Book excerpt: Defense of the Bible begins with rational proofs for the historicity and accuracy of its documents. Christ and the Bible places the argument for the authority of scripture squarely on Jesus. With uncluttered logic and straightforward prose Wenham marshals Gospel evidence to show Jesus' own view of Scripture-that it is (1) historically accurate, (2) authoritative, (3) the standard for ethics, and (4) the verbally inspired revelation of God. He then considers why we should listen to Jesus when he makes such claims and why "Christ's view should be the Christian view." The study substantiates Jesus' reliability influence on all New Testament writers. Finally, Wenham considers two related problems: first, which writings really belong in the Bible; second, the reliability of the text as now available. The presentation is easy to read and understand. This third edition updates and dialogs with recent developments.