MAN OF THE YEAR

"Not everyone will agree with Newt Gingrich's positions, but he is the most influential individual in American politics since F.D.R." KENNETH HOLLOWAY St. Louis, Missouri

I APPLAUD YOUR CHOICE FOR MAN OF THE Year [Dec. 25-Jan. 1]. Like him or hate him (and I don't always like him), Newt Gingrich puts his money where his mouth is. It has been very refreshing to watch someone in such a high position concern himself with doing his job rather than spending time trying to beef up his approval rating. JOHN HALPIN Colorado Springs, Colorado Via E-mail

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE OUT OF YOUR minds! If that power-mad, petulant brat is Man of the Year, then I am Queen of the Universe! LESLIE HOLMAN-ANDERSON Seattle

GINGRICH DISPLAYS AN INCREASINGLY rare commodity in our nation's capital: he speaks his beliefs from his heart. The last man in Washington to do so was President Ronald Reagan. BRIAN DAILEY Novato, California Via E-mail

ON RECEIVING MY ISSUE OF TIME, I CAREfully removed the cover, ripped it in half, put it in the trash compactor and turned the switch. What bliss! RICHARD S. KOCHAN Washington

WHEN I FIRST SAW YOUR COVER PHOTO OF Gingrich, I thought, "Hey, this is ugly!" Then I realized that I was looking at a working guy too busy doing his job to look pretty. I like that. And I like Newt. Thanks, TIME. STEWART MITCHELL Dallas

BY NAMING GINGRICH MAN OF THE YEAR, you are contributing to the attitude that we can set aside the aspirations and needs of children, the elderly and the disadvantaged while allowing the wealthy to pay lower taxes. This will further divide the country along class and economic lines. Gingrich's accomplishments are not "revolutionary"; they are a step back into an America of less compassion and fewer opportunities. GARY K. DOI Honolulu Via E-mail

IN A YEAR WHEN YASSER ARAFAT, SHIMON Peres and Yitzhak Rabin worked toward peace--and one of them gave his life--when Slobodan Milosevic, Franjo Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic negotiated the end of Bosnia's lengthy and bloody war, when statesmen who represented the fall of the Iron Curtain are losing their power to a communist comeback, when Helmut Kohl is winning an economic bet in the east of Germany, and President Clinton and his Secretary of State Warren Christopher are defining a new world order, your choice of House Speaker Gingrich as Man of the Year shows how provincial TIME is in concentrating on internal American affairs. BOAZ SACHS Milan

THE BIBLE: FACT OR FICTION?

AS A RABBI, I FIND RELIGIOUSLY IRRELEvant the question of whether events described in the Bible represent historical fact [COVER STORIES, Dec. 18]. If it could be proved that every event portrayed in the Bible is absolutely and unequivocally historically false, my faith would remain unaltered because the Bible represents eternal spiritual and moral truth. The Jewish Bible represents a spiritual communication between the Jewish people and God and is not subject to historical analysis. I want to learn about historical facts, which may or may not corroborate the stories in the Bible. But that endeavor is of no consequence to my faith in the divine-human relationship as it is made manifest in the Bible. RABBI JEFFREY KURTZ-LENDNER New Orleans

OLD TESTAMENT EVENTS ARE NOT THE only ones called into question by biblical archaeologists and scholars. In 1994 one of the foremost authorities on early Christian studies declared that the Gospel According to Matthew, as well as the three other Gospels, was a myth. New archaeological findings are changing our understanding of almost every facet of ancient history. This is something Christians and Jews can experience together. MICHAEL L. HITTLEMAN Los Angeles

THE QUESTION SHOULD NOT BE, "is the Bible Fact or Fiction?" but, rather, as fiction, how does the Bible stand up? As a stylist, God is uneven. He fails to speak with a consistent authoritative voice. His use of legendary material lacks the verisimilitude of a Homer or a John Ford. He often repeats himself, betraying his insecurity as a writer. What a better world this would be if its dominant faiths took their fictions not from God but from some author with greater compassion and understanding, such as Shakespeare or Herman Melville or Dr. Seuss. BOB BLACK Albany, New York

MANY INSECURE PEOPLE ARE HOPING FOR archaeological proof that the Bible is the absolute, revealed word of a supreme deity. This proof will never come, and people will continue in their personal religious beliefs, based on one premise, their faith in a particular deity. Only the gullible and naive will still believe that theirs is the one true religion. WILLIAM E. ADINT Woodstock, Connecticut

A FUNDAMENTAL POINT IN MOST SOUND theology is that the Bible is not a history book as we understand that term in this day and age. Rather, the text of the Scripture deals with mystery, faith and how God is perceived in dealings with people. The two concepts are vastly different. As a trained theologian and pastor, I am not concerned with whether there was an Abraham, a Noah, a 40-year trek in the wilderness or an invasion of Palestine. The stories were created to convey the theological truth that God empowers, guides and saves. Faith is the key. (THE REV.) ROBERT B. GUSTAVSON First Presbyterian Church Silver City, New Mexico

RUSSIAN AND U.S. SIMILARITIES

AMERICA AND RUSSIA ARE COMING TO resemble each other more than either nation would like, as evidenced by your report on the Russian parliamentary elections [RUSSIA, Dec. 18]. As I read about Americans' agonizing over federal cutbacks, I wanted to tell them to please keep in mind that we in Russia have already had five years of the same cutting back and restructuring. Perhaps that is why our political life is so full of Russian-style Ross Perots, each one a politician with his own magic bullet. Perhaps it could be that the U.S.'s victory in the cold war is a hollow one: instead of making us into yourselves, you are turning into us. ELENA KOUCHMANOVA Ekaterinburg, Russia

WOMB FOR RENT?

BARBARA EHRENREICH'S MASTERLY SUMmary of Princess Di's plight [ESSAY, Dec. 18] and Ehrenreich's premise that the "only honest description of [Diana's] occupation would have to be 'hired womb'" was right on the mark. I would add that Di was no ordinary broodmare, since her progeny will sit on England's throne as long as it endures. As such a benefactor, she is certainly entitled to enormous perks in the form of a comfortable life, cashmere included. JACK K. KOOK Newton, New Jersey

RESPONSIBILITIES IN BOSNIA

AMERICA'S INVOLVEMENT IN BOSNIA MAY well turn out to be politically unwise and even counterproductive [BOSNIA, Dec. 18]. However, one cannot help feeling deeply moved by the arrival of U.S. forces. As a native of Croatia and a U.S. citizen, I feel a mixture of embarrassment and awe when I look at the TV pictures of American soldiers digging through the Bosnian snow in search of another one of a million mines. The warlords of my native country kept planting land mines for years, then signed a piece of paper and left it to others to clean up yet another deadly Balkan mess. DURO GANOTZI Dillenburg, Germany