Objectivity
Greg Carey (CAREY@rhodes.edu)
Thu, 15 Aug 1996 10:00:37 -0500 (CDT)
Peter Wise's post doesn't ring true to my reality. I have degrees from an
fairly conservative seminary and from a university graduate program. One thing
I've learned is that the evangelical-liberal concern is only an issue in more
conservative settings. In the broader academic world, we use and assign texts
according to their usefulness, not their location on a constructed theological
spectrum. When I assign texts for my Synoptics class, I don't even think about
Peter's question. And in my course on Contemporary Biblical Hermeneutics, I
devote a section of the course to evangelical readings as one subset among many
options.
Scanning my bookshelves, I see: David Garland, Richard Cassidy, G-R Beasley-
Murray, Ralph Martin, Ched Myers, Wes Howard-Brook, Charles Talbert, Grant
Osborne, Joel Green--do I need to go on?--all well used.
My bottom line: Objectivity is a commitment to submit one's work to public
critical scrutiny. As Edgar said so effectively, that's what this list is for.
--Greg Carey
Department of Religious Studies
Rhodes College
Memphis TN 38112
carey@rhodes.edu