Category: The Historical Muse

Thoughts on history and the historical profession. Clio is the muse of history–this category title is a play on that concept.

The Witness of Hilary of Poitiers

  

Periodically, I share a story sent to me via e-mail from Christian History magazine. This one, which highlights the fight for maintaining orthodoxy and the ability to unite those who are true Christians despite minor differences, was inspiring to me. I hope you find it to be also. HILARY OF POITIERS was one of the best-known churchmen of the fourth century. His fame rested largely on the holiness of his conduct and his defense of orthodox Christianity. However, Hilary was… Read more »

Religion & the Presidents

  

A couple of years ago, I had an idea for a new course that would examine the religious beliefs of the presidents. The course would also attempt to determine how those beliefs may have influenced the policies each president followed. That proposed course will now be reality this semester as I teach, for the first time, “Religion and the Presidents.” It will be a little different in structure than my other courses. First, no exams—how does one adequately “test” students… Read more »

Teaching Whittaker Chambers
& His Christian Witness

  

There has never been a society or a nation without God. But history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations that became indifferent to God, and died. That quote by Whittaker Chambers might form one of the centerpieces of his classic book, Witness, that is the cornerstone of my course on Chambers that I am teaching once again this semester. I teach this course regularly every two years for a number of reasons. First, it tells the tale of a… Read more »

The Enemy–He Is Ourselves

  

I was reminded this morning of some prescient words from Whittaker Chambers—prescient because they clearly foretold what we see today. In a letter he wrote to William F. Buckley in 1954, Chambers offered this analysis of the state of Western civilization: I no longer believe that political solutions are possible for us. I am baffled by the way people still speak of the West as if it were at least a cultural unity against Communism though it is divided not… Read more »

From Slave to Free Man to Missionary: The Story of Lott Cary

  

LOTT CARY was born a slave in Virginia and died a missionary in Liberia. His birth took place around 1780, about thirty miles south of Richmond, Virginia. Although his father was a respected Baptist, Cary was a profane alcoholic. However, in 1807 his ears were opened to the gospel. He converted to Christianity and joined a Baptist church. A sermon he heard on John 3 left him eager to know more about Nicodemus. As a result, he learned to read. Cary… Read more »

Birthright Citizenship & Executive Orders

  

President Trump has thrown the political world into a tizzy. In itself, that’s nothing new; he seems to delight in doing so rather regularly. The latest instance is his suggestion that he can end birthright citizenship by issuing an executive order. I’ll come back to that assertion shortly, but first, let’s look at the issue itself. The idea that anyone having a child born in the United States automatically makes that child an American citizen has been judged constitutional by… Read more »

John Eliot Prepared Indian Converts

  

Here’s a post I received from the Christian History Institute that I think is worth passing on. JOHN ELIOT arrived in Massachusetts from England in 1631. He would become one of the colony’s most famous immigrants. Educated at the University of Cambridge, he was ordained to the ministry before coming to America. In the New World, he temporarily filled a vacant pulpit in Boston before moving on to Roxbury in 1632. That same year he wed Hannah Mumford. They would… Read more »