In this way the Bible is particularly confronting. The holy books of other religions are, in effect, a set of teachings which can you can either accept or reject. But the Bible records history and so is, at least in principle, verifiable. When the events recorded in the Bible are corroborated by history, it gives them a far greater degree of credibility, they cannot simply be ignored.
(It is true that other religions, notably the so called "primitive" religions, are also based in stories from history (for instance, the myths of the Roman gods). But unlike the Bible, these stories have are set so far back in time that there is no corroborating evidence for them).
(Click here for the question of historical errors in the Bible).
The most startling event recorded in the Bible is one which has an enormous amount of verifiable history around it: the resurrection of Jesus. For those unfamiliar with the story, it is recorded in all four "gospels" in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John): Jesus of Nazareth, a popular Jewish religious teacher, was executed by being crucified. However a short time later his followers were proclaiming that he had come back to life. They continued to proclaim this despite extensive persecution (some even being killed).
Now what was going on here? Jesus' closest followers would have seen him die. They knew if they were telling the truth or not. If they made it up, why did they continue to preach it, even to the point of death? As one writer put it, why would they die for a lie? Why did James, Jesus' own brother, join this group proclaiming he was alive?
Objectors say that the same argument can be applied to the spread of other religions. But it can't. The spread of Buddhism means that the early Buddhists were convinced that the Buddha had found the way to enlightenment. The spread of Islam means that the earliest Muslims were convinced that Mohammad was a prophet of God. But the earliest Christians claimed something far more extraordinary. They were convinced, and often staked their lives on it, that Jesus had risen from the dead.
This, and other events in the Bible, show how Christianity is a historical religion - and stands or falls on historical events. Christianity makes this claim in the way that no other religion does.