Jesus, Interrupted

Ehrman’s goal in Jesus, Interrupted is not to destroy his readers’ faith, but instead he wants to undermine any confidence his readers might have in the Bible as the Word of God. For Ehrman, the Bible is a human book full of contradictions, written largely by men far removed from the world of Jesus and his apostles. The Bible tells us little about the life of Jesus but gives us much more about what his disciples came to believe about Jesus and the religion they invented after his death. None of these conclusions are new to Ehrman’s book, but two facets of his book deserve attention.

First, he writes for the church member and not for the scholar. Ehrman’s books have been featured on the New York Times bestseller list, a remarkable feat, particularly for his book about textual criticism. In fact, his reasoning for writing Jesus, Interrupted seems to be his desire to tell the common, church-going public what their seminary-trained pastors “refuse” to tell them about the Bible and its history.

Second, he claims that the general principles presented in his book are beyond dispute, that scholars don’t question his overall assessment of the Bible as a book filled with forgeries and falsehoods. For Ehrman, “evangelical scholar” seems to be a contradiction in terms. A sober look at the evidence would lead anyone to the same conclusions as him (except for staunch evangelicals who refuse to see the truth).

So what are we to make of his latest book? Should we tell believers to avoid it like the plague? Actually, Jesus, Interrupted is an interesting book about the Bible and the development of Christian thought. The problem is not as much with Ehrman’s presentation of the facts but with his interpretation of the facts. So if we cannot learn the whole truth about the Bible from Ehrman, what can we learn? First, we need more evangelical scholars writing for the “average” Christian. Ehrman presents one side of the debate about the Bible, but the Christian who reads his book would be hard pressed to find an equally accessible book that presents evangelical scholarship on the Bible. If we can’t write books from evangelical scholars defending the Bible that end up on the New York Times bestseller list, perhaps we could at least manage one such book that could make it onto the Lifeway bestseller list.

Second, we need more education about the Bible in our churches. Ehrman is right that we are not teaching church members about the history, development, and nature of the Bible. If we have nothing to hide, then why are we hiding? Perhaps church members have little interest in learning about the Bible in this way; they are content with “devotional” reading of the Bible. Maybe this is true, but if we do not teach them the facts and at least offer an evangelical perspective, we should not be surprised if they are shocked and defenseless after reading books like Ehrman’s.