Freedom to Tell the Truth

Mr. Jefferson and I

A historian is to tell the truth, as unbiased as he can.  I was asked to give a statement of my philosophy of history, to do so I must first explain my worldview.  Simply put, a worldview is a framework by which one sees the world.  The way I understand a worldview is that is a group of answers to questions everyone asks.  The first is “where do we (mankind) come from?”  The second is, “why are we in existence?” [1]

I follow what is called the Biblical worldview.  I answer the first question, “God created us.”  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”[2]  This answer assumes two points, first God is real and second the Bible is true.  With the first question answered I can surmise that if God created me he did so with a purpose.  This realization allows me another assumption; He is powerful enough to make His will happen past creation. 

This being said a Biblical worldview makes me a more unbiased historian by doing two things.  First, it allows me to keep God in His place as the mover of history.  I don’t have to make flawed men such as Andrew Jackson, or Abraham Lincoln, gods in an American pantheon.  Second, because the Bible offers an Absolute moral code I can study men and let their own actions speak for themselves.   In the case of Adolph Hitler, my job is to study his actions, as the leader of Germany and of the Nazi party.  In terms of good and evil, his actions are compared to God’s law not my own opinions of right and wrong.  

Presidents Jackson and Lincoln

The Biblical Worldview frees me from creating heroes and villains from history.  It allows me to do what historians are meant to do, tell the truth.

1. Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcy, How Now Shall We Live (Tyndale House Publishers INC., 2004), 14.

2. Genesis 1:1

The Title Change

       I have recently changed the name of my blog.  It started when I told my father that I was required to write a blog for my class this semester and planned to write more often to practice and get better in my writing skills.  He liked the idea and asked me what I had named my blog?  I answered “It’s called The Historian.”  He humphed and nodded.  I asked “you don’t like it?” He answered frankly “no.”  He explained that it should have more umph.  “You should call it Keating’s Kronicle!” he exclaimed helpfully.  I told him I would think about it.  I did think about it but it wasn’t until the first blog assignment when I got to look at my classmate’s blogs, when I saw that someone had the same name I had.  Not only that but most of their names had history somewhere in their titles.  This is when I decided my Dad was right I needed a name more unique.  So I changed it to The Weaving Chronicle.  To be honest, I am not sure how original of a name it is but the reason I chose it and like it is because the name depicts the story above.  Chronicle is a description of events in the order of which they happened (according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary).  One may ask “isn’t that history?”  No, history is not as Dr. Sam Smith says, a “direct chronicle.”  It is also a narrative, a story told by the observer.  There is a human element to history.  Hence, why I named my blog the “Weaving Chronicle.”  Weaving or to weave means to interlace or intertwine in order to make something else like cloth or a basket.  My intention with this blog is to take the facts and weave them into a history.

To Understand

Me and Monticello

                I have been taking a class on the history of Islam; it is extremely interesting but equally alien to me.  My training in history has been almost exclusively that of western culture, especially American history.  I am also ethnically Irish-Swedish and an evangelical Christian; not even the culture that I grew into or associate regularly with prepared me for the language and concepts of the Islamic world.  On more than one occasion, during this class, I have tried to compare Islam with Christianity.  Whether it be comparing the difference between Caliphs and Imams to Cardinals and Bishops, or comparing the difference between Sunni and Shiite to be equivalent to the differences between Catholics and Protestants.  There are similarities certainly and comparing them may help me a little to wrap my brain around Islamic concepts; however, what I cannot forget as a history student is that these are two completely different worlds and deserve their own telling.  A Cardinal is not a Caliph and a Shiite is not a Protestant.  As a historian it is important to study and understand each culture on their own terms, to do less is to fail understanding both cultures and thus fail as a historian.

Here are some definitions that may help to understand the Islamic world a little better.

Caliph – An English derivation of the Arabic word Khalifa, which can mean either deputy or successor. Leading members of the Prophet’s companions chose the first few caliphs, who possessed moral, political, and military authority, but not prophetic authority. The caliphate rapidly became dynastic, causing the office to lose much legitimacy in the eyes of many, and then multiplicity of simultaneous caliphates arose, further diluting its authority. Moreover, Shiites have recognized only the fourth caliph, Ali as legitimate, claiming that Ali and his descendants, called Imams, are the only legitimate spiritual and political rulers. The Shiite sect of Islam does not have a Caliph instead they put more emphasis on the Imam.

