Lecture 1: The Historical Study of Christianity
but these are artificial boundaries, drawn—for purposes of
analysis—within the constant flux of human experience.o Further, much that is important in human existence falls outside
the range of historiography. The actual human experience of
events, for example, can be reached only indirectly and with
great difficulty: What was it like for someone coming from
the forest of Germany to enter the Hagia Sophia? What did
mothers think as they prayed over their dying infants during
the great plague?• Above all, the task of historians is constrained by the availability
and state of sources.
o What was said or done had to be perceived, what was perceived
had to be written, what was written had to be preserved, and
what was preserved had to be edited, translated, published,
and read.much that is important in human experience falls outside the range of
historiography; only indirectly can we imagine what it must have been like for
someone from the forests of Germany in the 8th century to enter the marble
grandeur of the Hagia Sophia.© iStockphoto/Thinkstock.