A book review. Please feel free to engage in the conversation.
-CL
Timothy Paul Jones' "Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus'"
A book review. Please feel free to engage in the conversation.
-CL
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Timothy Paul Jones sets out to address a non-academic audience about the complexities of textual criticism and historiography as they relate to the earliest Christian documents. This is no easy task for anyone, yet Jones makes the basics refreshingly accessible. But this is no general survey of those topics. Jones presents a succinct, yet potent, rebuttal against the theses of Bart Ehrman, an academic turned popularizer whose own anti-Christian faith has led him to strike out at what he perceives to be the heart of Jesus-followers’ belief system: the biblical text.
ReplyDeleteFor his part, Jones does an excellent job at pointing out where Ehrman gets things right and treats him with generosity rather than with a scathing polemic (perhaps something we should all seek to emulate). But Jones is also quick to point out the information that Ehrman conveniently glosses over to lend his hypotheses greater credibility. For example, while Ehrman gets the basic facts correct about Athanasius’ 4th century text-list being the oldest surviving canonical roster, he leads uncritical readers to believe that previous Christians had never considered or adopted reliable means from which texts could be discerned as authoritative. Jones tactfully reminds his own readers that this is simply not the case and enlists various examples and data in support.
Jones also addresses Ehrman’s dubious assertions about biblical copyists, textual variants, oral history and eyewitness testimony. Contrary to Jones’ subtitle however, he does not limit himself to balancing Ehrman’s hypotheses in “Misquoting Jesus.” Jones also weaves in brief critiques of Ehrman’s faulty thinking in “Lost Christianities” as well as “Jesus, Apocalyptic Prophet.”
While Jones’ work here is best characterized as lay-person's primer on a much deeper set of topics, it offers a welcome if brief counter-perspective on the impoverished musings of Bart Ehrman. Readers tempted to give Ehrman’s anti-Christian faith their allegiance would do well to remember that other, and I would suggest, better and more learned viewpoints are available. Jones’ work here should at the very least get readers thinking and exploring at deeper levels.
As a final thought, I think that all of us should be reminded that when it comes to Jesus Christ, the issue is never faith vs. no faith, but rather faith in him vs. faith in something or someone else. “Misquoting Truth” should give readers pause before they put their faith in Bart Ehrman.
Thanks for reading!
-C. Lambeth
...and thanks for your review!
ReplyDeleteMr. Jones,
ReplyDeleteI am honored that you would comment on my review here. Thank you for reading it and for your hard work; it is well appreciated!
-C. Lambeth