medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Prof. Dennis Martin's lucid discussion of explaining causation in history
and the associated issues of ideology was a wonderfully succinct and
thorough exposure of many issues. And I am grateful. However, I wonder if
there is not still a sort of "language of scholarly discourse" which while
it perhaps sidesteps some of these issues, is nonetheless useful and widely
employed. I guess I would call it the "empirical limitation" or something
like that. My suggestion is that many historians "fill in the gaps" with
appeals to behavior etc based on widely accepted notions of human nature. So
that we say Charlemagne generally acted out of piety, or rage or shrewd
observation of his vassals' weaknesses. These observations need to be based
on a p familiarity with the sources, so that they are credible. This level
of explanation also avoids the matter of the beliefs of the historian. I
think we can talk about a number of significant historical events and
figures by using this "empirical limitation". We simply do not go on to
suggest "ultimate explanations": we do not speculate about whether
Charlemagne's greed or anger was divinely inspired, or inspired by an
impersonal imprisonment in a power structure, or whatever.
Associated with this is the issue of academics' own belief system and how it
is revealed in their work. I again think this is usefully revealed not so
much in open explanations, but in how the "empirical limitation" is nuanced.
One can in teaching and writing show contempt for religious explanations (or
any other ultimate explanatory principle) without saying anything directly.
But likewise the opposite. One thinks of the writings of Dom David Knowles,
for instance, or a seminar I sat in on with Bernie McGinn at Chicago. At no
point do these scholars attempt to show divine activity in their subjects
which are essentially religious. They use the language of the sources,
common sense observation, perhaps some carefully nuanced psychological
terms. But in their manner of speaking and writing about these issues there
is a "sympathy," shall we say, a respect for the articulation of religious
belief by their subjects of study that makes clear that we should take the
religious experience seriously and on its own terms. I think perhaps in
this militantly secular age, this is possible approach to religious material
and is probably more effective in changing the minds of vaguely secular
readers and students ideologies than any sort of direct apologetics.
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