stephan huller

Another thing. I think white people have this obsession with 'everyone' or universalism. Always have been, and that's what wrong with Christianity, Islam and other big religions. Stop worrying so much about whether 'everyone' in scholarship is doing the right thing. I don't think its possible to find a field of study where 'everyone' is engaged in meta criticism, or where 'everyone' agrees on everything, or 'everyone' agrees about something. Most people are meant to be sheep. That's the way the world was planned and arranged from the beginning. There will never be a big 'revelation' where everyone sees the light. That's white people talk.

If I find about ten percent of scholars or a small minority are capable of higher criticism I am happy times. That's the right number for me. If I find about ten percent of people understand what I am talking about I am fine. I don't ever want 'everyone' to share the same idea because then I know for certain that it is a wrong idea.

I love being a minority. I think I prefer being an invisible minority. But I think I was born into the idea that the world was established with a small minority being right about anything or a small minority knowing anything important. My inherited prejudice which makes it - for me at least - 'just right' the way it is, the way things are right now.

And just to make clear. My experience in religious scholarship is that everyone in the field has something to teach you. I am not asking for perfection.