In my humble opinion, time travel (physically journeying to the past or future) is not causally possible. That is, it's not possible given what we know about the laws of physics and how time potentially works. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which we can travel back to the past by studying it: I realize that one can dwell on the past and visit past events in that way. Yet in order to work our way back to the past through a study of history, we need certain skills and tools.
1) One must develop literacy of the ancient world to a satisfactory degree. Just like it takes work and time to acquire literacy in any language, if one is going to develop literacy with respect to the ancient world, it will take hard work and time. For instance, you will need to learn the relevant language(s) whether it's Hebrew-Aramaic, Greek, Syriac or Latin and that might require a guide. That guide could be a book or person, or both.
2) Historians study variegated facets of the past: such studies involve numismatics, examining ancient cultures and their practices (i.e., anthropology) and analyzing texts. Historians must study a variety of texts and interrogate them while archaeologists carry out digs. To study the past well, one must learn about historical methodology and the art of writing history (i.e., historiography). Furthermore, what about ancient culture? Learning cultural practices is another challenge to studying the past.
3) What about objectivity? The Roman historian Tacitus said, "sine ira et studio" (without anger and passion). In other words, the historian is supposed to be levelheaded, objective, and free from prejudice (i.e., be disinterested). Well, that is the idea anyway although it's not possible to be completely objective. That notion is an antiquated relic of the Enlightenment. Nevertheless, historians should strive for objectivity as they attempt to reconstruct the past.
4) See https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/historical-archives/why-study-history-(1998)
This link contains plenty of helpful tips.
Compare Proverbs 22:20-21; Ecclesiastes 12:10; Luke 1:1-4.
P.S. The so-called "father of history" is Herodotus and the father of church history is Eusebius of Caesarea.
Friday, March 03, 2023
How to Work Your Way Back to the Past: Be Like the Chronicler
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4 comments:
Politics and nationalism have always been huge strains on integrity re: the accurate chronicling of history ,even in the present day narrative driven revisionism remains a problem. It's one of the reasons I put a lot more stock in the bible's chronicling of events than any secular history.
I agree that secular chronicling is highly problematic, and I've seen this with church history too. Today's way of doing history in the West overall is largely governed by Enlightenment presuppositions. Plus, historians have reminded us that there's a difference between the events themselves (res gestae) and the telling/retelling of those events.
Very good three points. I 100% agree on all counts. It pays off to spend a long time learning the languages and going through the primary literature.
Thanks my friend. As the saying goes, learning a little Greek is dangerous. If one is going to study biblical languages, learn them well, just like a plumber needs to learn his craft well or a doctor. Secondly, I know you are well aware that interpretations of the primary literature are not the same as the lit itself.
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