Interesting article, but
"Apply this move to any other discipline, and the implications are ludicrous. No political interests of lives of Caesars or ancient kings can be considered historical; no literary interests in lives of ancient poets can be considered historical; no philosophical interests in lives of Greek philosophers can be considered historical; only non-historically significant accounts can be considered of value by historians."
This is well off the mark. Much important research into Roman history was done by Marxist historians who had very much political interests, plenty of Shakespeare researchers have a certain literary interpretation of Shakespeare that drives their research. I'm not saying that the personal ideology influencing research problem isn't acute in Biblical studies, it is very much and worth pointing out, but in my mind it's a matter of difference of degree and not kind when comparing to other historical fields of study. Historical study is driven by the passions of the researchers and these passions inevitably create some bias, although without these passions research will not be done.
Interesting article, but
"Apply this move to any other discipline, and the implications are ludicrous. No political interests of lives of Caesars or ancient kings can be considered historical; no literary interests in lives of ancient poets can be considered historical; no philosophical interests in lives of Greek philosophers can be considered historical; only non-historically significant accounts can be considered of value by historians."
This is well off the mark. Much important research into Roman history was done by Marxist historians who had very much political interests, plenty of Shakespeare researchers have a certain literary interpretation of Shakespeare that drives their research. I'm not saying that the personal ideology influencing research problem isn't acute in Biblical studies, it is very much and worth pointing out, but in my mind it's a matter of difference of degree and not kind when comparing to other historical fields of study. Historical study is driven by the passions of the researchers and these passions inevitably create some bias, although without these passions research will not be done.