WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE Past?

"Nothing is more important for historians that to chart cause and effect." GERALD SCHLABACH, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

HISTORIANS often ask, How and why did certain events happen? For example, history tells us that the Roman Empire fell.  But why did it fall? Was it because of corruption or pleasure seeking?  Had the empire become too unwieldy and its armies too costly?  Were Rome's enemies simply becoming too many and too powerful? 

More recently, Eastern European Communism, once seen as a threat  to the West, collapsed seemingly overnight in one country after another. But why? And what lessons are there to be learned?  These are the kinds of questions historians try to answer. But in providing answers, to what extent does personal bias affect their judgment? 

Can History Be Trusted?

Historians are more like detectives than scientists. They investigate, question, and challenge records from the past.  They aim for truth, but their target is often indistinct.  Part of the reason is that their work is largely about the people, and the historians cannot read minds-especially the minds of the dead. Historians may also have preconceived ideas and prejudices. Hence, sometimes the best work is really an interpretation-from the writer's own perspective.

Of course,  a historian's having his own point of view does not necessarily mean his work is inaccurate. The Biblical narratives of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles include  parallel accounts that were written by five different individuals, yet it can be shown that they contain no significant contradictions or inaccuracies.  The same is true of the four Gospels. Many Bible writers even recorded their own faults and foolish mistakes-something rarely seen in secular works.-Numbers 20:9-12; Deuteronomy 32:48-52. 

Besides possible prejudices, another important factor to consider when reading history is the motive of the writer.  "Any history told by the wielders of power, or by seekers after power or by their friends, must be regarded with the utmost suspicion," says Michael Stanford in A Companion to the Study of History. Questionable motive is also  evident when works o history betray a subtle or even a bold plea to nationalism and patriotism. Sadly, this sometimes  found in school textbooks. A government decree in one country stated quite openly that the purpose of teaching history  is "to strengthen the nationalist and patriotic sentiments in the hearts of the people . . .  because the knowledge of the nation's past is one of the most important incentives to patriotic behavior." 

Next time: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE Past?/Doctored History

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