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Articles >
The "Big
Picture" of History
The study of Western Civilization or Western Culture has
become politically incorrect in many circles today. Perhaps
that is because there is a conscious attempt being made to
rewrite history from a non-Christian, sometimes even
anti-Christian point of view.
Western Culture was the seedbed of Christian Culture and
Christian Culture, or Christendom, is the Kingdom of God
established on earth through Christ and His apostles and
continued on through the Catholic Church and its successors
to the apostles. This is the heritage of all Christians and
our cultural heritage needs to be studied and understood in
the light of our Faith in order to be passed on to
succeeding generations. If we lose our cultural memory, if
we allow our history to be taken from us the "glory of
Christendom", of truly Catholic culture, will become lost to
us. It is a necessity for each of us as Catholic parents and
educators to restore this culture for ourselves, for our
children and for the continued existence of a civilized
society. But to restore authentic Christian Culture we must
first understand what it is and from where it originated, we
must come to an understanding of history from the
perspective of our Catholic Faith.
Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson writes in his book,
The Crisis of Western Education:
"For if we study Western culture in the light of Catholic
theology and philosophy, we are in fact studying Christian
culture or one aspect of it. I believe that the study of
Christian culture is the missing link which it is essential
to supply if the tradition of Western education and Western
culture is to survive, for it is only through this study
that we can understand how Western culture came to exist and
what are the essential values for which it stands."
So how do we as Catholic home educators begin to undertake
such a seemingly daunting task? Most of us are not
historians, many of us do not even remember much world
history from our schooldays, if indeed we were even taught
any history other than American.
We must begin by understanding the History of Salvation, for
that is the true story of history from which all other
stories are derived. Human history is only given true
meaning through the understanding that we were created for a
purpose by an all-loving God who actively participates in
all human life through His Divine Providence. He created us,
He sustains us, He hears us when we cry out to Him for help
and comfort, He sends us prophets and yes, even miracles yet
today, and the ultimate purpose which He gives each of our
lives is to return to Him to abide with Him forever!
Consider these words from Professor of History, Rollin
Lassetter of the University of Dallas, in his excellent
article,
Light to the Nations: Reclaiming the Catholic Historical
Imagination :
"...History Studies.... lifts the curtain on a great drama —
the great acts of God among His people, the Logos at work
creating and redeeming our world. That understanding
informed saints and students for centuries before this one,
and should be still informing Catholic educators today. Why
it does not is a tale in itself, best left for another time.
A Catholic history is the reconstruction of human events
seen as the working of God in this world, shepherding,
guiding, the sheep of the nations, with the laws of reason
and the law of revelation, toward the moment of the
Incarnation and the Resurrection. In its dramatic suspense
students find the revelation of death’s illusion and the
hope of eternal life. In its heroic romance lies the spread
of that vision to all the world, supplanting lesser visions
and incorporating cultures and civilizations capable of
receiving it, up to the final moment of judgment, the
parousia, and New Heaven and Earth."
Professor Lassetter continues by quoting "The Religious
Dimension of Education", from the Congregation for Catholic
Education:
"Teachers should guide the students’ work in such a way that
they will be able to discover a religious dimension in the
world of human history. As a preliminary, they should be
encouraged to develop a taste for historical truth, and
therefore to realize the need to look critically at texts
and curricula which, at times, are imposed by a government
or distorted by the ideology of the author. The next step is
to help students see history as something real: the drama of
human grandeur and human misery. The protagonist of history
is the human person, who projects onto the world, on a
larger scale, the good and evil that is withal each
individual. History is, then, a monumental struggle between
these two fundamental realities, and is subject to moral
judgments. But such judgments must always be made with
understanding. (III.2.58)
"To this end, the teacher should help students to see
history as a whole. Looking at the grand picture, they will
see the development of civilizations, and learn about
progress, such things as economic development, human
freedom, and international cooperation, realizing this can
help to offset the disgust that comes from learning about
the darker side of human history. (II.2.59)" [As quoted in
Light to the Nations]
The Big Picture of history is the "romance of salvation",
the love story of God for His people as He guides us back to
Himself. When we understand this we can understand the
meaning of true history.
Post-modernism teaches us that knowledge is incoherent,
that there is simply no way to put the world’s story
together; John Paul II proposed Christian faith as a
comprehensive, coherent, and compelling account of human
nature and human community, of human origins and human
destiny. - George Weigel
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