Christian apologist Varghese (There Is a God) surveys world religions to discover elements they have in common with Christianity before he looks at those writers who challenge the tenets of Christianity itself. A great deal of the book examines how thinkers or movements through the ages have considered the historical Jesus, including the 19th-century quest for the Jesus of history and the contemporary Jesus Seminar. The author also looks to the Bible itself and the writings of church councils and the church fathers. For believers in Christ, Varghese gives 15 "grounds and dimensions that may serve as launching pads for your flight of faith." In the final analysis, he concludes, faith in the Triune Christian God is the way to salvation, dependent on reason and history to know Jesus and make a proper "Christ connection." Even though the author seeks a faith audience, this book will appeal most to the scholar looking to find Jesus in history. (June)