Excerpt
from--Christianity Through the Centuries; By- Earle E. Cairns
I. What is History?
The
German noun ‘Geschichte’, a form of the verb ‘geschehen’, which means to
happen, refers to history as event rather than as a process or a product. Thus
history may be defined first ‘as an incident, an actual event or
happening in time and space as the result of human action’. Such an
incident is absolute and objective and can be known only directly and fully by
God. Such history cannot be exactly repeated later in another place. Parallels
and patterns may appear to the historian because people may behave in similar
fashion in different times and places and because they are people who can be
affected by good and evil.
Information about an incident is a second meaning for the word history.
This usually indirect information about the past may be in the form of a
document or object relating to the incident. Unlike the scientist who can study
his material objectively and directly, the historian is subjectively limited
because he is a part of what he studies and has to take God’s actions in time
and space into account, consider man’s role in history as a freewill agent, and
realize his data is indirect. Saint Peter’s in Rome, the catacombs, a papal
bull, and mosaics in Ravenna are examples of history as information.
The
English word for history came from the Greek word ‘historia’, which is derived from the Greek verb histore[amo]. This word was used by the
Attic Greeks and originally meant to learn by inquiry or investigation. The
word was used by Paul in Galatians 1:18 to describe his interview with Peter in
Jerusalem. This leads to a third meaning of history as inquiry or research to
check as well as find data about the past. History is a distinct discipline
with a process for research. This historian tests the authenticity,
genuineness, and integrity of his information by careful study of the
background and text of his material. Valid inductions can also be developed as
the scholar sees patterns objectively appearing in his material.
The
historian who thus far seeks answers to such questions as who or what and when
and where must then consider the question why or the meaning of his data. The
Greeks, who used the word historikos as another term for history, thought of
history in this sense as the product of inquiry. This suggests interpretation
as a fourth meaning for history. This is the subjective reconstruction of the past
in the light of the data, the historian’s own biases as well as the “climate of
opinion” of his time, and the element of freedom of the human will. Such
reconstruction can never fully tell the past as it was but must be partial,
subject to error and human bias. A consensus about the past will emerge,
however, as historians check one another’s work. Students in classes usually
study history of this type. Although absolute truth about the past may elude
the historian, he will, as far as his information permits, present truth about
the past objectively and impartially.
From
this discussion the student will be aware that history may be event or
incident, information, inquiry or process and product, or interpretation.
History as event is absolute, occurring only once in time and space; but
history as information, inquiry, and interpretation is relative and subject to
change.
History
may be defined as the interpreted record of the socially significant human
past, based on organized data collected by the scientific method from
archaeological, literary, or living sources. The church historian must be just
as impartial in his collection of the data of history as the secular historian
is, even though the church historian recognizes the fact that neither of them
will be neutral to the data but each will approach the material with a
framework of interpretation.
Church
history, then, is the interpreted record of the origin, process, and impact of
Christianity on human society, based on organized data gathered by scientific
method from archaeological, documentary, or living sources. It is the
interpreted, organized story of the redemption of mankind and the earth.
The
work of the Holy Spirit in and through the church imparts a supernatural
element to church history. God is transcendent in creation but immanent in
history and in redemption.
II. THE WRITING OF
CHURCH HISTORY
A. The Scientific
Element
Church
history will have a scientific element in that the historian of the church uses
the scientific method also. The historian uses the scientific work of the
archaeologist, who makes available information from the material remains of the
past that he has unearthed. Study of the art of the catacombs of Rome has
taught us much about the early church. The writer of church history will also
make use of the techniques of literary criticism to evaluate the documents of
the history of the church. He will have a decided preference for original
sources, whether they be those of the archaeologist, the document, or the
living person who took part in the event. All this material and the evaluation
of it will give him information concerning the important questions of
historical method—who, what, when, and where. The last two questions are
important to the historian because historical events are conditioned by time
and place.
The
historian’s work will be scientific in method but will not result in exact
science because his information about the incidents of the past may be complete
or false, biased by his own outlook and that of his time and affected by great
men. He is also a freewill agent who is a part of his data. God as an actor in
history will preclude the idea of history as an exact science.
