Bill Hamblin wrote:Imagine if professor X wrote a book about the Roman army. I write a review of his book saying he misunderstood the nature of the Roman army, and give a list of a dozen serious errors in his book. Then imagine that professor X’s friend began to object that X is a really nice man, who volunteers at a homeless shelter each weekend, and is a loving husband and father. The friend then says I am a vile and nasty man for criticizing X, while not mentioning X’s good qualities in my review of his book on the Roman army. My reply would simply be that X’s marvelous character has precisely nothing to do with whether or not he is right about the Roman army. This is, in fact, the reverse ad hominem--to argue that because professor X has many noble and endearing qualities, we should not criticize his book on the Roman army. And it’s hogwash.
Bill, this is an inaccurate portrayal of what is going on in the exchange over Greg's work. Greg's article is intellectually incoherent. You can't write a book about Rome's first professional army and spend almost the entire time discussing Marius' personal character and belief system. Greg's article evinces no attempt whatsoever to understand or describe Mormon Stories. So, a review of Mormon Stories it is not. A discussion of some of John Dehlin's statements in podcasts and online discussions? That's what it is. As your friend David Bokovoy has shown, perhaps inadvertently, anyone can pull out some quotes from online discussions to make someone look silly. Greg sure looks silly for having exploded on David's Facebook page about a Quinn book that he hadn't read. So, by Greg's standard, his own intellectual credibility is shot to hell, and we shouldn't respect anything he has written or value anything he has contributed to the LDS community.
Unfortunately for you, your readers aren't as stupid as you have always taken them for. Sure, your fans and fellow travelers love your rhetorical bravado, but much of what you write in this vein doesn't stand up to a few moments of reflection. Still, you press on, preaching to the choir. I guess that's something. It does nothing to heal the rifts in the LDS community, but then it probably wasn't intended to do so anyway.