Recent Thoughts on The Spiritual Dimension of the Study of History

Recent Thoughts on 

The Spiritual Dimension of the Study of History

Probably, most people consider the discipline of history one of the most boring subjects that we teach.  On a few occasions in Bible study, one member of the church suggested that reading history is the cure to insomnia.  I could not disagree more vehemently!  Actually, the study of history has a very vital spiritual dimension.  Both the Old and New Testaments contain substantial sections of history.  The Bible records the history, religion and literature of the Hebrew people in its first division and the origins, theology, and sacred writings of the early Christians in its second part.  The current generation of biblical scholars approaches the study of the scriptures by beginning with the social, economic, political and religious contexts of the Bible.  Practically speaking, they start outside of the text and work their way into its meanings for the original audience and for contemporary believers.  The previous cohort of Bible scholars did the reverse.  Their method of rigid textual exposition, while most rewarding for the average disciple interested in the rhetoric and nuances of the words, leaves the inadvertent impression that the historical, critical and analytical method is optional.  In actuality, the study of biblical origins which includes an in-depth evaluation of the people greatly informs our current challenges as people of faith in scientifically advancing, technologically rapid and post-modern world.  Our forebears in the faith faced similar struggles relative to their historical era.  From a spiritual point of view, we glean tremendous empathy and encouragement from their past way of life.  Yet, if we relegate the study of their past lives to meaninglessness, we rob ourselves of incalculable blessings.

The recent death of the very public historian, the late Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., reignited my considerations and passions for the study of history.  As he exited the stage of life, Professor Schlesinger, at a lunch held in honor at the end of last year, took another opportunity to remind us of “the relevance of history” in all matters.  He particularly addressed his rather serious concern about the escalating conflict in Iraq and the significant role that history could have played in helping the leaders of the country to avoid engaging this catastrophe.  “History is the best antidote to delusions of omnipotence and omniscience forcing us to a recognition of the fact, so often and so sadly displayed, that the future outwits all our certitudes.”  The costly and painful lessons of Vietnam and Korea should have sufficed to warn the Executive and Legislative branches of our government, specifically, and the American people, generally, of the potential dangers to invading a sovereign nation embroiled within an internal dispute.  History is a great teacher if we are willing to study and learn.  In ways, this most important discipline amongst the natural sciences, humanities and social sciences crystallizes what the Bible refers to a “Wisdom” or “Sophia” as the collection of books, in the Old Testament by those name, detail.

A rather laudatory editorial, published in The New York Times to commemorate the life and work of Professor Schlesinger, noted another aspect of his valedictory warnings to the academic community, the government, the policy decision-making cadre and concerned citizens at-large.  “But a far more grievous failing, he said, is to ignore history altogether, especially in a nation that has so often demonstrated imperial appetites.”  We ignore history to our great detriment.  In the last four years, we have spent one half trillion dollars ($500,000,000,000); sacrificed the lives of more than 3300 American military personnel (many of whom were in their late teens and early twenties age wise) and allowed more than forty thousand (40,000) other enlisted men and women to return home with lifelong and severe wounds.  A serious historical reading of the Vietnam conflict foreshadows those current results of the Iraq war.  We often hear that those persons who fail to respect history end up repeating it.  The intractable hubris and infinite recalcitrance of the Bush Administration substantially undermines the prosperity, security and standing of the United States.  Simply, the President’s ignorance of history and that of his chief advisers continues to extract an innumerable toll upon our nation.

On an individual level, failure to know one’s history leads to self-doubt, fear and a lack of self-acceptance.  On a benign basis, one falls for the social mores of the dominant culture.  The wizards of Madison Avenue easily convince one of their correctness about one’s self-worth with regard to clothing, cologne, cars and other material consumption.  On a more sinister and cynical level, one might fall prey to the abyss of self-contempt and self-hatred.  When the pervasive standards of beauty insists upon hues, features, skin tones and physiques that are not African-American, how does one love and accept one’s self as a Black person who does not possess those societal expectations?  I posit that a genuine acceptance and detailed knowledge of one’s history considerably mitigates the overbearing and perhaps unjust nature of society’s assessment of one’s worth.  Professor James H. Cone, the Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, submits, “A person without a history is a person without a personality.”