THE RABBIT SENDS IN A LITTLE BILL

“But then,” thought Alice, … “but then—always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn’t like that!”

From Reader #1

It’s a pity that Anthony Cekada thinks scholarship a game any fool can play. Had he heeded his critics (who are legion), he would have remained content dazzling his few followers (who know no better). Then the readers’ circle would be reading something not so contemptible.

Since we’ve just arrived in Blunderland, we might as well let everyone experience a sampling of Fr. Cekada’s sloppy work from the outset. Over the next few posts, you’ll see for yourself why the Reader and the readers’ circle affirm that Work of Human Hands will never be considered a genuine contribution to learning. We warn you: the forthcoming litany of errors may be a bit tiresome. Nevertheless, it’s the quickest way for traditional Catholics—perhaps even Father’s most undiscriminating fans—to recognize that he’s selling a bill of goods at a pretty hefty price.

Sure, everyone makes mistakes. And it’s fair to say that books from professional publishers and sound authors often contain a number of blameless slips. “All men are liable to error,” mused John Locke, “and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.” Therefore, the Reader will not quibble over minor defects like the non-standard transcription Koiné on p. 86 (instead of Koinē or the old-fashioned Koinè or just plain Koine) or the misspelling Regensberg on p. 166 (instead of Regensburg). Besides, you’d have to be a real scholar to know how to transcribe Κοινή correctly. And spoken English doesn’t differentiate between the vowels in –berg and -burg, so if you can’t speak German and can’t remember that –berg means ‘mountain’ and –burg ‘castle,’ you get a pass.

No, the flaws the Reader will document are those that are not the little random mistakes that human flesh is heir to (nor may they ever be called the “volitional errors” of Joyce’s man of genius). To be sure, some examples may appear minor. However, minor errors are not necessarily insignificant errors. In fact, (and the whole readers’ circle agrees on this point) the multitude of Fr. Cekada’s small blunders is testimony to the absence of authentic scholarship in this pretentious book of limited utility. He never did learn his lessons. Bottom line: If you’re thinking of buying Work of Human Hands, you might want to hold off until we finish. Better yet, just avoid the goof-prone malice of Blunderland altogether. We’ll be giving you lots of reasons in future posts.

Feast of St. Anthony of Padua