The internet is a wonderful thing.

I mentioned a couple of posts back that my supervisor had recommended I contact a scholar whose arguments I was planning to refute in my dissertation. I got around to that this morning, and thanks to the good old World Wide Web it couldn't have been more efficient.

I have a book by the scholar on my desk, but didn't even bother reading his profile to find out where he teaches - I just entered his name (John McGuckin) into Google. Seconds later I was on his faculty profile page at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. (He is also a professor at Columbia.) I learned that he is British, got his PhD at Durham, and is an Orthodox priest. His e-mail address was listed at the bottom.

I wrote a fairly quick e-mail to Prof McGuckin, telling him about my paper, quoting what he had said in his book, and politely noting that I hadn't been able to find much evidence that supports it so far, but would be very interested to know if I'm overlooking something.

(For those who care, he had claimed that Ephesus was the "greatest shrine to the Virgin Mary in the empire" and that popular devotion to Mary was very strong by 431 AD, when a big church council was held there. But all I've seen in the contemporary texts and the artifacts dug up by the Austrians is that Ephesus' patron saint was John, whose tomb was believed to be just outside the city. They also had a few shrines to Paul, since he lived there for three years, and there are a few invocations to St. Peter and some archangels. Mary gets very little mention.)

Less than four hours later, I had a reply in my inbox! He said my paper sounded like a fascinating subject and asked for a copy when it is done. He explained his reasoning at some length, and attached a Word document with an article he had written on Mary for a theology dictionary. Nice! How wonderful that I can read a book, wonder, "What was he thinking when he wrote that?" and get the answer from the author himself in less than a day!

He still didn't convince me, though, as he didn't really offer any additional evidence. His view is mostly based on what was going on in other cities like Constantinople or in later centuries. But this is actually a good thing because it really helps to have someone to refute in order for my thesis to be regarded as interesting or new! Strange concept, isn't it?

So I'm very grateful for the internet - not only does it help me make some good extra income, keep in touch with all of you, and find recipes for leeks or banana bread, it also helps me write a better dissertation. Nifty.