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.

When Clyde Kilby Met C. S. Lewis

  

Clyde Kilby was the man responsible for bringing the C. S. Lewis Papers to the Wade Center at Wheaton College, where not only Lewis’s papers now reside, but also those of Tolkien and five other British luminaries with ties to Lewis. Kilby and Lewis met face-to-face only once, back in 1953, but the impression from that visit stayed with Kilby the rest of his life. When Kilby returned from England, he wrote about his experience. Upon knocking [at Lewis’s Oxford… Read more »

Patrick Henry’s Courage & Our Need for It

  

In this time of our political angst, it’s always nice to look back at how America’s Founders reacted to a tough situation and displayed courage. One of the key moments in the months leading to the outbreak of the American Revolution was a speech given by Patrick Henry. The Virginia legislature had been sent home by the royal governor. The members had to meet somewhere else to discuss what to do in light of the terrible Coercive Acts that had… Read more »

Chambers, McCarthy, & Trump

  

An interesting question was posed to me yesterday by a former student, wanting to know what Whittaker Chambers might think of Donald Trump. I gave him my short answer but then decided it would be perhaps insightful to provide a fuller one here today. For those of you unfamiliar with Chambers, here’s a short synopsis of his life. Whittaker Chambers, in the 1920s, became a member of the Communist party because he saw it as the hope of a world… Read more »

On Political Courage

  

Here’s a thought. What if, at the Republican convention next week, the powers-that-be allowed a secret ballot to choose the nominee? What if the delegates truly had the freedom to vote according to what they believed best for the party and the country instead of being pressured by their political leaders to fall in line with Donald Trump? Would that secret ballot vote be different than the public one? If so, what would that say about those delegates? What would… Read more »

The C. S. Lewis Conference: A Report

  

I had a wonderful weekend at the C. S. Lewis Foundation’s summer conference held at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Why was it held there? I’ll get to that. As I did last fall, I presented a paper at the Academic Roundtable, a time for deeper thinking as a group of academics listened and discussed what each had to offer. The most interesting part of such a roundtable is getting perspectives from different disciplines. I was the only historian… Read more »

Three Revolutions

  

Three revolutions: American, French, Russian. A world of difference when you compare them. The American Revolution, in my view, was not a revolution in the popular understanding of that term, whereas the other two were. In fact, my students know that I famously (infamously?) rename the American Revolution as The American War for Continued Self-Government. Not very catchy, I know, but more accurate. I point to the fact that this perceived revolution was for the maintenance of the rights and… Read more »

If the Foundations Are Destroyed?

  

I have taught Biblical principles in my courses for the past twenty-seven years. I’ve wanted my students to understand that we must look deeper than outward appearances when we scrutinize historical events. A principle is a source or origin of anything; it is a general truth, that is, a truth that is so broad and sweeping that many other truths can be considered off-shoots of it. The idea of general truths that apply to all of society formerly had wide… Read more »