Perrin, a professor of New Testament at conservative Wheaton College in Illinois, addresses his first book as a response to Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus
. He hopes evangelical readers will not simply ignore the controversy (or the gnawing doubts it may create) but will understand both Ehrman’s critique and the many reasons Perrin argues for surety. Rather than going through questions about New Testament Greek word-by-word, Perrin approaches the topic more philosophically, offering a history of textual criticism and of liberal and conservative views. His main assurance stems from the focus of Jewish culture on preserving text and the motivation of biblical authors and scribes to record everything accurately. He also meets Ehrman’s personal story of walking away from faith with his own journey from secularism into Buddhism and eventually Christianity as a searching, party-loving college student. There are both great strengths and weaknesses here—Perrin’s overview is simple to read and quite helpful at placing the debates within context, but skeptics will find him occasionally dodging tough questions with statements like “being Christian does not also require us to be rationalists.” In the end, he concludes that the four gospels contain “equivalents and approximations, but they are indeed the words of Jesus.” (Jan. 8)
