Sometimes blogging leads otherwise sensible and rational people into irrationally insensible statements. One came today from Simon Holloway (who then drew Chris Weimer into his rant in a comment).
It all started when John Hobbins posted about the Sheffield University U-turn on closing its undergraduate Biblical Studies. In his post he included some comments from Facebook by one of the students organising protests, Ben Hinks.
The Biblical Studies Department is essentially back from the dead, well… it spent a few days in the belly of the Uni at least, and it did feel like we had gone down to Sheol at points too!
We are really pleased! Thank you everyone for your support, action and prayers. We have saved the Univeristy an embarassing and awful decision, which would not have done its reputation good in the long run.
Those who have followed this on Facebook and elsewhere are aware that previous posts included a request for prayers from those who “were that way inclined” alongside requests for action from anyone who could contribute. In his excitement at victory, Hinks clearly this time forgot that qualification. I’m not sure that justifies Holloway in his excitement entirely forgetting to check for context, as he rants
The undergraduate component of the Biblical Studies department was saved by public lobbying, and not by the prayers of worshippers.
Weimer’s comment compounds that:
A group of people, through seeing protests of students and faculties from all parts of the globe (albeit only a handful of people all told), decided against closing the department. Where is god in that? No where. PEOPLE DID THINGS.
The main problem with this is that nowhere does Hinks state, nor I think imply, either that God intervened, or that the department was saved by prayer. In fact he specifically states: “We have saved the Univeristy an embarassing [sic] and awful decision.”
I’m sure his requests to those people who wished to pray were sincere, and not to thank them would have been churlish. No doubt those students who were believers found some strength and comfort in the thought others were praying for them. Perhaps in a period of prayer and meditation some people decided they needed to take action. The point I’m making is that there is no specific theology of prayer implied in these thanks. Nor is there any necessary claim of a divine intervention. I have no idea what Hinks’ theology of prayer is: nor I suggest do Holloway and Weimer.
It’s astonishing that people who devote so much attention to the detailed contextual examination of ancient texts are so led astray by their presuppositions as to be unable to do the same to a contemporary one.
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Exactly. Hinks didn’t credit God with saving the department. And it’s a self righteous bigoted attitude that expects Christian members of the department – any department – not to pray or be grateful to those who do pray. They give ‘atheism’ a bad name. It’s more Ditchkinism.
Nonsense. I have no problem with Christians praying and never even intimated that I did. The reason that you don’t hear Christian representatives of Medicine, Law, English Literature and Physics departments making the same statements is because they know, and you know, that their faith is incidental. I made it very clear that my gripe was with the continuation of the stereotype that faith is an integral part of Biblical Studies and you would have known that, Steph, if you had thought about my article before commenting on it.
Doug, I’ve no problem with what you say, save to point out that I’m not an atheist. I do like to shoot off at the mouth from time to time and it’s both a blessing and a curse that the internet provides a convenient means of doing so. The reason that I wrote my article in the first place was to temper (somewhat) the tone of my original comment on John’s blog. I intended no disrespect towards members of any religion, and I apologise if I gave that impression.
Simon, my apologies for assuming you were an atheist – I have obviously not read enough of your blog. I shall be remedying that.
Nonsense Simon: you do hear members of other departments speaking about their faith, quite regularly. An MD (Dewi Rees) wrote on after death experience and wrote what was easier to do precisely because he shared the Christian faith with some of the patients he was dealing with. Also when death occurs in a department, members of that department express their faith in quite a random way. There are plenty of examples of personal faith being expressed in a whole university environment.
“…you don’t hear Christian representatives of Medicine, Law, English Literature and Physics departments making the same statements…”
Do you have some clear examples to back this up?
I don’t have any personal knowledge of Medicine, Law, English Literatire or Physics experiencing quite the same circumstances to make the comparison. Maybe you have? Or is this another assumption?
I find it surprisingly easy to imagine a parallel comment emerging within a facebook group from another discipline – though without the wonderful richness (yes, that is subjective) of biblical metaphor found elsewhere in Ben Hinks’ comments. I daresay they might find metaphor from within their own discipline… And some might even ‘read God into it.’
Please give a name next time if you want your comment to be approved quickly (or at all)
I appreciate your point, “Anon”, but I cannot possibly bring examples of something not happening. Perhaps, so that my argument doesn’t hinge upon this example, let me rephrase that point. If somebody from another department did make the same sort of statements, you could expect the same sort of response from me and, I would imagine, from very many others. People expect such comments to come from Biblical Studies departments, but there is no reason why they should expect them moreso than anywhere else, unless they are making the erroneous assumption that Biblical Studies is related to theology. It may subsume theology, but not the other way around.
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