\u2018The Thinker\u201d (Le Penseur\u201d), by Rodin, located at the Mus\u00e9e Rodin in Paris
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sometimes receive notes from a fellow \u2014 an active Latter-day Saint, so far as I can tell \u2014 who likes to tell me that what I do, and what my associates do, is often quite poorly done. \u00a0Late last year, for example, on the spur of the moment (literally so), I posted a quick fundraising appeal on Facebook that managed to bring in several thousand dollars for the Interpreter Foundation. \u00a0(I\u2019m grateful for the generosity of those who contributed, mostly in modest amounts.) \u00a0This fellow\u2019s response to the fundraising appeal, though, was to write to tell me that, while he was thinking<\/em> about making a donation, he probably wouldn\u2019t<\/em>, because, well, he just isn\u2019t very enthused about Interpreter. \u00a0(And, in the end, true to his word, he gave nothing. \u00a0But I\u2019m deeply grateful that, along the way, he kept me informed about the unlikelihood of his making a contribution!)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
More recently, he\u2019s written again to tell me that he just doesn\u2019t think very highly of many of my blog entries and of Interpreter \u2014 even though, he assures me, he loves certain\u00a0other<\/em> Mormon-related periodicals. \u00a0He apparently bought a few copies of our Interpreter<\/em> journal some time back and, after they had sat on his shelf for a while, finally decided to take a gander at one of them. \u00a0His verdict? \u00a0There are, he reports, \u201csignificant issues in some of the articles,\u201d including but not necessarily limited to \u201cweird leaps of logic.\u201d \u00a0Still, he admits, he \u201ccould be wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cApologetics has its place,\u201d he tells me, \u201cbut some of it feels like a cousin of conspiracy theories: building up tons of small, inconsequential fragments that lead you to believe that Mickey Mouse killed JFK.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well. \u00a0I would simply like to respond, to this fellow and to others who might be inclined to similar expressions, that such comments are absolutely useless.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As of this week \u2014 quite without mentioning the podcasts, scripture roundtables, blog entries, books, conferences, radio broadcasts, scripture study aids, Old Testament KnowWhys, video-recorded lectures, and other things produced by the Interpreter Foundation \u2014 Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture<\/em> has published roughly 325 articles by approximately 125 distinct authors.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In other words, there is no single Interpreter style or topic or method or approach.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Telling me that he finds \u201cweird leaps of logic\u201d and other\u00a0\u201csignificant issues in some of the articles\u201d (although he \u201ccould be wrong\u201d) and that \u201csome\u201d apologetics seems silly to him, on a par with crazy conspiracy theories, is of absolutely no help at all.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
What\u2019s needed is specific allegations of poor logic, with specific references. \u00a0Page numbers would be helpful. \u00a0Airy dismissals of apologetics generally and vague gestures in the direction of unspecified problems serve to communicate disapproval and disdain, it\u2019s true, but otherwise convey nothing at all, and they can\u2019t be evaluated.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m reminded of a very famous passage from Theodore Roosevelt\u2019s speech \u201cCitizenship in a Republic,\u201d delivered at the Paris Sorbonne on 23 April 1910:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, frankly, I would be less put off by such a critic if he actually tried<\/em> to point out how we stumble, or where we could have done better. \u00a0When all he says is that he finds what we do uninteresting, silly, and\/or poorly reasoned, without offering specifics, I confess that I\u2019m disinclined to take him seriously, or to care what he has to say, or to appreciate it. \u00a0I have little patience for such comments.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
End of rant.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had an enjoyable dinner this evening with Joseph Spencer<\/a>, Ralph Hancock<\/a>, Noel Reynolds<\/a>, and my former student\u00a0Nathan Oman<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 possibly Noel\u2019s and Ralph\u2019s former student, as well \u2014 who is visiting from Williamsburg, Virginia. \u00a0Interesting conversation is one of life\u2019s greatest pleasures.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I sometimes receive notes from a fellow \u2014 an active Latter-day Saint, so far as I can tell \u2014 who likes to tell me that what I do, and what my associates do, is often quite poorly done. \u00a0Late last year, for example, on the spur of the moment (literally so), I posted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[68,1435,975,1441,1438],"class_list":["post-47355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apologetics","tag-criticism","tag-interpreter","tag-man-in-the-arena","tag-theodore-roosevelt"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>