B. The Philosophic
Element
Historians
divide into schools of history and philosophies of history as they pursue
meaning in history. The former claim to find objective, scientific causation in
man, nature, or process in time; but the latter rationally seek to relate the
data to a timeless ultimate or absolute.
Geographic
and economic determinists and biographical interpreters constitute three of the
more important schools of history. William W. Sweet, of the frontier school of
interpretation of church history, in his books on American church history made
geography in the form of the frontier the determinative factor. Carlyle’s work
on Cromwell illustrates the biographical or “great man” school of history as he
made the mid-sixteenth-century English Civil War the reflection of Cromwell.
Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism1, in which he claimed
that Protestantism led to the rise of capitalism, is an example of the economic
school of interpretation. Such interpreters of history look for the answers to
history in man, nature, or process.
Philosophies
of history can best be considered under three categories.
1.
One group may be classed as pessimists. Seeing history only “under the sun,”
they often adopt a materialistic approach to reality. They are obsessed with
the failure of man in history. Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West2 is an illustration
of this approach to history. Spengler was concerned with civilizations rather
than with nations. Each civilization, he maintained, goes through a cycle of
birth, adolescence, maturity, decay, and death. Western civilization, the most
recent of civilizations, is in its period of decay. It will soon die and along
with it Christianity will die. Obsessed with man’s failure, men such as
Spengler can see no progress in history. Their views may be symbolized by a
series of identical circles, superimposed on one another, in which time is
cyclical.
2.
A second group may be called optimists. Their view of history can be symbolized
by an ascending graph of successively rising levels of a spiral. Most
optimistic interpreters are humanists: they see man as the main and
determinative factor in history. They also usually accept biological and social
evolution and see time as linear. The work of Arnold Toynbee, a great modern
philosopher of history, serves to illustrate this philosophy of history.
Toynbee agreed with Spengler that one should study the history of
civilizations; but, unlike Spengler, he believed that each civilization makes
progress toward its goal—the earth as a province of the kingdom of God. In
spite of his more spiritual approach to history, he accepted modern biblical
criticism and the theory of evolution.
Another
optimist, Georg W. F. Hegel, the famous German philosopher of the nineteenth
century, believed history to be the unfolding of the Absolute Spirit in the
development of human freedom. Progress is by a process in which successive
series of contradictions are reconciled in successive syntheses until the
Absolute is fully manifested in history.
Karl
Marx, another nineteenth-century thinker, also belonged to the optimistic
school. Borrowing Hegel’s logic, he disavowed Hegel’s view of reality. Marx
taught that matter in flux is the only reality and that all human institutions,
including religion, are determined by the economic processes of production. He
maintained that a series of class struggles will end with the victory of the
workers and the establishment of a classless society. Notice that Marx
emphasized man’s power to redeem himself and his world in the same way that
Toynbee and Hegel did.
3.
The third group of interpreters, in which the writer places himself, may be
described as pessimistic optimists. These historians agree with the pessimists
in emphasizing the failure of unregenerate man; but in the light of divine
revelation and grace, they are optimistic concerning man’s future. The pessimistic
optimists approach history as biblical theists and seek to find the glory of
God in the historic process. History becomes a process of conflict between good
and evil, God and the devil, in which man is helpless apart from the grace of
God. The work of Christ on the cross is the final guarantee of the eventual
victory of the divine plan for man and the earth, when Christ returns.
The
City of God, a defense and explanation of Christianity by Augustine, one of the
church fathers, is an excellent illustration of this approach, though many
Christians do not agree with Augustine’s equation of the Millennium with the
present period of the church. The grandeur of Augustine’s conception grows out
of its ascription of creation to the sovereign God. The compass or scope of
Augustine’s view of history includes the whole of the human race in contrast
with the favored German nation of Hegel or the favored working class of Marx.
There is, however, a temporal dualism in history because sin divides men in the
City of God and the City of Earth. Augustine argued that the course of human
history proceeds to and from the Cross; and the grace flowing from it is seen
as operative within the Christian church, the invisible body of Christ.
