medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Madeleine Gray wrote:
> Early in her text, she makes the following startling (to me) statement:
> "A friend who is a well-known art historian once told me how, as a
> student, she had been assured by her colleagues that any scholarly
> accomplishment in the area of Christian art was out of the question
> for her because she was a 'believer'".
>
Maddy,
As most on the list know, I am a semi-retired Lutheran pastor. Last
week, I made a historical presentation to a group of Lutheran clergy
that dealt with some less laudable aspects of Lutheran history. (The
list will be delighted to know my bruises are almost all gone, having
faded to an almost unnoticeable yellow.)
Luther spoke and wrote of each person being 'incurvatus in se'. By that
he meant, among other things, that we have a tendency to have a higher
opinion of our own values, attitudes, thoughts, and conclusions than we
do of those of others.
Following Luther, I believe the idea of presuppositionless history is
poppycock. No historians takes pen to paper or fingers to keyboard
unless s/he has some point to make, and it is her/his point. I was
taught that how well one does history depends on how fairly one handles
the evidence, not on keeping a blank mind. I readily admit my 'fair'
may -- in fact likely is -- different from your 'fair' or that of any
other member on the list.
Part of my fairness is my admittedly incomplete knowledge of my biases.
Thus I continue to struggle with the ancient Greek aphorism, "Know
thyself." That's probably one reason why there are no books by me in
that stack awaiting you.
Thank you for raising this question, and thank you to the list members
who have commented. (The discussion has eased my bruises.)
Regards to all,
Frank
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|