Bible Scholar on an Airplane

The article on the SBL's Forum, Bible Scholar on an Airplane, is right on target for any academic in the humanities who travels - but seems more apt for those of us in biblical studies. As I travel to the Annual Meeting, I am on a plane with people reading devotional books. I have not taken out a book I am reviewing or any of my materials for the meeting. It is not that I am afraid of what others might think, but it is early and today is a travel and rest day. I don't have the energy to get involved in a discussion of this or that book, pratice, or belief system. While I doubt that those in the so-called hard sciences have this problem, I suspect that medical doctors have this problem. I know from experience that most have the "a doctor? Well I have this symptom.." experience when meeting those in the general population. I suspect that this 'on-the-spot-diagnosis' discussion gets as old as the 'my-beliefs' discussion for biblical scholars.

On the other hand, the fact that the 'scholar on the plane' phenomonon occurs may point to a larger need for biblical scholars to make their work known in the wider public. For example, would Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" have been as big a blockbuster if biblical scholars were publishng more for the general public on this subject? Or educating clergy and laity better? One may never know, but at the very least the discipline has not sold itelf well beyond the classroom and library walls. Yes there is a lot of what passes for scholarship out there - but it is not the latest or the best or even close to the scholarly consensus on the majority of issues. From what I have learned from family and friends who are not academics, and gracefully tolerate my rantings at times, most of what is being used and promoted is about 75 to 100 years behind. It is largely pre-critical or at best nascently critical scholarship.