To the right you see one of my favorite historians, the late Roland Bainton. Bainton once quipped about psycho-history: "Their are grave difficulties in psychoanalyzing the dead."
6. Thou shalt not murder the historical subject with unjustified criticism, slander, or chronological snobbery.
This calls for a distinction between the historical and theological perspectives. The historical perspective means understanding a historical figure or movement according to their historical context. The theological perspective evaluates a historical figure or movement from the Christian worldview. The historical task must logically precede the theological, because we cannot evaluate fairly without first understanding accurately.
Chronological snobbery comes in two kinds. One version says recent is automatically right, and the other says some past period was perfect.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery by being unfaithful to the biblical worldview or untrue to the facts or yourself.
When academia applies pressure we must remember, “The grass withers and the flower fades but … the Word of the Lord stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
G. K. Chesterton reminds us that: "The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from … from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.” One of the reasons we read history is to escape the prejudices of the present: individualism, secularism, relativism, apathy, entertainment, experimentation, etc.
8. Thou shalt not steal from other historians but use proper documentation..
We must realize that claiming someone else’s intellectual property is theft, and that this can be righteously avoided by giving the author’s full name, title, & facts of publication.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against the historical record.
If we only acknowledge our presuppositions and realize how they affect our interpretation, we can love our enemies by treating them fairly.
When will we realize that correlation does not equal causation, and that historical periods are transitional and not absolute divisions.
Beware of the hasty generalization and compare what is best in Christianity to what is worst in another religion.
10. Thou shalt not covet a grand synthesis or grandiose conclusions.
I love this quote from Thomas Carlyle: “Listening from the distance of centuries, across the death chasms and howling kingdoms of decay, it is not easy to catch everything.”
We should look for characteristic features and not assume universal traits. History escapes all our attempts of complete mastery, and we should humbly admit that reality always gets the best of us. Why isn't ignorance one of the academic virtues?
No comments:
Post a Comment