical schools of thought such as legal realism, utilitarianism, Ronald Dworkin, John Finnis, Roscoe Pound, Julius Stone, John Rawls and Alan Gewirth. He assesses Marxist theories of human rights and policy-oriented theories. In this handsome survey Montgomery not only explains the various positions but offers some trenchant criticisms. Montgomery argues that the philosophical apporaches have failed to uphold human dignity and argues for a transcendent perspective. He explores the positions of Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish views and highlights inadequacies in their respective approaches. Montgomery then sets forth a case to show that the Christian faith can offer the necessary "grounding" for ultimate standards concerning human rights and human dignity. In a gem of a chapter Montgomery applies the canons of jurisprudential evidence to the New Testament documents and argues persuasively that the portrait of Jesus being God in human flesh is vindicated. The evidence for his bodily resurrection passes the necessary tests for admissability as reliable data in court. From here Jesus' deity is established and the credentials of Biblical revelation are grounded. Montgomery then explores the Christian dimension to human rights. Montgomery underscores weaknesses in Liberal protestant, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox circles in their theories of rights. He also underscores the weaknesses of Christian fundamentalists who identify their faith with right wing politics. Montgomery maintains freedom of religion, whilst commending the Christian answer to the reader. This book serves as an excellent survey of the subject and engages the reader to consider the case for Christianity. Irrespective of whether one agrees with Montgomery or not, the book stands as a solid contribution to the subject and is a good primer for the novice. The book includes as appendices various legal covenants on huma rights. This is a book I highly commend for serious reading and reflection.

Astute as a researcher, writer and theologian, Montgomery here tackles the hot topic of demonology. A passage from his intro says something excellent about this topic and book: "If you are as the felicitours phrase puts it so narrow-minded that you can see through a keyhole with both eyes simultaneously, this book is not for you, for in the world of the occult you need stereoscopic vision to avoid being a blind man leading the blind. The closeminded occultist will boggle at the theology of this volume and the close-minded religionist will be offended by its recognition of legitimate and positive occult domains."

Read on if you want to get informed by this master informer.

Most Christian books on the occult comprise a mixture of debunking and denunciation. This book offers an intriguing alternative interpretation. Montgomery's interest in the occult goes back to his own childhood in the 1930s. Montgomery's purpose in this book is to offer an interpretation of the occult as opposed to the mere recounting of phenomena. He begins with a consideration of how to define the occult, and looks at supernatural, paranormal and naturalistic levels of meaning. Montgomery underscores how one's own world-view can colour the way the occult is interpreted - is it real, humbug or devilish. In this complex web Montgomery steers a course that takes the phenomena seriously with paranormal and supernatural explanations being within his thesis. He then offers a brief historical overview of the occult from ancient times up to the 1970s (which is when the book was originally released). From here Montgomery then devotes chapters to the Cabala and Alchemy, astrology and prophecy, spiritism, tarot cards, fairies and so on. As a Christian theologian Montgomery avers that the occult represents a spiritual quest for meaning. He acknowledges the reality of the Devil and the demonic, but does not claim that all things occult originate with His Infernal Majesty. To further tease out issues he includes his own "ghost story" to make a theological point. This book engages the reader (whether Christian or occultist) to wrestle with the deeper interpretative issues of meaning. Thus unlike those works that totally demonize or totally debunk the occult, Montgomery offers Christians a more provocative, scholarly understanding. He also points an unwavering finger for the occultist through the labyrinth of phenomena to the fulfillment of their quest as found in Christ. The book will challenge readers' assumptions on the subject. It is therefore commended for a wide readership as occult, new age, neo-pagan and paranormal topics are once more in season in the late 1990s. A most engaging text worth taking the time to read.

This transcribed debate is between John Warwick Montgomery, Lutheran theologian, and Joseph Fletcher, situation ethicist. Fletcher actually founded the particular school of thought of situation ethics, which argues that anything evil a person can do is morally acceptable provided it is done for the "right" reasons and because of love. Obviously, Fletcher does not characterize these acts as evil, but some people who can see that the emperor has no clothes will readily pick up on the subterfuge. Montgomery, on the other hand, is a man who says he was "dragged kicking and screaming to the foot of the cross." As a young adult and an atheist, Montgomery set out to disprove Christianity and ended up being a believer. A brilliant man, he hold eight earned degrees, five of them on the doctoral level. He has also written at least 50 books, many of them very scholarly, is an accomplished French chef and connoisseur of French wines, and speaks French fluently. He has taught at the Sorbonne and more recently, he has been the dean of the Simon Greenleaf School of Law.

With grace, wit, and good humor, Montgomery tears Fletcher's philosophy to smithereens. He shows how ethically bankrupt Fletcher's philosophy is, and the consequences of its acceptance. Its impact on our society has been very destructive; this book couldn't be more timely. Even if you agree with Fletcher, read this book to enjoy a good intellectual dissection. Yet, this book is accessible to the average reader. Too many lives have been destroyed by the likes of Fletcher, and it is a pleasure to meet someone who can show the foolishness of this point of view. Make no mistake: those who support situation ethics will disagree with me and take comfort in what Fletcher has to say. But for those of us with discernment, it will be a pleasure to read Montgomery's treatment. This book needs to be widely circulated and read.

I am a person that believes in the malleability of ethics...this book has permitted me to defend my points of view. i highly recommend it for anyone interested in the topic of ethics and how they change in different situations.

