the gods

[Hrid at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/26/97 3:32:39 PM, reimann at uclink.berkeley.edu (Luis
Gonzalez-Reimann) wrote:

>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.

Dear Luis,
	Thank you for your inquiry. The concern I expressed in this discussion was
for a clear distinction between claims made as an academic scholar, and
claims made as a metaphysician. I did not mean to imply that academic claims
are a priori superior or inferior to metaphysical claims. Dr. Garzilli, in
her preface to my article in the Harvard Oriental Series publication,
mentions that I translated and published several works from a Vaishnava
religious perspective. In those volumes, which I completed over a decade ago,
I made no pretense of speaking from a "neutral" academic perspective. I am
arguing here for a clear distinction between academic and religious speech. I
believe that in the works cited by Garzilli, I maintained such a distinction.
Thanks again, and with best wishes,
Howard