I love footnotes (and I hate endnotes – why are you making me flip to the back every time I want to check a reference?) I want to see where a particular argument is elaborated in more detail, I want to see the proof, I want to see the “work” that lies behind an assertion. I want to read for myself the sources that have led an author to his conclusions.
I had seen an article by N.T. Wright referenced in several different works: “‘Constraints’ and the Jesus of History” in The Scottish Journal of Theology, from 1986. I could not track it down anywhere: not on ntwrightpage, not as a pdf anywhere, not even in the particular collection of journals on EBSCO. Just today I looked at a top shelf in the school library where I am attending and saw a little box of periodicals with “Scottish Journal of Theology” written on it. There were a half dozen print copies — what are the chances they would include the 1986 edition? Sure enough, a couple from the 1950s and a few from the mid 1980s, including 1986, and the exact article I was looking for.
How cool is that? Can’t wait to read ‘Constraints’ and fill a gaping hole in my understanding of the quest for the historical Jesus.
βιβλιοσκώληξ 