The Automotive Fleet and Leasing Asociation

Dr. Perrin gets an A for effort but his effort is not, unfortunately, a very convincing response to Dr. Ehrman’s work as the book descriptions imply. Dr. Perrin’s Lost in Transmission takes the approach of personal anecdotes to provide some theoretical background in understanding history. That approach is satisfactory to a point but fails to reach the level of technical detail in Dr. Ehrman’s work in Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus). What makes Dr. Ehrman so convincing is his grasp of the art of historical textual criticism. And it seems Dr. Perrin beats around that bush but never quite gets to the technical level to equal Dr. Ehrman. Dr. Perrin responds on the historical level a bit but hardly touches the textual criticism. While we appreciate his effort and can glean some value from this work, most serious seekers will not likely find enough answers here. It is a good start, but only that.

One example is the chapter where Dr. Perrin challenges Dr. Ehrman’s question about why there are four gospels. Dr. Perrin argues for the superiority of having multiple accounts of the same event but that begs the question, why four and not five, or six, or seven. Dr. Perrin answers the question of why not just one but fails to answer the bigger challenge of why there are not more, including perhaps the gospel of Judas or other writings claiming to also be gospels. And so, failing to make the point, the entire chapter seems shallow and the argument seems weak.

As another example, in the introduction, Dr. Perrin mentions the attack on how the canon of scripture was obtained but never seems to get back to responding to that attack. It is a strong point in Dr. Ehrman’s work but one that Dr. Perrin hardly notices in his response.

The bulk of the book is a collection of personal anecdotes used to convey some basic theory behind the study of history. It is sometimes rather excruciating detail that seems as though it could have been summarized in far fewer words. Still, we acknowledge that the foundation must be in place however long it takes. The history student who is somewhat familiar with these theories may benefit from skimming these chapters just to be ready for the specifics in the last four chapters.

Dr. Perrin’s effort is good but he seems like a boxer with one hand tied behind his back. No matter how hard he tries, his Protestant presuppositions hold back the full force he could have at his disposal. The Dr. Ehrman’s of the world have their own presuppositions and Dr. Perrin does a fine job of pointing many of them out, but he fails to respond to the primary presuppositions because Dr. Perrin shares many of those same presuppositions. But for the grace of God, Dr. Perrin would have followed the same presuppositions to the same conclusions Dr. Ehrman has. For instance, both have failed to recognize the role of church tradition in shaping and accepting what writings were to be chosen as sacred scripture. Dr. Perrin mentions Roman Catholic Christians in places in his work but the mention is often just enough detail to let us know that he has a rather shallow understanding of the Catholic theology which could have given him the one-two punch he needs to finish off his opponent. But, again, the fact that he showed up for the fight and put forth a solid effort with his one punch is commendable in light of how few fighters have responded to date.

All is not lost, however. Pope Benedict XVI, without mentioning Dr. Ehrman by name, has given us a substantial response in depth with his work, Jesus of Nazareth. We would recommend Catholics and Protestants alike read that work to strengthen their faith and to be able to take the barbs of Dr. Ehrman and other cynics and agnostics. In addition, a solid understanding on the formation of the canon of scripture will help in understanding where Dr. Ehrman’s challenges fall short. For that background on scripture, see Henry Graham’s Where We Got the Bible… Our Debt to the Catholic Church and Dr. Scott Hahn’s Letter and Spirit: From Written Text to Living Word in the Liturgy.

Dr. Ehrman is no threat to God anymore than this middle-aged out-of-shape book reviewer would be any threat to a young Cassius Clay. We need not despair that this response to Dr. Ehrman is not what it could be. We can pray that Dr. Perrin explore the rest of his faith to find his other punch and come back again with the knockout blow he is seeking. In the meantime, we have Pope Benedict’s well-reasoned and thorough though indirect response among others to finish the fight for anyone willing to take the challenge.
Rating: 3 / 5

In recent years, I have noticed that many of the twenty and thirty-somethings in my circle ask very pointed questions about the accuracy of the biblical text. Some of the questioners are devoted Christians; others are outside the faith, challenging the foundation of our belief system. Regardless of their background, they are familiar with History Channel documentaries about the Gnostic or Lost Gospels and they have seen movies like The Da Vinci Code.

