I figured if I’m going to ask a question I’m not qualified to answer, I might as well start with the one most likely to get me side-eyed at a conference: Should scholars study the religions they believe in?

I wanted to start here because whenever I say I study religion, I’m usually asked if I’m planning to go into ministry. Most of the time, I avoid answering and instead let them know that I study Appalachian snake handling churches. That usually clears things up—or at least makes things interesting.

But in all seriousness, this is a real question. Because in education and research, we tend to prize objectivity. Scholars aim to minimize bias in order to reach well-reasoned conclusions. You wouldn’t want your child’s science teacher to be a flat-earther, right? And if a historian of the Civil War was also a flag-waving Confederate, you’d probably read their work a little differently.

This is where most religion scholars would probably jump in and say: It depends on what you're studying.

For example, Biblical scholars range from atheist to ordained pastor. If one of them published an article about how a newly discovered manuscript proves or disproves something in the Bible, wouldn’t you at least want to know where they’re coming from? Might it change how you read their work?

Or take philosophers who debate the afterlife. You think that question doesn’t keep them up at night? Not just because they’ve chosen to spend their careers on it, but because they, too, will die—and they’re either right or very wrong.

Should these things matter?
Does it matter?
And if it does, how much?

As with every blog post in this series, I don’t have an answer. I’m not even sure I’d trust myself to give one. But I will say: this question feels easier for me to ask, because I’m not a snake handler. I study these communities—but I’m not of them.

Even then, I sometimes catch myself feeling personally offended when someone insults or belittles these communities. I’ve never picked up a snake in my life, and I never will. But still—I feel a tug of loyalty I can't quite explain

So what might I do if I started to professionally study—or even teach—something I did care about? Something I did have a personal stake in?

So maybe the real question isn’t should scholars study the religions they believe in—maybe it’s can anyone study religion without eventually getting a little weird about it or having some stake in it?

Again, I don’t know. I just ask the questions. 
And then sit with them. 
Usually with coffee. 
Sometimes with venomous snakes.