Interpreting the Gita

[David Salmon]

Arun Gupta wrote:
>
> The point is that Bernard Lewis, as far as I have read, nowhere calls
> the Quran an incitement to war.  The point is that anyone who said such
> a thing would be branded a bigot, a purveyor of hatred, (and if a Hindu)
> a Hindu reactionary/retrogressive/fanatic/fascist.
>
> Yet with far less justification, Doniger and Kosambi are said to be
> presenting scholarly views about the Gita being an incitement to war,
> We may disagree with these opinions, but that we ought to respect them.
> Why ?
>
> Why not apply the same standard to everyone ?  Cite to me one scholar,
> the equivalent of a Doniger or Kosambi who in a public lecture to a
> general audience says about the Quran what either of these say about
> the Gita, gets cited in a wide-circulation newspaper, and has the entire
> academic community making excuses for them, and I will hold my peace.
>
> -Arun Gupta
>
>
I will grant you some of this, although there are a great many persons who
have described Islam, which means "peace," as I recall, in those terms, and
there must have been a few scholars amongst them.  The last well-known
"scholar"? who attempted something like that was Rushdie, if I remember.
Yes, scholars can be intimidated.  They can be scared off from even wanting
anything to do with a controversial subject, which might be another reason
why funding for research and study into these kinds of subjects is hard to
come by.  That is why I speak up, perhaps.  I am retired.

Let me ask:
        Would not your opinion, as voiced, be viewed as intimidating (if not
intended to intimidate) by craven and lowly persons still on the tenure
track and and likely to cause them to fear to voice their own views, as I am
quite sure Prof. Doniger is not?
        Is it good that any teacher should be intimidated from speaking his
or her mind, especially if on an American campus?
       As for Prof. Doniger in particular, are teachers of and about the
Gita customarily also able to do the same concerning the Quran?

Cut the perfessor a little slack this time.  The difficulties an American
teacher of Islamic studies must face these days (are there any in the group,
or are "we" too antediluvian?) must be equally horrific.

IMHO.

David