Talk:Peter Gandy (author)

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Untitled[edit]

So far just a stub. Can we do more? I never heard of the guy, but I suggest naming what University he received his PhD. from; what University he currently teaches at; a synopsis of his arguments about Jesus; an account of how they have been recieved by other scholars (e.g. a citation index; summary of reviews of books in academic journals) Slrubenstein

He is from the UK. CheeseDreams 00:43, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

P.s. I thought stubs were {{stub}} and you weren't supposed to sign articles.

Degree[edit]

Gandy's degree info can be found here...I'm not sure how to put a note on the article but will look into it and add it soon. KHM03 12:51, 20 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have added a list of books Gandy wrote with Freke and expanded the bio slightly. I got the booklist mainly from Amazon.com, I have not been able to find anything he wrote solo. FWIW, he does not have a PhD or equivalent and I do not think he has ever taught at a university. I have not found any scholarly publication by him yet and I do not know of any specialists in these areas using Freke and Gandy's books as the basis for research. I read Jesus Mysteries very carefully and it would never stand up to peer review. These are popular works, not academic ones. I am pretty sure Gandy's M.A. is British; American readers might not know that you can get an M.A. in Britain in a year (U.S. is typically 2-3 years). I really do not think that he should be tagged as an academic but I will leave that decision to someone else. Maestlin 20:11, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't object to his "academic" label. My problem has been that he's not a "scholar" or "expert" in the field of Jesus research...the primary evidence for his expertise in this area has been "because I say so", which hardly stands up. Yes, he's written some books about Jesus...so has Pat Robertson, and I don't see him viewed as a serious Jesus scholar. I just want us to be clear and honest about hios credentials, which are lacking (heck, I have more training in this area than Gandy does!) KHM03 ^(talk) 20:16, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Technically he may be an academic--has a graduate degree. But I bet the only reason anyone looks at this article is because of the "Jesus Mysteries" series. I don't know if putting an "academic" tag on this article implies that his Jesus mysteries work is university-related or peer reviewed. I wonder if the label will mislead people into thinking that Jesus msyteries has some sort of academic blessing. Which it definitely does not. It amazes how many people who read these books think that "lots of citations" means "well-researched" and the academic tag might add to this wrong belief. But I have my own bias which I do not want to bring to the article itself. Maestlin 22:45, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you have any info on how academia has not taken Gandy seriously, feel free to add it. I defer to you as you seem to know more about this than I. KHM03 ^(talk) 22:55, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

All I can say for sure is that I have not found any trace of Gandy (or Freke) in academic publishing. I have not turned over every stone. I tried looking for book reviews a couple of years ago and turned up zero. My specialty is early modern; ancient natural philosophy/religion is more than a hobby for me, but cant say I am an expert. Anyone trained in history though can look at Jesus mysteries and say that it is not well researched. I could tear the book apart but it would all have to be original work, which ain't Wikipedia. Maestlin 23:14, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Maestlin, I agree with your comments and removed the academic tag. ken 00:59, 13 June 2006 (UTC)kdbuffalo[reply]

Why does the article read "He claims an M.A"? That phrase makes it sound as though you cannot trust his claim. However, it seems to me that it is pretty clear (from the above link) that he does hold such a degree. Is there any reason to doubt that he holds it? The question about his authority on this topic is a whole different matter, but give the man the degree that he holds. If no one objects I will remove this loaded phrase "he claims" from the article in a few weeks. -Yeshuahasochek (talk) 07:43, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It seems the above link is outdated. Here is one that works. -Yeshuahasochek (talk) 07:47, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think the issue arises because no one seems to know where his degree was awarded. This is "unusual" IF you are claiming it as an important part of your rights to comment authoritatively on a subject. Does anyone know where PG obtained his degree from? Mercury543210 (talk) 20:54, 17 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]