tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472139466585018053.post252762656279184852..comments2024-03-11T04:11:06.487-04:00Comments on The Smithy: Read the Original - If You CanLee Faberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00476833516234522602noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472139466585018053.post-38470355391287917252011-12-27T18:49:27.691-05:002011-12-27T18:49:27.691-05:00Ironically, I had a history grad student complain ...Ironically, I had a history grad student complain to me about FFA because he is always jetting around the world giving popular talks and writing trendy popular histories.Lee Faberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00476833516234522602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472139466585018053.post-30373527546960509712011-12-27T18:20:14.001-05:002011-12-27T18:20:14.001-05:00In my experience the very opposite is the case: ac...In my experience the very opposite is the case: academic historians absolutely revile popular writers, authors of "social studies" text books for primary and secondary education, and glib academics from other fields. While an undergraduate in History, nearly every historian we read in a course on Historiography evinced such a view -- and often with a good amount of bile. Frankly, I didn't blame them. They spend countless hours straining their eyes over half-faded fragments of texts only to be outsold by some boor peddling rags he wrote in a fortnight.<br /><br />And while I do not sympathize with Fernández-Armesto's own glib dismissal of all things postmodern -- nor even, if you will forgive me, every point that those affiliated with Radical Orthodoxy make -- he is right to argue that such people make gross and embarrassing errors when it comes to history. Frankly, this is odd when you think about it. With their abandonment of Enlightenment reason as tradition-transcendent, you would think it would mean more of an emphasis on good historical work, not less.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472139466585018053.post-85314308118877934772011-12-27T13:16:08.189-05:002011-12-27T13:16:08.189-05:00Naturally, I like his crack about "amateurish...Naturally, I like his crack about "amateurish theologians", however.Lee Faberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00476833516234522602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472139466585018053.post-61222262809698326272011-12-27T13:14:32.306-05:002011-12-27T13:14:32.306-05:00Doesn't surprise me one bit. This guy made so...Doesn't surprise me one bit. This guy made some pretty stupid comments at a Marenbon lecture on abelard a few years ago. He kept criticizing Marenbon about a perfectly reasonable translation and went on and on for ages and it had nothing to do with any actual point Marenbon was trying to make.Lee Faberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00476833516234522602noreply@blogger.com