Do You Know Your History?

When I was in high school, history was something of a neutral subject for me. Parts of my history classes were interesting but I never really found much of a purpose for that knowledge besides academic discussion. I was glad to be able to critically analyze past events and draw my own conclusions, but I never made a personal connection that took it further than just another subject at school.

During college as I began to grow as a Christian, I was directed towards the voices of theologians and writers of the past. As I started to interact with these great minds, the current cultural viewpoints of "newer is better" and "the past is irrelevant" began to be eroded.

Lately, I've become more interested in reading biographies and history. I'm more convinced of the value of learning from those who have come before us and the events of the past. As part of this growing interest, I've recently started reading a book called "The Wages of Spin" by Carl Trueman, a professor of church history at Westminster. It's a collection of articles and lectures written by Trueman, mostly dealing with post-modern views and the fact that Christianity is a historical religion.

One of the great points that Trueman makes throughout the book is the importance of history and how it speaks to our current situations. There is an article about the tendency to cast aside all tradition and creeds under the banner of relying on Scripture alone. Trueman goes on to point out that this is an error and even the Reformers didn't depose of tradition that quickly but only cast aside those things that weren't in agreement with God's Word. Scripture is the ultimate authority, but traditions and history from the church can be helpful when evaluated appropriately by Scripture. These traditions and creeds over the history of the church can help us to avoid errors that we might slip into if each generation decided to start from scratch when examining Scripture. By keeping this history in mind, we can help to avoid errors and see truths that we might otherwise miss in our cultural bias. This is summed up by a great quote on the back of the book:

"History repeats itself because nobody listens." - Laurence Peter

So, what does that mean for us?

Well, we need to have the humility to examine and learn from the past. It can be easy to buy into modern viewpoints that the past is unimportant or that we are so much more advanced than those who came before us. In reality, for everything we've gained, we seem to have made mistakes of our own (and sometimes even the same mistakes because of our ignorance). Also, as others have said, knowing the past helps us to be anchored and to see that so many things that claim to be new and fresh are old ideas that have already come and gone before. While the past and old ideas aren't by nature better, examining these things can help us understand and react better to our own time.

So, don't be afraid of history. Maybe you think it's boring, and I have certainly felt that way at times, but the thing that tends to make something interesting is when we see it fit into our own lives. If you come with a humble heart, you'll find there is much to learn from those who have come before.