C.S. Lewis famously argued that Jesus must be either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. There are no other legitimate options. Despite the brilliance of Lewis’ trilemma, his apologetic falls apart if one disposes with the historical data of Jesus given to us in the Gospels. The Jesus of the canonical Gospels must be either liar, lunatic, or Lord. But once you question the historicity of the biblical picture of Jesus, his identity is once again in dispute.

Enter Nick Perrin, former research assistant to N.T. Wright and now the Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. Perrin’s book Lost In Transmission?: What We Can Know About the Words of Jesus takes on the recent critics of the Gospels’ reliability in a winsome and readable manner for laypeople.

The impetus for Lost in Transmission is the recent work of Bart Ehrman. Ehrman has made the argument at the popular level that the words of Jesus have been corrupted beyond recovery – intentionally tampered with by the scribes who handed down the words of Jesus.

Readers of Ehrman are struck by the personal nature of his writings. Ehrman cannot reconcile the existence of a good God and the existence of horrifying, unspeakable evils. Perrin’s response is just as personal. He recounts his own spiritual journey as he dismantles the illogical theses of Ehrman.

Writes Perrin:

“This book is for different kinds of people. It is for the countless people out there who, though interested in Jesus, are afraid to believe because they think that we cannot know anything about him or his words. It is also for Christians who are afraid to think because they believe we cannot know anything about Jesus. And it is for Christians who, being unafraid to believe or think, have dared to ascend the intellectual climbing wall of their faith, but who, having been harnessed into the Enlightenment understanding of historical evidence, are unaware of the fragility of that harness.” (x)

Perrin believes that evangelicals need to do business with historical research. We dare not ignore the historical challenges to our faith:

“When people succumb to that temptation of ignoring challenges to their faith, they are in the end demonstrating that they are more committed to the feeling of having a lock on truth than they are to truth itself.” (xxi)

In other words, Perrin sees our refusal to engage in the historical debate as a backhanded denial of the truths at the very heart of Christianity. We must never suppress the historical truths surrounding the life of Jesus Christ presented in the Gospels. For Perrin, history and Christianity are inseparable because of the nature of the resurrection.

“I do claim that for historical reasons we can have a great deal of confidence in the scriptural record of Jesus’ words – and for that matter, his deeds as well. My own confidence may initially be born of biblical faith, but it is not a faith willfully oblivious to historical realities. Nor is biblical faith to be afraid of historical inquiry; rather, it seeks out such inquiry. If faith and history collide, it might make a pretty mess for a time. But the only worse mess is a stillborn faith that insists on fleeing history and, ultimately, the world in which we live. Never let it be said that the self-revelation of Jesus Christ demands blind acquiescence. Rather, it demands we ask questions when we’ve come to realize, once again, that we don’t yet fully understand the implications of that revelation.” (42)

The above passage forms the heart of Lost in Transmission. Perrin’s book attempts to demonstrate the need for us to do business with historical inquiry and to answer historical questions correctly.

I benefited from Perrin’s focus on the Jewish-ness of Jesus. Failing to take into account Jesus’ Judaism leads to a failure to understand his words and deeds in the appropriate context.

Likewise, I enjoyed Perrin’s unmasking of the arrogance and exclusivity of Enlightenment liberalism. Perrin ably demonstrates the closed-mindedness of the Enlightenment perspective, even as it parades under the guise of openness. He writes:

“It is hard, if not impossible, to take Jesus’ Judaism seriously and make him into a poster child for Western liberalism.” (62)

I also appreciated Perrin’s desire to not over-harmonize the Gospel accounts when he runs into apparent discrepancies. He recognizes the danger of the extreme harmonizing tendency to flatten out the different picture each Gospel author desired to present to the readers.

Perrin says we should let the Gospels be the Gospels:

“Luke’s Jesus has to be understood for what he has to say without Matthew’s Jesus interrupting. The problem with sending one evangelist in to rescue another is that this becomes an easy way to get the Gospels to say what we want to hear. To me, this is just manipulating the Gospels as a magician might manipulate a stack of cards.” (123)

Perrin’s critique of the Enlightenment does not lead him to make statements of utter certainty. He proposes what seems to be a chastened postmodern sensibility that accepts our lack of understanding regarding certain aspects of the Gospels.

Do not expect Lost in Transmission to solve every textual problem you have as you study the Gospels. Instead, enjoy the reflections of a scholar whose work will increase your confidence in the reliability and accuracy of the biblical text.
Rating: 5 / 5