Bart D. Ehrman (James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) is perhaps America’s most well-known Evangelical-to-Agnostic story. His books continue to sit atop the New York Times bestseller list, and his latest is no exception. Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible and Why We Don’t Know About Them (New York: HarperOne, 2009), provides similar content to his other controversial-ladden texts and has sparked the discussions I’m sure that the publishers sought. Amazon’s reader reviews call the work everything from “mind blowing” to “arrogant.”
You don’t have to look hard on the Internet (or on the bookshelves) to find someone spewing vehement rebuttals to Ehrman’s latest assault on traditional Evangelicalism. And for that reason, I want to avoid this move. But I also want to avoid filling this brief review with criticism for another reason. I want to avoid this because Ehrman’s right.
I don’t think he’s right about his claims of Scriptural “contradictions” or the “stunning” assertions in his book. I don’t think he’s right about his entrenched and overly skeptical view of the “historical-critical” method of biblical interpretation. I don’t think he’s right about his anti-harmonization-at-any-cost mentality or his views on the early church’s theological development.
I think he’s right about the fact that this type of conversation needs to be happening in the public square. He’s right that many of our churches aren’t doing enough to educate their parishioners with arguments beyond “well that’s what the Bible says.” He’s right that many of those who fill the Sunday pew just aren’t reading their Bible, regardless of their high view of Scripture.
This is a conversation worth having.
And thankfully, Evangelicals are talking about this in the public square. Ehrman admits his book offers nothing new, and he delivers on this promise. And because it’s nothing new, answers abound for his argument. (For example, see Darrell Bocks’ review of Jesus, Interrupted here: Themelios 34 no. 3 (2009).
Ehrman won’t have the last word, and I don’t think he would want it. Jesus, Interrupted provides ample topics of conversation, and for that it is helpful. His “controversial” claims—much less so. We shouldn’t be scared of books. Read them, think critically about their claims, and evaluate for yourself.
And read your Bible too.
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