Light from the Quest

Many years ago, to a student who had made what to him and to the rest of the class seemed a sensible guess as to the origin in the misty past of a practice still in vogue, the teacher, an eminent anthropologist, made what was to me a memorable reply. Said he in substance, “When we are probing back i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Harvard theological review 1949-01, Vol.42 (1), p.19-33
Main Author: Enslin, Morton S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Art photography
Christianity
Desire
Mothers
Theology
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Many years ago, to a student who had made what to him and to the rest of the class seemed a sensible guess as to the origin in the misty past of a practice still in vogue, the teacher, an eminent anthropologist, made what was to me a memorable reply. Said he in substance, “When we are probing back into antiquity we need be ever on our guard against the fallacy that what seems to us rational or sensible or practical would have so seemed to them. Thus it has been my experience that when seeking to explain the origin of a practice which still continues, but with no real indication as to what started it, of all the various possible guesses the one which seems to us most [sensible] or [reasonable] is the one to be most resolutely excluded. Because a practice so appears to us is no guarantee that it would so have appeared to men under totally different circumstances, whose notion of the world was totally different from our own; in fact, it is usually a guarantee that the exact opposite would be the case.”
ISSN:0017-8160
1475-4517
DOI:10.1017/S0017816000019556