Yuri Kuchinsky

"ReasonableDoubt" wrote to me in another thread (re: Rylands Papyrus):

Do you want evidence, Reasonable? Well, I, myself, am the evidence!

Indeed, my own story is a pretty good evidence of the bigotry, dishonesty, and bias in the NT profession... And I think this evidence is rather persuasive.

So here, in brief, is my story.

I'm a veteran of the Internet biblical lists -- have been doing this for many years. I was an active member of the old Crosstalk-L already back in 1996, when there were still only 30 members on that list. In those first years on the Net, I was actually a Jesus Seminar fan, an acolyte of Dom Crossan. I actually thought these were "the best and the brightest"! Just like all those folks, back then, I thought that the Greek text was where it was all at, and that the rest was just footnotes.

And then... I got interested in the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. This was about 3 years ago. When I first read this text (Howard's edition), right away I got the idea that there was something very important there. This was clearly a Jewish-Christian document -- this pretty much lies on its surface. So I started to post to Crosstalk about this. And this was the first time when I got censored and persecuted...

Mind you, as I say, I was already a veteran of Internet biblical discussions by that time. So my first reaction was a big surprise. "What? Did I say something wrong somehow? What's this thing all about?" But meanwhile things were getting worse, and I was eventually forced to leave Crosstalk. At the time, I blamed it all on the Listowner, Jeffrey Gibson. Well, I thought, maybe the guy is a wacko, so let's move on. By that time, there were already quite a few other biblical lists to choose from, and I was on all the big ones. "No big deal", I thought.

And then... I got interested in the Diatessaron, and the Magdalene Gospel in particular. (After all, this was where the links from the Hebrew Matthew were clearly pointing.) The result? About 2 years ago, I was banned from the Synoptic-L -- the first time I'd ever been banned from any biblical list! Anybody who will look into that old controversy will come to the conclusion that there was no other apparent reason for my expulsion from the Synoptic-L -- other than my interest in these ancient texts. It's a commonplace in the Diatessaronic studies that this gospel had great many Jewish-Christian elements -- after all, this was the main gospel of Syria until the 5th century CE. Although quite a few copies of it still survive in various languages, it does not survive in Greek.

And now, this latest adventure on the TC-List. After 4 years of being active on the list, I'm expelled without any warning; the formal excuse given for my expulsion being as phoney as can be. Pretty obviously, the real reason for my expulsion was my recent investigation into the Old Syriac Aramaic gospels.

But all this is just a brief summary of my wonderful adventures in the world of NT scholarship. In the meantime, starting with my investigation into the Hebrew Matthew, there was a lot more harassment, defamation, name-calling, and censorship on quite a few other lists. As a result, at this time, I cannot post freely to any big-league early Christian history list.

And before my investigation into the Hebrew Matthew? I never had any trouble with any moderators about anything -- although I've always been engaged in active, and sometimes heated discussions. The moral of this story? Stay with Jesus the Greek, kids, if you don't want to become the pariah of today's NT world (or at least of the Internet portion of it).

All the best,

Yuri.

"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." -- Voltaire

godfry n. glad

Well, Yuri, I'd say you put a great deal of self-aggrandizing spin on your travails. I have been a bystander watching some of the conflicts you describe and all I can say is that you brought most of it on yourself with your petulant attitude and arrogant style. Usually, when confronted about this, you've racheted up the volume and and quantity of bile. This is not a way to win friends and influence people.

And...it's not just NT scholars who've responded by censuring you, for there are anthropology scholars who've responded in a similar manner. From my perspective, those who did so were very even-handed and tolerant and their censure of you was, in every way, deserved.

It seems that everywhere you go, you sow ill-will through your truculence and bad manners more than through the content of your opinions. Name-calling and ad hominem seems to be your particular forte. That's how you've made your entrance here; that's what I've witnessed elsewhere. Moderated groups rarely suffer such for long; that's why they have moderators.

We shall see how you manage here, for you seem to have toned down your approach since last I crossed your path. But then, that time you _started_ as the intelligent and informed interlocutor you can convey yourself as, but it went downhill fast.

I wish you the best, but it is my humble opinion that if you wish to continue in discussions on such groups, you will need to control your temper, read carefully, consider and respond without rancor or invective. That, or hold your tongue. These forums are for civil discussion, not the repeated and forceful expression of your opinion of the level of intelligence of those who might disagree with you.

godfry n. glad

Kosh

Remember. Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't all out to get you....

Yuri Kuchinsky

How very nice. So now it turns out that, unbeknownst to me, I've had a long lost pal on this forum, who's already been watching me from behind the scenes for quite some time.

Well, I've certainly never heard about Mr. Glad before, and I know nothing about him. But now it looks like he already claims to know all sorts of things about me. It even looks like he's got a whole psychological profile of yours truly all worked out, that he's so glad to share with others... Surprises never stop...

But unfortunately, my new friend Mr. Glad seems to have got quite a few things confused. Specifically, after reading his exceedingly friendly post, an unwary reader may get the impression that my expulsions from the Synoptic-L, and from TC-List came about because I was somehow guilty of "name-calling and ad hominem". Well, I would like to reassure Mr. Glad that nothing could be further from the truth.

In actual fact, my expulsion from Synoptic-L came about because I mentioned the name of a certain Jewish-Christian gospel on that list. (Sounds a bit too medieval, I know, but that's how it really happened.)

As to the more recent story of my expulsion from TC-List, quite simply, I was expelled for doubting. Or, at least, that happened to be the formal reason as given by the Moderator. (A lot more details can be found in various Usenet newsgroups.)

So, in either case, contrary to what our very friendly Mr. Glad has implied, my expulsion had absolutely nothing to do with any "name-calling and/or ad hominem" on my part. The archives of these two lists are all public, of course, so if Mr. Glad has found any evidence to the contrary, he's encouraged to post it here.

But I doubt very much that my new friend Mr. Glad will ever present any such evidence. Instead, I'm afraid we'll be treated to more personal attacks from this long-lost friend of mine, who claims to be so well informed about the things that I've done -- or haven't done, as the case may be -- over the years.

Regards,

Yuri.

Kosh

Seems to me this now belongs in RRP, since we don't have a persecution forum.

Jayhawker Soule

Perhaps the impression was reinforced by claims of NT "bigots and con-artists" lacking in "professional honesty" egaging in a "blatant deception". I agree with Kosh ...

Yuri Kuchinsky

Thanks, Kosh, I'll remember...

But all these weird expulsions might also be seen as evidence that they already got me!
<Picture:Confused>  

Yuri.

[ August 31, 2002: Message edited by: Yuri Kuchinsky ]</p>

Yuri Kuchinsky

Thanks, Reasonable!

All these friendly replies from some of you folks will surely dispel all doubts on my part that someone here might not like me for some reason...

Yuri.

Liquidrage

My advice Yuri, and this is subject independant, is to not claim that your voice has been supressed elsewhere while on these forums.
Whether or not that is the truth in the past, it serves nothing by claiming it here. All it will do is cast shadows on your personal character.
Respect the intelligence of other while here and you will find that you will recieve that respect in turn.
I've never seen anyone with valid views be oppressed here. But I have seem many people that are intelligent be ignored because they lack the tact required for intelligent discussion.
Just take a step back, start over and let your views rest on their own merits.

Toto

Yuri - Do you have links to those archives, so we can judge for ourselves?