the gods

[Edwin F Bryant]

On Mon, 26 May 1997, Luis Gonzalez-Reimann wrote:

> At 03:50 AM 5/26/97 BST, Howard Resnick wrote:
> >George Thompson stated:
> >It seems to me that if a Vedic poet, say DIrghatamas, is capable of
> >>doubting the existence of Agni, among a number of other gods, then we
> >>should be able to be a little tolerant of Greg Downey's apparent doubts,
> >>especially since he hedges them with a parenthesis: "(for the sake of the
> >>argument)."
> >	If my comments were perceived as a personal criticism of Greg Downey, I
> >sincerely apologize. My point is simple and general: if any of us, including
> >Dirghatamas, states that a god exists or doesn't exist, we speak not as
> >"neutral" scholars but as metaphysicians. This alone was my argument.
> >Howard Resnick
> 
> With all due respect, Howard, how does your professed concern for scholarly
> "neutrality" (if I understand you correctly) square with the following
> words, from the introduction to:
> 
> Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora, vol. 1.  "Translating, Translations,
> Translators, From India to the West."  Edited by Enrica Garzilli, 1996.
> 
> Louis, 
	Howard's comment, as I read it, is neither promoting scholarly
neutrality nor advocating metaphysical bias.  It is merely dilineating the
respective boundaries of the two.  How, then, is the posting
of his personal theological orientations, taken from a completely
different context, relevant to the argument he is making here?
Edwin Bryant