WHY I LOVE HISTORY

It is no secret to the astute readers of my blog and books that I love history. Previously, I have written some preliminary coverage of that topic. Nevertheless, in this essay, I desire to flesh out my love of history in a more detailed way.

My enjoyment of history began in high school in Afton Oklahoma. Our principal, Hugh Sapp, was also our history teacher, among several others. Although Mr. Sapp was dry in his presentations, I sensed that he appreciated history as a discipline worthy of study. I also at the same time wanted to understand my family situation in tandem with exploring the big events happening around me- Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, and Sexual Revolution. I found history to be the portal to lead me to a deeper understanding of the issues facing not only my family but also me personally.

The following is what I learned about history through my classes in high school and college, independent reading and study, and personal reflection:

·       There is no “right side of history” in the secular sense. This is a myth foisted upon us by partisans of both the Right and the Left to enable their agendas to be more readily accepted in Western culture. Change is not always progress on which to evaluate the human condition. A related myth is that “moral arc of the universe.”

·       The “right side of history” is only relevant in the spiritual sense. Only God as revealed in the biblical canon of the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian New Testament sets the goal and direction of history to the end of history. History is the canvas on which the biblical story of God’s redemptive efforts are visualized. So whether one is on the right side or wrong side of history is whether or not is determined by one’s commitment to joining Christ to participate with God in His redemptive efforts.

·       The United States is not a Christian nation. That notion is another myth foisted upon us, usually from the Right. The US is a great nation blessed by God but is not the New Israel. The US, like all other nations, is tied to a geographical identity, while the Church is trans-geographical. God cannot and will not be tied to a particular piece of land. Nor can the US be compared to the fall of the Roman Empire. Our nation will be judged by the same standards God uses for all nations.

·       History is indeed Messy, Contradictory, and Nuanced- that is my MCN theory of history. People in history, even our heroes, are or were flawed persons. That is why serious students of history must dig deep to get past the myths, lies, and legends tied to people and events to find the truths buried in complexities and begin to comprehend the truths.

·       And it is not usually the facts that disputes and controversies, it is the interpretations of facts that are often contested. Dates and place names are important to the study of history by showing context but must not be the end result of one’s study. To focus merely on the facts is to make history impotent and prevent one from using one’s historical imagination to understand historical lessons and to solve problems.

·       History, at least American history, runs in cycles between Left and Right. It is as if Americans attempt to make political corrections to run a centrist course. I discovered this trend in high school and wrote a paper on this subject. My thesis was validated a few years later when I read The Cycles of American History by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a Harvard historian who was a White House advisor to President Kennedy.

·       The Constitution does indeed follow the Flag. This is a concept I picked up from my American history textbook in high school in 1967 and have not seen it since. I tied it to the concept of geographical morality used by Edmund Burke in his failed attempt in the British House of Commons to remove Warren Hastings as Governor-General of India. The point here is that historical concepts do have power and purpose to guide future generations.