This week, as I was doing research on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I realized that I was placed all of my presuppositions and suspicions about FDR, out in the open first. Then after that, as I was reading the first two volumes of Kenneth S. Davis’ work, I was rather surprised by what I discovered. Then it hit me.
This feeling of surprise and excitement was the same one I felt as I was studying and becoming an admirer of Clement of Alexandria’s work. As a biased and dogmatic anti-Platonist, I came to appreciate Clement’s teaching while I tempered my hermeneutic of suspicion for Greek philosophy (it’s still there though). So what I have to say is this:
One can tell if she is doing critical scholarship if she allows herself to be surprised by her findings. If one cannot stand to read anything that disagrees with his presuppositions, then maybe a scholarly life is not for him.
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