Readers Reply

Narrow-Minded, Redundant Letters

I subscribe to Bible Review for a very specific reason: I want to read articles on the Bible that combine sound scholarship and imagination, written in a “popular” (that is, readable) format. More often than not, the articles in BR meet or surpass my expectations, and I look forward to receiving it.

One thing, however, puzzles me. Why do the editors of BR feel the need to publish, issue after issue, so many narrow-minded and mean-spirited letters from those who condemn and damn anyone who dares to think critically about the Bible?

These letters are not only hateful, they are redundant. Their basic message runs something like this: “The Bible is inerrant and infallible; therefore, unless you interpret it the way I do, you’re a heretic.” (Yes, it is illogical.) Many of the authors of these letters conclude by cancelling their subscriptions.

I’m not sure what service the publication of these letters does for the rest of us who enjoy BR. In my opinion it would be much more beneficial if, in place of these diatribes, you provided space for responsible and reasonable criticism, letters that continue and open up our ongoing conversation about the Bible.

Unleavened Praise

I have just finished reading the August 1991 issue of Bible Review—an excellent issue.