I was in two minds about doing the interview, since I\u2019ve had some unpleasant experiences in the past. This time, I\u2019m largely pleased with the outcome, with only one real exception: once again, the student journalist jotted down notes based on things I said, and from those notes constructed \u201cquotes\u201d which do not put things in exactly the way I would put them in my own words.<\/p>\n
It is not the journalist\u2019s fault, on this occasion. I mentioned my previous experience of being misquoted in the paper, and asked whether I could see the article and ensure that the quotes attributed to me are in fact my own words. I was sent a draft \u2013 which closely resembled what actually appeared in yesterday\u2019s Collegian<\/em> \u2013 and I made some corrections to some minor details as well as rewriting the quotations attributed to me so that they were not only the gist of what I had said when I did the interview, but precisely what I would say<\/em> in precisely the way I would say it<\/em>.<\/p>\n Hours after returning this to the journalist, I received a late-night e-mail explaining that it was not the newspaper\u2019s policy to allow people to \u201cchange quotes\u201d prior to publication. It doesn\u2019t seem to me that it is \u201cchanging a quote\u201d if what one is changing wasn\u2019t really a quotation to begin with.<\/p>\n I wonder what actual professional newspapers do when it comes to quotations. I presume they either record the interview or ask for written statements from those interviewed. I am baffled by the fact that a student newspaper would have a policy so directly opposed to what I would assume to be the best practice in the profession, and would instead encourage its journalists to put their own paraphrases in quotation marks and attribute them to their sources.<\/p>\n At the moment I\u2019m tempted to write a letter to the editor asking them to add a disclaimer on the front page of every issue, explaining that all \u201cquotation marks\u201d are in fact \u201cscare quotes\u201d unless otherwise specified. So obviously I\u2019ll wait until I feel I can be less sarcastic before trying to address the issue.<\/p>\n But what I will<\/em> offer here is an improved version of the article \u2013 with quotes that are actually quotations of me, my thoughts in my own words. The quotations from students have not been modified \u2013 obviously<\/em>.<\/p>\n One of Butler\u2019s professors celebrated the unique accomplishment of publishing a book this summer, even though he missed the book\u2019s opening for a very common reason: he had the flu. The latest issue of Butler University\u2019s student newspaper, The Collegian, includes an article about my recent book The Only True God. I was in two minds about doing the interview, since I\u2019ve had some unpleasant experiences in the past. This time, I\u2019m largely pleased with the outcome, with only one real exception: once again, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Dr. James F. McGrath, associate professor of religion, published his new book in July, entitled, The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context<\/em> (University of Illinois Press). It is a topic that had been brewing in his mind for over a decade.
\u201cI have been interested in monotheism in its earliest sense since I wrote my doctoral dissertation in 1998,\u201d McGrath said.
In his book, McGrath analyzed early Christians\u2019 view of God.
\u201cMost people are aware that Christians developed a distinctive view of God, articulated in later times as the doctrine of the Trinity; but I wanted look at the question of how Christianity got there,\u201d McGrath said. \u201cThis book investigates if the earliest Christians were monotheists.\u201d
McGrath wanted to take a second look at this idea in the context of Judaism.
This was not the first time Dr. McGrath\u2019s work has been published. His first book, John\u2019s Apologetic Christology<\/em> (Cambridge University Press), was published in 2001. His second book, The Burial of Jesus: History and Faith<\/em>, was published last fall.
\u201cThis is a scholarly book and I hope it will impact many other scholars, researchers and teachers,\u201d McGrath said, \u201chowever, I tried to write it in a way that anyone could understand.\u201d
Some of McGrath\u2019s former students offered comment on his teaching and the prospect of reading his new book.
\u201cI took \u201cThe Bible\u201d first semester of my sophomore year, and I felt that he was knowledgeable on the makeup of the Bible and its intent and purpose,\u201d junior dance major Mary Priestly Jarrard said.
\u201cI would definitely consider reading his book, because I respect him as a person and admire his dedication and would love to know any more information he has to share on a subject he is passionate about.\u201d
Junior Mary Fowler Howell agreed that Dr. McGrath knows what he is talking about.
\u201cDr. McGrath knows the Bible well and his strength definitely lies in scholarly writing,\u201d Fowler said.
McGrath hopes to spur discussion from his book, and writes a blog, Exploring Our Matrix<\/em> (http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/<\/a>) that explores themes in the book further, as well as many other topics (including LOST \u2013 which is perhaps not surprising if one considers that Dr. McGrath will be teaching a class on \u201cReligion and Science Fiction\u201d next semester). He also maintains a separate blog dedicated to posts related specifically to The Only True God<\/em>.
\u201cI hope this book will foster interreligious dialogue and understanding. There are so many diverse forms of monotheism that have characterized people\u2019s belief in God over the past several thousand years,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-5255735037089351934?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")