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| George Marsden. Still from video by Regent University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZkGVBOdg9Q |
How does a strong Christian faith influence the work
of a historian? First of all, Christians
who study history acknowledge God’s sovereignty and guidance over all the
universe, including the affairs of men. It
may be objected that this approach forces historical facts into an ideological
viewpoint. However, everyone who studies
history comes with a certain frame of reference. “The best way to deal with these universal
phenomena,” writes George Marsden, a leading Christian historian, “is to
acknowledge one’s point of view rather than posing as a neutral observer. That way readers can take an author’s
viewpoint into account, discount it if they wish, and learn from it to the
extent they can.” [1]
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The weather at Dunkirk is as providential as the arrangement
of Saturn's rings. (Public Domain) |
A major part of a Christian historian’s viewpoint is
acknowledging the role of providence in historical events. Question and answer 8 of the Westminster
Shorter Catechism defines providence as God’s “most holy, wise and powerful
preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.” [2] Since
God directs the universe and the actions of those within it, this means that He
has decreed the paths that history will take.
While some people separate providential events (like the weather at
Dunkirk that aided a British escape) from ordinary events, the truth is that
all events are equally controlled by God.
“The weather we actually had is therefore in the strictest sense
providential; it was decreed; and decreed for a purpose, when the world was
made—but no more so (though more interestingly to us) than the precise position
at this moment of every atom in the ring of Saturn.” [3]
However, acknowledging God’s providential guidance
of events does not always mean that we understand why historical events
happened in a particular way. Because we
are God’s creatures, not His counsellors, we ultimately cannot know God’s
purposes, aside from those that He has revealed to us in the Bible. Some Christian historians attempt to
understand God’s plan as it is revealed in history, and this is a commendable
exercise, as long as they realize that they are limited to speculation. In The
Lord of the Rings, the wise wizard Gandalf understands that everyone,
including himself, has limitations and cannot know everything. “For even the very wise,” Gandalf tells Frodo,
“cannot see all ends.” [4]
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| Gandalf and Frodo in grave discussion. Picture from Time Magazine http://time.com/4650389/ian-mckellen-gandalf-lord-of-the-rings-memories/ |
Even though we cannot know everything, we can still
apply God’s principles of right and wrong to historical events. In an effort to avoid using history primarily
as a lesson in morality, some people have argued that, when looked at from the
position of that person’s era, no action can be classed as right or wrong. But this position embraces a philosophy that
there are no universal principles of good or evil. Christians, whatever their field of study,
have a responsibility to apply the Bible’s ethical standards to history. This will ensure that they “judge righteous
judgment” (John 7:24, King James Version)
and “hate the evil and love the good.” (Amos 5:15, King James Version).
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| Judging with righteous judgment: Jesus and the woman taken in adultery. Engraving by Gustave Dore (public domain) |
Christianity should influence every aspect of one’s
life, including a study of history. A
Christian historian can study history more richly, because he or she
acknowledges the hand of God where others would only see coincidence. Christian historians can also emulate the
virtues of Jesus Christ like humility (acknowledging that we do not know the
mind of God) or justice (judging the events of the past with the Bible’s
ethical code). In short, Christian
history is merely an outworking of our internal change: “Therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians
5:17, King James Version)
References
[1] George M. Marsden. Jonathan
Edwards: A Life. (New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 2003), 5.
[2] Westminster
Shorter Catechism. Online. Accessed June 20, 2018. http://www.reformed.org/documents/wsc/index.html.
[3] C. S. Lewis.
The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature
Classics. (New York: HarperCollins, 2007),
457.
[4] J. R. R. Tolkein. The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1981), 93.