Imam – An Arabic word that literally means “before” or “in front of.” The term came to be applied to the prayer leader at a mosque within the Sunni tradition of Islam.  Also the recognized leader of Shiite Islam; Shiite sects have defined the characteristics of their Imams in different ways over the centuries, but generally the Imam is understood not to have prophetic status. He does, however provide religious guidance that is indispensable, and he is the rightful head of the entire Muslim community. Some Shiite groups consider their Imam to be in seclusion, awaiting the time to return to lead the world; others have a visible Imam who lives among them.

Egger, Vernon O. A History of the Muslim World Since 1260: The Making of a Global Community. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008.

The Possibilities Are Endless



Mortar and Me, personal photo

As a college student just about to graduate, with a bachelor degree in history, I feel both apprehensive and optimistic.  Apprehensive because I am really unsure where I am going to get a job; a job in the field of history, a job that I want and would enjoy.  Optimistic, because as the saying goes, “The possibilities are endless,” I am about to finish my application to graduate school, I have found a new interest in the world of blogging and have an idea for a series of documentaries (a career that does not necessarily care if you have a PhD).

I am sure we all have the same fears of not getting a job or being stuck in job that seems to suck the life out of one, instead of bringing joy to our ephemeral time on earth.  Therefore, I shall stick to the hopeful.  The possibility that I get into graduate school is good, I will be able to study how to present history to many different audiences.  I greatly wish to learn how to archive documents and to take care of artifacts.  I said my chances are good, but even if I do not get accepted I could still be hired part-time, or volunteer at a museum, or work in a library. I have a few leads into those possibilities.  I already have some experience with documentary making, making independent movies is quite a romantic notion but it is still a possibility.  Finally, my venture into the blogosphere, granted my early attempts are not good, and I will have to face the fact my current attempt is not a whole lot better, but I am getting better.  What makes the study of history so great is that even if all my hopes for a career in history turn up empty there is always another possibility to explore.

What History Really Is

Once during my college career I was hanging out at a friend’s house when his roommate came in. We introduced ourselves and, since he discovered we were students at the same college, he asked me what my major was.  I told him, “I am a history major.” He began to explain that he was amazed that so many people had so many different talents, “Look at you,” he said with a nod, “You are good with memorization, memorizing all those dates and names.”  The whole evening I kept thinking about what my friend’s roommate’s assumption that history automatically equated a good memory and that the study of history is nothing more but memorizing dates, names, places, and every minute fact one can store in their minds.  As I think back on this interaction I confess I regret not taking a more aggressive stance, my only excuse was that I was in a new environment and his loquacious assumptions about the meaning of history shocked me.  His assumption brought me to the conclusion that this is what the world at large thinks of history and historians.

I may have choked when it came to discussing historiography with that individual, but that encounter has given me a drive to make history more than just a bunch of facts to be memorized.  The reason I started with a story is because that is what history is, a story of the past from a point of view.  I want to help the public have a better understanding of the past, a better rounded and complete view of history.  To show that instead of just memorizing a name, history is about a person.  Instead of memorizing a date, history is about a time that person lived in. Instead of memorizing a place, history is about a home, community, and a job that that person participated in every day life.  I desire to bring good, accurate, unbiased history to people who may otherwise go through their own lives not realizing that many people just like them had the same feelings and problems that they did. To help people connect to and learn from the past so that they may have a more vibrant future.

Has America changed its stance on world missions?

           “The Earth Filled with the Glory of the Lord” is a sermon by Dr. Samuel Miller given to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions during their annual meeting in Baltimore in 1835.  This sermon gives a vivid picture of the strong millinnialistic fervor sweeping the United States during the first part of the nineteenth century.  Dr. Miller references Biblical passages from a number of sources from Leviticus to Isaiah and into the New Testament explaining a “promise” from God that Christianity will “govern” the world.  This is first point and repeated point calling it “Jehovah’s faithful and unerring promise.”  This theme is carried throughout the sermon pushing its listeners to greater zeal with military like word images such as “good soldier of Jesus Christ” and “Captain of salvation” giving an idea of duty and honor for sending out the message of Christianity to the world.  The sermon culminates with Dr Miller explaining his purpose for giving this message when he says “brethren, beloved of the Lord, we come to mingle our vows with yours; to proclaim with deeper conviction than ever, that we consider the cause of missions as the most precious cause in the world…with greater zeal than heretofore.” 

