…or so Dave Armstrong alleges this morning. As an example of his methodology of argumentation (which often includes the, “Oh, look at that issue over there that is completely irrelevant to the point at hand, isn’t it interesting?” tactic), Armstrong’s attempted response to this blog entry begins by re-posting Dan Borvan’s picture from Geneva of the “Reformation Wall” with this subtitle:
For this to be true, of course, it would have to follow that DA has evidence that Dan bowed down to these statues, lit candles to them, prayed to them, and sought the intercession of these men of God. Of course, Armstrong doesn’t have that evidence, and, of course, Dan didn’t do that, which only shows once again that Armstrong has no compunctions about constructing straw-men.
I note briefly in passing as well that Armstrong’s response proves that he is unable to engage the actual texts under discussion outside of relying upon secondary sources. That is, all he can do is try to line up commentators on one side or the other and say, “See, my point is possible because these guys say so.” But he is not capable of responding to the substance of the comments regarding martu,rwn, qeatai, etc., for this is beyond his area of study. Now, there is nothing wrong with someone being ignorant of the original languages, exegesis, etc., however, there is everything wrong in being ignorant of these things and yet making repeated pronouncements about the conclusions of the study of these fields.
