Dog & Cat

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  1. AnonymousMarch 11, 2010 at 8:48 PM

    Frighteningly, I think sometimes it works *just that way*...

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  2. Brian W. OgilvieMarch 11, 2010 at 8:59 PM

    Nice, but is the polemic really inevitable? I can't help but think of the difference between A. G. Dickens, Euan Cameron, and Eamon Duffy, on the one hand, and Diarmaid MacCulloch on the other. The former are engaged in the polemic (on different sides), while MacCulloch, I think, is beyond it. But then, his position as a gay, ex-Anglican, agnostic is unusual and, as he admits, contributes to his historiographical position. (Well, to be precise, it's the ex-Anglican and agnostic aspects that he admits as influences.)

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  3. Fencing BearMarch 13, 2010 at 9:12 AM

    @Brian: Perhaps we don't always perceive it as polemic, but surely writing as a ex-anything suggests a particular interpretative position. I've tried to articulate a bit more clearly what's bothering me in today's post. Maybe it's that I don't buy anybody else's position but can't yet articulate mine.

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