• Historical study can also provide the basis for a reconsideration of
the past and a path to the future.
o How do the tragic missteps leading to the split of Eastern
and Western forms of Christianity in the 11th century instruct
present-day Christians concerning ecumenical relations?o How do reforming movements through the ages, especially
those found among monks and mendicants, provide insight
into the power of intentional communities to change societies?The Nature and Limits of Historical Study
• What do we really mean when we use the word “history”? History is
not simply “the past” or a historian’s description of “what happened
in the past.” It is better understood as a constructive activity in the
present, carried out by historians.
o Historians take the pieces of memory from human events
and experiences that have been preserved in some form and
subject them to critical analysis: Are they first- or second-hand
primary sources, or are they secondary sources? What are the
provenance, dating, and biases of the sources?
o On the basis of the pieces thus tested, historians then try
to construct a narrative concerning the events to which the
sources bear witness. Historical accounts, therefore, always
have some “fictional” elements, simply because it is impossible
to construct narrative without them.o Historical accounts are also, therefore, properly revisionist,
both because new information becomes available and because
historical perspective constantly changes.• As a constructive activity carried out in the present with bits of
memory from the past, history is also inherently limited in its way
of knowing reality.
o It has to do with human events in time and space, but even
defining the character of “events” and their boundaries involves
guesswork. We speak blithely of World War II or the Depression,