EnhancedSpirit
High Priestess
Top Ten Reasons to Read Christian History
#1 Because Christian history is everywhere in our culture. No matter what your religious background (or lack thereof), you just can't understand the modern, Western worldincluding its warsunless you know your Christian history.
#2 Because it liberates you from the tyranny of the presentand of the recent past. C. S. Lewis put it like this:
#5 Because the deeper our roots, the higher we grow. Believers are all part of a "Dead Christians Society." We have far more brothers and sisters in the faith who are no longer around than we do contemporary saints. Lets get to know them. And while we slog it out on earth as members of the Church Militant, the Church Triumphant is pulling for us from heaven.
#6 Because reading Christian history is a great way to meet fascinating people and hear dramatic, colorful stories. History is all about people. Memorable people. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once put it, "There is properly no history, only biography."
#7 Because reading Christian history helps root out prejudice and foster sympathy and humility. It's so easy to think "The Church 'R' Us." It ain't. Most Christian believers lookand have looked, in past centuriesvery different than we do. They've had different questions, different assumptions, different "lifestyles," different approaches to the Christian life, different strategies for evangelism, teaching, preaching, sacramental life, social action.
#8 Because reading Christian history shows us how we got where we are today. Where did all those denominations come from? How did the distinctive beliefs and practices of my own church develop? What's the big deal over Calvinism and Arminianism?
#9 Because well, if #8 depresses you by reminding you of the disunity and dysfunction of the church, then consider this reason, too: We need to read Christian history to remind us of our mission. Although we live in "the world" (Augustine called it the City of Man), we are "citizens of another place" (the City of God). We have a mission strange to many of those around us, a mandate to be "in this world but not of it."
We all are members of local church bodies. Wherever we worship, when we step out of the church doors we still need to "be the church"salt, light, Different. A powerful way to prepare ourselves for that mission is to read how Christians of the past have sowed the Gospel into their cultures.
#10 Like the wine at the Cana wedding feast, the best reason has been saved for last: We should read Christian history because Christianity is a historical religion, based on a historical person and the words of two "Testaments" full of historical accounts.
#1 Because Christian history is everywhere in our culture. No matter what your religious background (or lack thereof), you just can't understand the modern, Western worldincluding its warsunless you know your Christian history.
#2 Because it liberates you from the tyranny of the presentand of the recent past. C. S. Lewis put it like this:
#3 Because life is too short to learn by experience. To echo Lewis's words above, "the scholar has lived in many times." What a rich way to grow in wisdom! Though experience can be the best teacher for some things, for others it does not take us far at all.
#4 Because whatever question is on your mind, someone smarter than you has already seen it clearer, thought about it longer, and expressed it better. Why reinvent the wheel? Also falling under this heading: There are no new heresiesonly old ones in new clothes. And again, they've all been answered with more wisdom and erudition than we'll ever be able to muster.
#5 Because the deeper our roots, the higher we grow. Believers are all part of a "Dead Christians Society." We have far more brothers and sisters in the faith who are no longer around than we do contemporary saints. Lets get to know them. And while we slog it out on earth as members of the Church Militant, the Church Triumphant is pulling for us from heaven.
#6 Because reading Christian history is a great way to meet fascinating people and hear dramatic, colorful stories. History is all about people. Memorable people. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once put it, "There is properly no history, only biography."
#7 Because reading Christian history helps root out prejudice and foster sympathy and humility. It's so easy to think "The Church 'R' Us." It ain't. Most Christian believers lookand have looked, in past centuriesvery different than we do. They've had different questions, different assumptions, different "lifestyles," different approaches to the Christian life, different strategies for evangelism, teaching, preaching, sacramental life, social action.
#8 Because reading Christian history shows us how we got where we are today. Where did all those denominations come from? How did the distinctive beliefs and practices of my own church develop? What's the big deal over Calvinism and Arminianism?
#9 Because well, if #8 depresses you by reminding you of the disunity and dysfunction of the church, then consider this reason, too: We need to read Christian history to remind us of our mission. Although we live in "the world" (Augustine called it the City of Man), we are "citizens of another place" (the City of God). We have a mission strange to many of those around us, a mandate to be "in this world but not of it."
We all are members of local church bodies. Wherever we worship, when we step out of the church doors we still need to "be the church"salt, light, Different. A powerful way to prepare ourselves for that mission is to read how Christians of the past have sowed the Gospel into their cultures.
#10 Like the wine at the Cana wedding feast, the best reason has been saved for last: We should read Christian history because Christianity is a historical religion, based on a historical person and the words of two "Testaments" full of historical accounts.
