Joel Willitts has a nice post here that describes the inextricable connection between a scholar’s presuppositions and their scholarship. It has been my experience that some of the most closed-minded scholars have been some of the most liberal. Conservative fundamentalists do not own the “narrow thinking” market. The SBL Forum discussion about these issues riled me a bit, but not enough to post a response. Give Joel’s post a read, it will better equip you to disparging remarks regarding the mixture of faith and scholarship