            As much as this sermon is an interesting view into the motives of the missionary movement in the early nineteenth century it become more interesting when compared with a modern missions board.  Global Ministries is a missions organizations that states that it has its roots in the early nineteenth century.  However where the ABCFM was from the Congregationalist denomination Global Ministries is from the United Church of Christ and Christian Church denominations.  With these stark differences in mind there are three other differences between Miller’s message of the early nineteenth century and the Global Ministries website of the twenty-first century.  First the reference to a world united under Christianity that was so prevalent in Miller’s sermon is missing from anywhere on Global Ministries website, in its place the term “peace” is very prevalent.  Second, the militaristic word pictures that Miller used are also apparently out of style. And third the very plan for missions has seemed to change, where as Miller provokes his listeners with stories of martyrs encourages zeal for missions Global Ministries seems to focus on social justice issues and shows how missionaries learn as much as teach. 

            The comparison of the two missions organizations is somewhat mismatched with differences in denomination allegiances and therefore some doctrinal differences.  That being said, it is most interesting to see the changes in attitude towards world missions in America.  

Global Ministries. “What is Global Ministries.” http://globalministries.org/about-us/. Accessed 11/14/13.

Miller, D.D., Samuel. “The Earth Filled with the Glory of the Lord.” Preached at the annual meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Baltimore, MD, September 9, 1835.

Politics: Has Anything Changed?

       

While I was in college, I was asked to create this blog and for this particular post I was to read Catherine Albanese’s article called “Savage, Sinner, and Saved: Davy Crockett, Camp Meetings and the Wild Frontier,” discussing the mores of the early nineteenth century by examining Crockett Almanac and other sources.  What struck me about the article was the reference to Davy Crockett’s political campaigns.

 Apparently thus almanac told highly fictionalized stories about the frontiersman turned politician. The almanac encouraged violence, depicting the fictionalized Crockett killing animals with his bare hands and fighting people of all races and ethnicities, including Whites, Blacks, Mexicans and of course Indians. Albanese cites the use of alcohol as a form of manliness including quoting how Davy Crockett as a boy supposedly drank a pint of whiskey with breakfast and a quart at lunch. Albanese further says that often these stories would end with a political message like people wanting to make Crockett president after displaying a great feat of strength. Albanese brings a point that these stories were not historical in nature. Crockett had been dead for up to twenty years by the time that many of these stories were written. Albanese indicates that these stories were moral tales. A form of propaganda to show the rest of America the best way to go out west. That the only way was through strength.  That it did not matter whether that strength be physical or political, it encouraged the idea superiority among whites as Americans. The idea of might makes right is still in use today.

We do not have to look very far to see the modern version of exaggerated strength and violence through satire just think of the last Chuck Norris joke you have heard. Or even the last Action movie you watched.  Americans still associate strength and violence with manliness and power. One can here the desire for political strength in any politician’s speech, although the feat of strength may have changed but Americans still expect presidents George W. Bush to save the world from terrorists after 9/11.  The belief that Barak Obama should save America from financial ruin, health care worries, political party back biting etc.  And of course most recently Donald Trump’s rhetoric that America must me be made great again! As if America has fallen and needs a new Davy Crockett to battle the world for her sake. 

There are two main differences between the Crockett almanacs and today’s media. One, the media outlets are greater instead of a publication in the form of a magazine or newspaper it is now on television news agencies, movies and the internet spreading a message wider than any nineteenth century publication could. The second is the audience is wider, such sentiment is not just directed at whites anymore, and such messages are carried to all races and ethnicities. The term American has a far greater inclusion than in the nineteenth century.  This being said, the message really hasn’t changed in two hundred years.

Bush, George W. Decision Points. New York: Crown Publishers. 2010.

 Catherine Albanese, “Savage, Sinner, and Saved: Davy Crockett, Camp Meetings and the Wild Frontier,” American Quarterly 33:5 (1981): 482-501. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2712799

 Scherer, Michael. “How Barack Obama Became Mr. Unpopular.” Time Magazine, September 2, 2010. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2015779,00.html