Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00100)

Gregory,
You said about Leadbeater
"If allegations of sexual abuse arose throughout his Theosophical 
career,"
This is totally false statement from biographer who collected 
thousands of documents and claimed to have studied them. It was only 
fraction of his career when this issue was there and no evidence was 
found to punish him. 
So when it was comparatively small period of career you 
said "throughout his career " That proves you missed sense of 
proportion.

Anand Gholap


--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, gregory <gregory@z...> wrote:
> Ananda does not seem to understand the role of the scholar or the 
> biographer (as distinct from the hagiographer). Neither writes to 
justify 
> or apologize for, but to describe and analyze the evidence. Good 
> scholarship seeks to make available previously unknown evidence, 
not 
> simply to repeat what has already been published. Evidence is not 
> judgment; different people will make different judgments based on 
the 
> same evidence. It is not an exercise in accounting: one column 
of "good" 
> and one column of "bad". In my biography of Leadbeater I present 
neither 
> good nor bad about Leadbeater - merely the facts. I know of nothing 
> "good" that I have omitted, and nothing "bad" that I have included 
> gratuitously. That Leadbeater consistently lied about his past is 
> critical to any assessment of his claims of supernatural powers 
since his 
> credibility can be tested in the former matters, but not (uusually) 
in 
> the latter by any standards methods of scholarship. If allegations 
of 
> sexual abuse arose throughout his Theosophical career, these have 
to be 
> addressed rather than (as in standard TS works) ignored or glossed 
over. 
> This is not judgment: it's an attempt at explanation.
> If I am asked questions about Leadbeater or other aspects of 
Theosophical 
> history, I answer them directly as far as I can. If I am asked 
about, 
> e.g., the fabricated birthdate it would surely be bizarre to add to 
my 
> answer a list of Leadbeater's positive achievements!
> Just what the 95% of "good" is in the case of Leadbeater I do not 
know, 
> even if I saw it as my role to declare it.
> 
> Dr Gregory Tillett