Queries & Comments

Why Readers Do (or Won’t) Subscribe to BAR

Stop the Sensationalism. But Read It All Before Making Accusations

Your review of The Jesus Papers (“Jesus’ Confession: I Am Not the Physical Son of God,” ReViews, 32:05) is ridiculous and sensationalist. I would think that you would want to hold your reputation to a higher standard.

As a result of this ridiculous article, I will no longer subscribe to BAR. Please reconsider your responsibility to your readers.

We received several similar letters from readers. Like Ms. Kochin, they apparently misread or failed to read all of our review of The Jesus Papers by best-selling author Michael Baigent, published by a major publisher of religious books (HarperSanFrancisco). Baigent claims to have seen a secret document in which Jesus confesses that he is not the physical son of God. Our review reported the claim and then made fun of it. Just to make sure readers got the point, the reviewer noted that what his review did was “expose not only the foolishness of [the book’s] central thesis, but the obvious lack of any conceivably reliable evidence regarding the papyrus letters [in which Jesus supposedly makes this confession].”