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Historical Understanding
Nov 30, 2007,
Wausau, Wi —
One huge
difference between Christians and their critics is the framework in which
judgments are made. Often it is the differences in the framework which results
in their vastly different conclusions, more than the actual evidence. One key difference is over one’s view of
history.
Critics
often see religion in general, and Christianity in specific, as a vastly
negative force in history. For example,
they see the Middle Ages as the “Dark Ages” where the former brilliance of Rome
was suppressed by the Church. When the iron grip of the Church weakened, this
former brilliance broke free again in the Renaissance. In fact for them the Western History of the last
1500 years has been marked by a struggle to break free of the Church and its
flat earth view of the world, so as to embrace a more rational view based on
science.
Despite the
popularity of such thinking is it nevertheless false and misleading. For example, it never was church doctrine
that the earth was flat, nor did even a large number of Christians believe in a
flat earth. This is a myth that
originated among the critics of Christianity in the 18th
century. As for the so-called Dark Ages,
historians have long since realized that this was a somewhat self-serving view
of history spawned by those in the Renaissance who saw themselves as restoring
the glories of Rome, and not an accurate depiction of the period historians now refer to as the Middle
Ages.
In reality
the Middle Ages were a time or great intellectual development that, rather than
suppressing inquiry, actually laid the intellectual foundations for the
Renaissance and modern science. It was
from the so-called Dark Ages of Church repression that we see the origin of
Universities, the beginning of experimental science, and many discoveries and
innovations like the incorporation of things like the decimal system and gunpowder.
It is from this period we see the invention of eyeglasses, pendulum clocks and
the compass. Magna Carta comes from this period, as does the jury system and
habeas corpus, along with the beginnings of representative government in the
English Parliament, and the French Estates-General.
As the
historian Will Durant summarized it “It would be unwise to look down with
hybritic pride upon a period that produced so many great men and women.” Durant
went on to add “we shall never do justice to the Middle Ages until we see the
Italian Renaissance not as their repudiation but as their fulfillment.” (Age of
Faith, pg 1082, 1085)
To be sure,
not everything was rosy. Like any period in history the complete picture was
far more mixed. When compared with today’s standards, the Middle Ages often
fall short. But judging the Middle Ages by today’s
standards about as valid as saying that Newton, Galileo, or other early
scientist, didn’t even know what would now be called High School science, and
therefore were stupid.
A more
accurate standard would be to judge based on the historical norm up to the
period in question. This is why Newton
and Galileo are seen as great. While they may not have passed a High School
science test of today, they made discoveries and scientific advances unknown
until then.
Unfortunately,
history is so badly taught, and poorly understood, that the average person has
little understanding of even recent history (or in some cases even current
events outside of sports or music). This
lack of any historical understanding is why Britain and America are frequently condemned
for having slaves. Until recently,
slavery was an almost universal institution, and one that still exists in some
areas even today. Thus what was aberrational about Britain and America was not
that they had slaves, but that they led the way in abolishing the slave trade
and then slavery itself.
Significantly
other notable exceptions to the historical norm of slavery were Ancient Israel,
and the Middle Ages. While the Bible
allowed slavery, it regulated it to the point that slavery virtually disappeared
from Ancient Israel. Likewise, during the Middle Ages, under the influence of
the Church slavery disappeared from most of Western Europe, only to be
reintroduced after the Middle Ages.
Another
example would be that, while we frequently hear of the atrocities committed by
the early settlers of the Americas on the native inhabitants, one of the
reasons we are able to do this is that the atrocities were documented by early
churchmen seeking help in stopping them. Until then such atrocities were the norm,
what was aberrational was the attempt to prevent them.
So when judging the actions of those in the
past, we must be careful to factor in what was historically the norm for their
time. What if in a couple of centuries
from now, standards have change such that eating meat, driving your own car,
watching football, or anything number of things we current do without a second
thought, is then seen as barbaric and/or immoral? Would we consider ourselves
fairly condemned for our failure to follow such future standards?
Instead of
focusing on condemning those who followed the norm of their time, would it not
be better to focus on those who broke from the norm to help bring us our modern
understanding? But to do this would in many cases, be to acknowledge the
positive impact of Christians, such as those in the forefront of the
anti-Slavery movement.
This is Elgin Hushbeck, asking you to Consider Christianity: a Faith Based on Fact.
See www.consider.org for additional information.
The book and press materials are available upon request.
To schedule an interview or to have
Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. speak at your chruch or event
contact Aletheia at 715-849-8328