How about this for a wonderful opening paragraph:

On a hill outside Jerusalem, a carpenter from Nazareth, condemned by the Roman Procurator of Judea and the high priest of the Jews, died upon a cross. Four historians of the time soberly reported that he was buried, and that on the third day the carpenter, Jesus, rose from the dead. Since that first Easter, his followers have defied all reason to proclaim that the Jew of Nazareth was the Son of God, who, by dying for man’s sin, reconciled the world to its Creator and returned to life in his glory. Christianity has always been content to stand or fall by this paradox, this mystery, this unfathomable truth. “If Christ has not been raised,” wrote St. Paul to the young church of Corinth, “then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.”

Full article, about Karl Barth, is available here (HT David Peebles Williamson)