\n<\/p>\n
While I was a faculty member at Westminster Theological Seminary, a colleague (not in biblical studies) wrote a rather heavy-handed response\u00a0to a well-known biblical scholar. I felt embarrassed by it, so much so that I wrote the scholar in essence apologizing for the school and assuring him that the biblical studies department did not share this reviewer\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n
He wrote back with much class and pointed out that, unfortunately, sometimes young scholars say things they wind up either regretting, or at least cringing at, for the rest of their careers.<\/p>\n
I had a similar experience. As I was completing my doctoral work, I wrote a review of a book that I thought at the time was not very good\u2013an opinion I still\u00a0hold\u2013but I did it with the sort of self-confidence that only an inexperienced doctoral student could possibly conjure up.<\/p>\n
Some months after the review was published, I remember running into the author at an academic meeting and suddenly feeling quite embarrassed at what I had said (or more, how I had said \u00a0it), and so apologized to him. He was quite gracious\u2013a man more than twice my age at the time\u2013and I felt like a true child who had been caught making fun of the teacher behind his back.<\/p>\n
The lesson I learned there, and have tried to live out ever since, is that in reviewing the work of another, imagine him or her sitting right there next to you as you type. I recall Bruce Waltke (one of my professors\u00a0at WTS) saying that reviewing the work of another is a \u201cpastoral exercise\u201d and the author has to feel \u201csafe\u201d in the reviewer\u2019s hands. That is great advice.<\/p>\n
The two instances I describe above are both examples of scholarly immaturity moving toward maturity. Lessons are learned and you move on and become a better scholar and person for it.<\/p>\n
Which brings me to the internet.<\/p>\n
The problem with the internet is that young scholars are working out these sorts of inevitable maturity issues online, for many\u00a0hundreds and thousands\u00a0to see almost instantly, rather than the dozens or a few\u00a0hundreds who would read reviews in journals over the period of weeks, months, and even years.<\/span><\/p>\n I know it\u2019s an almost banal criticism of the internet, but it is true: anyone can get a website or create a podcast. All you need are\u00a0two properties common to\u00a0youth and you\u2019re off and running: a bit of energy and self-confidence.<\/p>\n On the internet there is no vetting process and no accountability to those who know the field better. Whatever \u201csafe\u201d\u00a0distance\u00a0there might have been in old-fashioned journaled book reviews between the reviewer and the author is magnified on the internet, thus encouraging caving in to the impulse of \u201cquick\u201d thoughts or unfortunate rhetoric\u2013or simply speaking into an issue that hasn\u2019t had the time to gestate properly.<\/p>\n It used to be that young scholars did their growing up a bit more privately. Now we watch that sometimes painful process on a daily basis. Seasoned scholars will continue to do what they always do\u2013respond with grace or best not at all. But younger scholars are leaving a record of their own growth process that might lead to regret, or at least a painful\u00a0cringe, later on.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n