It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected -- when I first started reading the essay, I felt totally intimidated, but as I went on, I found that I actually did know all the big words she was throwing around ("post-lapsarian", for example), and I'd actually read all the essays she referenced, and once I put myself back in teacher-head, thinking of her as one of my students, I could actually critique the essay in terms of argument, evidence, and structure.
I really do know how to do this. Bewildering. When did that happen?