Minimalist

I can't imagine why you are surprised that a bunch of bible thumpers are pissed at Avalos.

mountainman

Conclusion as follows:

mountainman

Maybe its a case of "Vengence is mine saith the SBL".

Minimalist

:notworthy:

DrJim

The thought that there is some reaction to Avalos behind the decision has crossed some people's minds, but Avalos has done a lot of other things within the SBL. I'd hate to reduce this simply to a personal issue. I think the decision would have been the same if his name wasn't associated with the proposal.

mountainman

Hi Dr. Jim,

I had to smile at your title .... "When an Academic Society Does the Church’s Work. Can Elephants in the University be Academic?" Well done.

Thank you also for your opinion and your observations about this issue that appears may be impacting people like Avalos, some of whose work I have studied.

If the earlier controversy involving the surrender of SBL membership is any indication, there is a tide of reality moving against the diminishing shoreline of that vast archipelego of islands known as the SBL.

Yes it is living, and it is fair to indentify it as an elephant. However, the analogy of the elephant IMO cannot do justice to the reality because, if what you say in summary of the history (and recent trends) of the SBL is any indication, we are dealing with an ocean of opinion. It will service the debate, and the identification of reality, to see it as an oceanic tide of opinion, the predominant bulk of which is below the surface, and which is rising against such discrimination.

The question in my mind is this -- how fast will that tide come in? Will it be gradual, or will it be tsunami-like? Precisely where is the high moral ground of the SBL distributed?

Thanks again for your material Dr Jim.

Best wishes,



Pete

DrJim

Mountainman,
THanks for your comments. To flog a metaphor to death: I think the elephant has been identified and many are trying to show it the door, but there are a lot others who think it's the damn poodle.
I'm really bad at gauging public opinion and I don't know the history of the SBL all that well. I only make it to every second meeting or so. I know that besides Hector and the other SBC committee members there are a number of others who have published books, articles, and webposts in support of secularism:
Jacques Berlinerblau, N. P. Lemche, Philip Davies, Michael Fox, Alan Lenzi, Kurt Noll. Heck, there are even RELIGIOUS folk who support secular biblical scholarship. How they manage to keep their own beliefs in check is an interesting question, but that does not rule out the fact that they are good linguists, historians, etc. The problem is simply making people care enough about the problem. Many secular scholars seem to be OK with the status quo, thinking that is simply the way things are and there is no need to upset the applecart.
I think that we cannot insulate ourselves that well from the down side of this fuzziness.

manwithdream

Since the Bible is a religious book and most Bible scholars are religious or anti-religious extremists, maybe they should act like lawyers. Each side should present their own side and the truth will be somewhere in the middle. The way it is now, you have to trust religious extremists to be unbiased about the Bible and consider all of the "evidence" fairly. I don't think that is going to happen. If you treat the Bible like the Law, then you know what you are getting.

Kenneth Greifer
http://www.messianicmistakes.com/

Toto

I don't think they have to be. There are scholars who got interested in the Bible for religious reasons that no longer apply to them, but still find the Bible interesting as a cultural artifact. That's not exactly how lawyers or the law works. In a court case, one side wins and one loses, wherever the truth lies.

Apologists are advocates who act like lawyers.

You get a partisan, distorted verdict.

Minimalist

I'd love to think you are right but long association with humans leads me to the inescapable conclusion that their motives rarely survive close examination.

But then, I'm an eternal pessimist.