Saturday, January 15, 2005
SBL and academic freedom ::
American politics is so divided and divisive (it seems) that their issues are spilling over into scholarly societies. I have just received the email which appears to have come from Matthew Collins asking me to indicate support (or otherwise) for a political statement by SBL on the recent US election. This statement describes SBL (rightly) as: "the largest international, professional association of teachers and scholars of the Bible", yet assumes that such an international constituency will wish to comment on American politics.
Now, I do have opinions on American politics, some of them are printable, and some have been aired here - especially at the time of the invasion of Iraq, but I object strongly to an association of scholars describing one reading of the Bible as "right" and so by implication others as "unacceptable".
So, I'll join the chorus of bibli*bloggers, and pray that good sense causes such a backlash of Biblical Scholars for Academic Freedom that SBL will pull back from the brink of the abyss of totalitarian "liberalism"!
¶ 11:43 AM
[to Del.icio.us]
American politics is so divided and divisive (it seems) that their issues are spilling over into scholarly societies. I have just received the email which appears to have come from Matthew Collins asking me to indicate support (or otherwise) for a political statement by SBL on the recent US election. This statement describes SBL (rightly) as: "the largest international, professional association of teachers and scholars of the Bible", yet assumes that such an international constituency will wish to comment on American politics.
Now, I do have opinions on American politics, some of them are printable, and some have been aired here - especially at the time of the invasion of Iraq, but I object strongly to an association of scholars describing one reading of the Bible as "right" and so by implication others as "unacceptable".
So, I'll join the chorus of bibli*bloggers, and pray that good sense causes such a backlash of Biblical Scholars for Academic Freedom that SBL will pull back from the brink of the abyss of totalitarian "liberalism"!
¶ 11:43 AM
[to Del.icio.us]
