More Christlike scholarship

I've been out of town at the Sunstone Symposium, with limited computer access, which is why I didn't post Sunday. While I was at the symposium, someone mentioned to me that there'd been some discussion on one of the Mormon blogs of a paper I read last year. (At the risk of seeming coy or convoluted, I'm not going to mention names in what follows. That's because I'm trying to offer a generalizable reflection, rather than commenting on individual personalities.)

This was the second time someone's mentioned this to me, so this morning I got online and located the thread. The comments hurt a little. One person critiqued the paper for making assertions that I'd argue I didn't actually make. But that didn't smart as much as the person who chimed in with, "Just tell Duffy not to say stupid things."

I know I should have a thicker skin, especially if I'm going to write on topics (LDS apologetics, faithful scholarship, temple ritual) that invite responses from people with a history of aggressively criticizing opponents.

At the same time, as I was sitting there smarting, I thought, "Well, it's not like I haven't made hurtful criticisms of other people's work." In fact, just a few days ago, during the Q&A at one of my Sunstone presentations, I made a quick impromptu dig at one of the very people whose online comments made me smart. (It got an appreciative laugh from the audience, but still, even at the time, I thought, "Duffy, you're letting your mouth run faster than your brain.") At the same symposium, I sat on an "Author Meets Critics" panel where I gave a rather strong criticism of the book in question. I made an early gesture of "I sympathize with the author about X," but my main point was that the book was "fundamentally flawed," and I spent most of my time hammering that point home, prompting an understandably defensive response from the author. One of the other panelists was much more careful about reiterating over and over that he was offering his critiques as a friend—which I couldn't have done since I didn't really feel all that friendly toward the author.

I need to be more mindful of the fact that scholarship is a social activity. It isn't just about the exploration of ideas or the production of knowledge. Scholarship is conversation within a community, and my conversation needs to be more Christlike—more kind, more considerate, more sensitive of people's feelings. More charitable.