Christians, with divine grace to strengthen them, engage on the side of God in
the conflict with evil until history reaches its cataclysmic consumation at the
return of Christ.
My
book God and Man in Time3 is a contemporary attempt to set forth a Christian
approach to history.
C. The Artistic
Element
Finally,
the maker of history as record must seek to be as artistic as possible in his
presentation of the facts. Modern historians have not stressed an interesting
literary presentation of history as they should have. Thus students often see history
as an uninteresting recital of unrelated data.
III. THE VALUE OF
CHURCH HISTORY
Church
history is only a dreary academic exercise in the remembering of facts unless
some thought is given to the matter of its value to the Christian. The ancient historians
had a much higher appreciation of the pragmatic, didactic, and moral values of
history than many modern historians have. The student who is conscious of the
values to be achieved in the study of the history of the Christian church has a
powerful motivation to study this particular area of human history.
A. Church History
as a Synthesis
One
of the primary values of church history is that it links the past factual data
of the Christian gospel with the future proclamation and application of that
gospel in a present synthesis that creates understanding of our great heritage
and inspiration for its further proclamation and application. Church history
shows the Spirit of God in action through the church during the ages of its
existence. Exegetical theology is linked in a meaningful pattern with practical
theology as the student sees how systematic theology has made an impact on
previous human thought and action.
B. Church History
as an Aid to Understanding the Present
Church
history has great value as an explanation of the present. We can understand the
present much better if we have some knowledge of its roots in the past. The
answer to the puzzling query concerning the presence of over several hundred
religious groups in the United States is to be found in church history. The
principle of separation found a place early in the history of the church, and
the Reformation accentuated it. It is interesting to trace the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the USA back to England and to note the origin of the Anglican
church in the struggle of the royal power with the papacy. The Methodist is
interested in the beginnings of his church in the Wesleyan revival, which
finally brought separation of Methodism from the Anglican church. Those of the
Reformed or Presbyterian faith will take delight in tracing the origin of their
church to Switzerland. Thus we become aware of our spiritual ancestry.
Different
beliefs and liturgical practices become more understandable in the light of
past history. Methodists kneel at the rail for Communion because for many years
the Methodists constituted a church within the Anglican church and followed its
liturgical customs. In contrast, Presbyterians are served the Communion in
their seats. The difference in Methodist and Presbyterian theology becomes much
plainer when one studies the views of Calvin and Arminius.
Present-day
problems of the church are often illuminated by study of the past because
patterns or parallels exist in history. The refusal of most modern dictatorial
rulers to permit their people to have any private interests separate from their
public life in the state is more easily understood if one remembers that the
Roman emperors did not think that one could have a private religion without
endangering the existence of the state. The relationship between the church and
the state has again become a real problem in Russia and its satellite states;
and it is to be expected that the state will persecute Christians just as
Decius and Diocletian did in their day. The danger inherent in the union of the
church and state through the state support for parochial schools and through
the sending of envoys to the Vatican is illuminated by the slow decline of
spirituality in the church and the interference with the church by the temporal
power beginning with the control of the Council of Nicaea by Constantine in
325. Tennyson, in his poem Ulysses, reminds us that we are “a part of all that
we have met.”
C. Church History
as a Guide
The
correction of existing evils within the church or the avoidance of error and
false practice is another value of the study of the past of the church. The
present is usually the product of the past and the seed of the future. Paul
reminded us in Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11 that the events of the
past are to help us avoid the evil and emulate the good. Study of the
hierarchical, medieval Roman Catholic church will point out the danger in the
modern ecclesiasticism that seems to be creeping into Protestantism. New sects
will often be revealed as old heresies in a new guise. Christian Science can be
understood better after a study of Gnosticism in the early church and the ideas
of the Cathari in medieval times. Ignorance of the Bible and the history of the
church is a major reason why many advocate false theologies or bad practices.
