Teologen

A couple of weeks ago at the Bjørnson conference I ended up sitting next to one of the big names at the banquet. I was told that in addition to his academic profile he had also published "books on theology." I decided it would be good to engage, so I tried to ask him about it but he was quite slippery, and basically avoided talking about it. I figured that was fair enough, not everyone wants to get into a big discussion about their moral philosophy at a banquet.

When he found out that I was working on a book about cabins he did what Scandinavians usually do when they hear that an American in writing about cabins in Norwegian literature, namely start listing cabins from American literature. I suppose they're trying to be helpful? I don't know how many times Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin have been suggested to me as relevant to my analysis of the role of place in the construction of Norwegian identity. It's kind of irritating and kind of sweet at the same time. Any way, the "big name" quite enthusiastically suggested to me an American novel that I haven't heard of, William Paul Young's The Shack from 2008. I took note of the recommendation, and just this morning I decided to look it up on Amazon. ARGH! It's apparently the next great thing in Evangelical Christian literature, guaranteed to revolutionize my faith in God. I could spit.

I then googled the "big name" and discovered that not only is he a literary scholar and a theologian, but he is also a right wing commentator with a newspaper column and a huge chip on his shoulder against the "liberal" or progressive bias of higher education and the general level of secularization in his home country. YUCK. He also happens to have written or edited dozens of books in my field. I'm torn as to whether I should try to read some of it (his most recent book may have some relevance, based on the title) or can I just write him off as ideologically questionable? I don't know. On principle I should give him a chance, but he has already given me the impression of being the kind of person who deals in half truths.