Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Fan Club Testimonials


Here are some recent commendations about my interests in the Reformation from one of my Roman Catholic admirers:

"Just to summarize my thoughts here on discussing these things with you, it just ain't worth the effort. You are FAR interested in making pronouncements about this or that writer, or commenting on your preferred context means of establishing proper context, or making disparaging comments about me personally than you are in ACTUALLY DISCUSSING LUTHER. Especially Luther's beliefs on his own authority to teach and interpret. I think that your tactics are pretty obvious, even to us who are not intellectuals."

"Please feel free to burden someone else with endless discussions of sources and "James approved context". If you want to actually discuss Luther's beliefs about his own authority and compare your thoughts with those of other Reformed writers, you will have the opportunity. But just so you will know, I think it is cowardly to hide behind the typical "scholarly" tactic of simply refuting everything on the basis that you don't agree with this or that source, or whine that not enough or too many words from a given quote were used."

"In summary James, although I would like to engage in an honest dialogue with you about LUTHER and especially about his concept of his own authority, that appears to be impossible for you. Being a failed human I don't have the patience to be jerked around endlessly discussing your preferred set of writers, your non-preferred writers, your very exacting criteria regarding context (which never really becomes clear until I post quote, and rarely thereafter). I don't have the patience to have you constantly make me, or Dave, or this or that the issue. I think it is intellectually dishonest in that your motives are obviously to tie me up so that I don't have time to quote what you know I am going to."

1 comment:

Rhology said...

I agree. When you post too many words, my eyes kind of lose focus and I want to go read some Steve Ray.