D. Church History
as a Motivating Force
Church
history also offers edification, inspiration, or enthusiasm that will stimulate
high spiritual life. Paul believed that knowledge of the past would give hope
to the Christian life (Rom. 15:4). No one can study the brave stand of Ambrose
of Milan—his refusing Emperor Theodosius the Communion until he repented of his
massacre of the Thessalonian crowd—without being encouraged to stand for Christ
against evil in high political or ecclesiastical circles. The industry and
drive that enabled Wesley to preach over ten thousand sermons during his life
and to travel thousands of miles on horseback is bound to be a rebuke and a
challenge to Christians who have much better means for travel and study than
Wesley had but who do not make adequate use of them. One may not agree with
Rauschenbusch’s theology, but one cannot help but be inspired by his passion to
apply the gospel to social problems. The story of Carey’s life was and is an
inspiration to missionary service. The biographical aspect of church history is
bound to bring inspiration and challenge to the student.
There
is also edification in the process of becoming aware of one’s spiritual
ancestry. There is as much need for the Christian to become aware of his
spiritual genealogy as there is for the citizen to study the history of his
land in order that he might become an intelligent citizen. In showing the
genetic development of Christianity, church history is to the New Testament
what the New Testament is to the Old Testament. The Christian ought to be as
aware of the main outlines of the growth and development of Christianity as he
is of biblical truth. Then he will have a sense of being a part of the body of
Christ, which includes a Paul, a Bernard of Clairvaux, an Augustine, a Luther,
a Wesley, and a Booth. The sense of unity that comes from a knowledge of the
continuity of history will lead to spiritual enrichment.
One
who is fearful for the future of the church in countries where it is now persecuted
will become more hopeful as he realizes the indestructible character of the
church in past ages. Neither external persecution, internal unfaithful
officialdom, nor false theology could stand against the perennial power of
renewal that is revealed in the history of revival in the church. Even secular
historians give credit to the Wesleyan revival as the agency that saved England
from the equivalent of the French Revolution. The study of church history
offers a stabilizing influence in an age of secularism, for one sees the power
of God operating through the lives of people transformed by the gospel.
We
should remember, though, that the church can be destroyed in a particular area
by internal decay and unbearable external pressure. The fine church in old
Carthage, the Nestorians in seventh-century China, and the Roman Catholic
church in sixteenth-century Japan did disappear.
E. Church History
as a Practical Tool
The
reading of the history of the church has many practical values for the
Christian worker, whether he or she is evangelist, pastor, or teacher. The
writer has derived pleasure from seeing how much more intelligible systematic
theology has come to the student who has studied its historical development.
The doctrines of the Trinity, Christ, sin, and soteriology will never be
properly understood unless one is aware of the history of the period from the
Council of Nicaea to the Council of Constantinople in 680.
An
abundance of illustrative material for his sermons also awaits the efforts of
the diligent student of church history who intends to preach. Is he seeking to
warn of the dangers of a blind mysticism that puts Christian illumination on a
level with the inspiration of the Bible? Then let him study the mystical
movements of the Middle Ages or early Quakerism. If he seeks to warn of the
dangers of an orthodoxy unaccompanied by a study and application of the
teachings of the Bible, then let him give attention to the period of cold
orthodoxy in Lutheranism after 1648, which created a reaction known as Pietism,
a movement that stressed earnest study of the Bible and practical piety in
daily life.
F. Church History
as a Liberalizing Force
Finally,
church history has a cultural value. The history of Western civilization is
incomplete and unintelligible without some understanding of the role of
Christian religion in the development of that civilization. The history of man
can never be divorced from the history of his religious life. The efforts of
despots throughout the ages to eliminate Christian religion have always
resulted in the substitution of some false religion. Both Hitler and Stalin
gave their systems of statism a religious element by their respective emphasis
on race and class.
One
who has studied the history of the church will never again be denominationally
provincial. He will sense the unity of the true body of Christ throughout the
ages. He will also be humble as he encounters the giants of his spiritual past
and realizes how much he owes to them. He will become more tolerant of those
who differ with him on nonessentials but who, with him, accept the great basic
doctrines of the faith, such as the vicarious death and resurrection of Christ,
which were emphasized by Paul in Acts 17:2–3 and 1 Corinthians 15:3–4.
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