Here is the defense of Christ that will stand in a court of law. The same reasoning that a person uses to cross the street is the same that should be used to weigh the claims of Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection. When done it will be demonstrated to be true. The only man in history to have defeated death, the ultimate reality for all humans, demands that his testimony should be considered very carefully. This book is an outstanding collection of essays demonstrating this clear truth and fact.

This two volume work is based on Montgomery's ThD thesis at the University of Strasbourg. It was first issued in 1973 and is scheduled for reissue by Kluwer Publishers. In a series of interrelated essays Montgomery explores the life, labour and thought of the German Lutheran minister Johann Valentin Andreae. He sets Andreae in the context of the Lutheran influences on the rise of modern science and shows, contrary to popular impressions, that from the outset Lutheranism was friendly to scientific research. Then Montgomery seeks to sketch the life and world-view of Andreae and reappraises the long-repeated claim that he was the founder of Rosicrucianism. Montgomery documents from many unpublished primary source materials how Andreae was an orthodox Lutheran theologian and pastor. He shows the intense labour of Andreae to achieve a fusion of thought between faith, science and scholarship in general. He documents Andreae's relationships with various scholars of his day. He also is at pains to show that via Andreae, Lutheran orthodoxy in the 17th century was not ossified. In Andreae we see a fusion between piety and learning. Montgomery thus uses Andreae as an illustration to expose the specious post-Enlightenment interpretations of Lutheran orthodoxy as dry, dull and dead. Furthermore, Montgomery re-opens the case concerning The Chymical Wedding as a document of Rosicrucianism. From primary sources Montgomery demonstrates that Rosicrucianism predated this book and that Andreae's text was an apologia to woo the Rosicrucians back to Christianity. This is a very learned text that has helped stimulate further research in various directions. Although dated in many respects, especially bibliographically, the book is a scholarly gem. It should be of interest to scholars of 17th century intellectual thought, Lutheran theology, and the hermetic traditions of the occult.

Montgomery is one of the foremost exponents of evidential apologetics in evangelical Christian circles. In this collection of essays, Montgomery seeks to explain, defend and commend the use of evidence in Christian apologetics. He contrasts his position particularly with the presuppositionalist camp (Carl Henry, Van Til). Most of the essays are at a technical level. Topics treated include a defence of miracles, how Muslims do apologetics, Dr Samuel Johnson as an apologist, Biblical inerrancy, and Lutheran approaches to apologetics. It should be required reading in tertiary studies on Christian apologetics.

Montgomery is uniquely qualified to write this text. He is a lawyer, theologian and human rights specialist who has taught at the International Institute for Human Rights, Strasbourg, France. The text takes as its point of departure the Tiananmen Square massacre. Montgomery was in China at the time of the massacre. He begins with the basic press reports and then adds his own personal observations about the events. Montgomery then proceeds to outline and analyse the Marxist approach to human rights and highlights some fundamental weaknesses with it. Montgomery then explores the contribution of Chinese religion to the shape of China as a nation - folk religion, Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist thought. This sets the tone for assessing why in the history of China Tiananmen Square is not necessarily an aberration. That is, the pre-Marxist beliefs in China did little to empower human dignity and promote human rights. The author then traces the place of Christian thought in China from earliest contacts up to the present time. He indicates weaknesses with the Church's unfulfilled mission in China up to the advent of Mao. He then sketches a solution to the human rights problems of China based on a transcendent perspective for grounding human rights. This text builds upon two other works of Montgomery in the field of human rights. The text is very readable and does not require a legal background to follow his thesis. All in all, a highly readable book written by a passionate defender of human rights who happened to be in China when that momentous move towards democracy was repressed.

No wonder our legal system is in shambles. When a society allows its legal system to be the tool of public opinion, this is the result.

Montgomery shows how the common law flowed out of another foundation, God's revelation of right and wrong.

For all intents and purposes, we've junked that, turning to creative legal interpretation, which writes the law rather than interprets whats legislated.

This text is a specialist work treating the specific issue of the rights of Christians to present the gospel to non-Christians in countries where anti-proselytising legislation exists. It will be of use to students of international law who are examining cases dealing with religious liberty. Christians interested in the political and juridical issues of religious freedom (and here I might add those interested in legal cases concerning cults) ought to profit from reading the book.

Montgomery is a Christian lawyer who has a special interest in human rights law - he previously composed Human Rights & Human Dignity a book devoted to a Christian approach to human rights law generally.

In this new book Montgomery deals with certain cases involving Protestants who have been prosecuted in Greece for evangelism. In Greece there is an anti-proselytising law that ostensibly protects the interests of the Greek Orthodox Church. Montgomery represented three evangelists in a case in Athens in 1985 and again in a different case that went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

Montgomery lays down the groundwork by discussing the issue of evangelism and human rights generally. He then devotes a chapter to the 1985 case which he successfully won in the Athens Court of Appeal. Then the central focus of the book comes with the case that went to the European Court of Human Rights. He includes summaries of his legal briefs submitted to the courts. Finally Montgomery discusses the question of whether a state approved church must necessarily translate into prejudice against other minority churches. The book concludes with the legal documents containing the decisions reached by the judges at the European Court.

Montgomery indicates that the Greek anti-proseltying law is in tension with the European Convention on Human Rights which guarantees religious freedom. Greece as a full member of the European Union has ratified this Convention and is supposed to ensure that its constitutional law reflects the laws of the Convention.

Montgomery points out that there is a vagueness in the Greek legislation that makes it nigh on impossible for prospective evangelists to "know" whether they are obeying or violating the law. Montgomery shows that a state established church in itself is not the real problem, but rather the way the state church in Greece views its own reason-of-being.

The book is lucid and readable, and for those who are interested in the issues the text repays careful studying.