Readers Reply

Avalanche of Letters Challenges Controversial Article

“Can Scholars Take the Virgin Birth Seriously?” by J. Edward Barrett in our October 1988 issue evoked more readers’ letters than any other single article we have ever published—either in Bible Review or in its sister publication Biblical Archaeology Review, which is now 15 years old. The letters below are representative, but they cannot reflect the quantity of mail we received concerning this article.

As the following letters indicate, very few of them had anything good to say about this article. It obviously offended many of our readers. This is something we do try to avoid. On the other hand, we are committed to providing a forum for the full range of responsible modern scholarship. Professor Barrett’s article falls well within that range; like it or not, this is a fact.

We respect the widely differing faith commitments of our readers. When modern scholarship seems aimed at undermining the faith commitments of some of our readers, we hope our readers will feel free to examine this. scholarship even while rejecting it. Although readers may reject some or all of what we publish—and all are respectfully free to pick and choose—is possible learn even what we reject. At the least, what we reject helps us to clarify—and even strengthen—what we do accept and believe.—Ed.