Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Tony Bowden <bhebrew AT tmtm.com>]

On Wed, Jul 05, 2006 at 08:59:07AM -0700, dwashbur AT nyx.net wrote:
> Since Joel, who was the object of his comment, apparently didn't take 
> offense, there's no reason why you should.  I certainly saw no offense, 
> and it would seem that none of the other members did, either, so the 
> problem seems to be yours alone.  

I didn't actually take any offence, and the preposterous suggestion that
my email had anything to do with being offended at the mere mention of
alcohol just confirmed that James was being either deliberately obtuse
or deliberately offensive. I usually prefer to abide by the dictum of not
ascribing to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity,
but James' posts have shown that he is actually very intelligent, which
unfortunately leaves it too difficult to follow that line of reasoning.

All I had said was that I had hoped that this list might be above ad
hominen attacks. I am certainly not offended if it turns out that it
is not. The internet is full of mailing lists and discussion forums
where people can batter each other to pieces over their theological
differences, and some of them can even be quite fun places to observe
or participate. I had hoped, however, that this list, was not one of
those places, but somewhere where scholarly debate was more appropriate.
My experience in the few weeks since I have subscribed has made me
question whether or not I was mistaken in this view.

I would also note that the claim that this is my opinion alone seems
rather strange in light of Herman Meester's message on the subject.

Tony