Jim West has what is allegedly a view from ‘the inside’. He says:
I received the following letter from a Sheffield insider- a ‘Sheffieldian Deepthroat’ if you will – and was asked to share it.
Read it all here. It raises question worthy of discussion for all those interested in education and biblical studies.
allegedly? really? so i’m just making it up- or lying?
No Jim, I think the blogger is just being “careful” and using legalistic language to prevent a lawsuit (I see the owner of this blog is American, so it kind of makes sense). I know from first hand knowledge that you are not “making it up”. Back to FB … 🙂
yeah – same. what’s with the allegedly?
My goodness, folks… time to take a look at the dictionary:
“Allegedly” is an adverb built off the adjective “alleged” which might be defined as “declared or stated to be as described.” I simply used the word because of the uncertainty of the source. I don’t think Jim is lying, but I’m dependent on what is “declared to be as described.” While I admit in some contexts, the word can come to mean “suspect” or “doubtful,” I think it is clear that I didn’t mean that here.
There are two meanings: declared but not proved, and doubtful or suspect. “Represented as existing or as being as described but not so proved; supposed.” The implication is that the source may not be authentic.
Stephanie, I’m glad you’ve stopped by and I do hope you’ll take a look around the blog, but I don’t care to further defend that my use of the adverb is completely appropriate. My point was to provide a link to what I thought was an interesting perspective on the Sheffield ordeal. I support the campaign to keep the biblical studies dept. open. Perhaps I could have been clearer in the post with my word choice. Granted.