Tessa Rajak

There are some interesting things here, and the subject is obviously both important and neglected. The author is learned. However, she writes with a huge chip on her shoulder. This is distracting and makes it difficult to trust what she says. I looked up one of the references just because I had it handy. No matter how much Prof. Rajak dislikes Tertullian, and with however much good reason, the remarks she makes about him at the bottom of page 284 and the top of 285 are simply not supported by the citation she gives: if anything, rather the reverse. I suppose that it's too much to ask that a scholar who chooses to devote her career to an area would not have an axe to grind, but it is too bad that scholarly conventions discourage a frank avowal. I've also noticed that the axes usually come out toward the end of a book. If I ever wrote a book, I imagine my prejudices and biases would appear rather noticeably, whether I wanted them to or not.… (more)