To Ehrman is Human

Writing in the June 2006 issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dallas Seminary's Daniel Wallace explains why Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus became such a publishing phenomenon.  Why would a book on textual criticism, of all things, sell more than a hundred thousand copies and briefly takes it place as America's number one bestseller? 

Wallace writes:

"Well, for one thing, Jesus sells. But not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus that sells is the one that is palatable to postmodern man. And with a book entitled Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, a ready audience was created via the hope that there would be fresh evidence that the biblical Jesus is a figment. Ironically, almost none of the varients that Ehrman discusses involved sayings of Jesus. The book simply does not deliver what the title promises. . . . 

"More importantly, this book sells because it appeals to the skeptic who wants reasons not to believe, who considers the Bible a book of myths. It is one thing to say that the stories in the Bible are legend; it is quite another to say that many of them were added centuries later."