the gods

[bpj at netg.se]

At 09:09 27.5.1997 +0100, Edwin F Bryant wrote:

>My question to Louis remains: why was it
>considered appropriate, to drag in and broadcast Howard's
>personal religious orientations when this was irrelevant to the simple
>point he was making (which was not to advocate scholarly neutrality)?
>Edwin Bryant

Does this mean that you consider it of no consequence what "personal
religious orientations" a scholar holds? Far from finding it desirable to
conceal my own religious orientation I think it is important that it is
known, since it is in any case likely to influence my thinking in all walks
of life, including scholarly work and scholarly orientation. I have
experienced that my "scholarly seriousness" was called into question
because of my Buddhist beliefs -- by an ordained Swedish Lutheran minister
acting as a university teacher. The idea that empathy or embracing of the
beliefs and values of the 'foreign' cultur one studies would be somehow
'contaminating' for a western scholar or student is IMO outright racist and
colonialist, and to those who object to my being openly Buddhist I have
only one comment: "Honi soit qui mal y pense"!

Philip

              _        _    .             _ _
|| Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha ||

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