Response: Open-Minded Investigation

In response to Rebecca Ryan's post "The Jesus Biography" (February 11, 2012):
The last sentence in this post - "Unfortunately, it's difficult for me to be close-minded about these things." - made me think quite a bit.  I have not heard close-mindedness referred to in a positive sense before, and it caused me to consider if there is such a thing as being too open-minded.

I concluded that the answer depends on one's definition of open-mindedness.  If one considers it to be a state in which one makes no decisions and develops no opinions, then yes, one could indeed be too open-minded.  If, on the other hand, one defines it as a state in which one thinks about and considers every possibility prior to discarding it, then I believe the answer would be no.  Avoiding thinking about something because one is afraid that doing so will change one's views is not a good thing.  If one thinks fully about something and concludes that it is the right view, then it most likely is.  If one thinks about something and decides that it is not the right view, then at least one can defend one's decision adequately against critics.  Simply ignoring the possibility that one might be wrong can (and has) lead to some of the worst events in human history.  So, in response to your worries, I do not think that reading even something which might be challenging to your views (which I do not think the Crossan book is) is a bad thing - it will either lead to to change your views to better ones, or will reaffirm your belief in the views you already held.