ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that a post-critical and biblical epistemology elucidates the nature of the relationship between knower and known, that a direct consideration of anthropology's unstated teleology and its implicit ontology is needed to resolve the matter of validity of its findings. It argues that concept of the witness can be fruitful in imaging role for ethnographer as situated rather than transcendent, yet responsible for faithfully telling the truth. Clifford Geertz and George Marcus' volume not only announced the end of an innocent view of ethnography; it also debunked the classic model of culture, including the halting of time through use of ethnographic present. Implicitly, anthropology claims purpose for itself in contributing to human flourishing, though it does not often say so explicitly, and it offers no rationale as to why that goal is so important. The chapter also suggests that no one truly believes in an ontology in any committed way without believing it to be true for everyone.
