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Article: The End of Biblical Studies.(Book review)
- Article from:
- The Humanist
- Article date:
- September 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 American Humanist Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The End of Biblical Studies
By Hector Avalos
(Prometheus, 2007)
399 pp.; $32.00
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
SAY WHAT YOU WILL about ivory-tower intellectuals. Yes, they tend to obsess over esoteric obscurities. Sure, they sometimes lose sight of the practical applications originally envisioned by their supporters. But only a shameless, dyed-in-the-wool academic would have the coconuts to publicly proclaim his own professions irrelevancy, thus thumbing his nose at colleagues and benefactors alike. And perhaps only Hector Avalos, associate professor of religious studies at Iowa State University and author of Fighting Words: the ...