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that history is essential to understanding the Catholic Faith
and that the Catholic Faith is essential to understanding
true
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Articles > True History True History
The great Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson, distinguished between two levels of historical meaning, one being what we generally think of as history - the surface events of geo-political history; the other, salvation history - the plan of Divine Providence - God's actions in human history. "...there are two principles at work in history. True history - sacred history - is not the same as apparent history or secular history. The spiritual meaning and value of history are hidden under the veil of outward political and economic change." [by Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson, The Formation of Christendom (Sheed & Ward, 1967), p. 81, as quoted in Christianity and the Challenge of History by John J. Mulloy, (Christendom Press, 1995)] Most of us have been educated to think of history and religion as two separate, unrelated subjects. The events of the world, war and politics, governments and nations, are generally taught with little, if any, reference to a meaning or purpose to life or human events. As Catholics we know that there truly is a Divine Planner who has a divine plan for human life. We know that the story of history has a definite beginning, middle and ultimate destiny and that our lives have a purpose and meaning which we can only begin to understand in this life. Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, became Man and entered human history "in the fullness of time." The Incarnation is the central point of our faith and it is the center point of all history. Christ came to us in History, He comes to us in the Mystery of the Sacraments, and He will come again in Majesty at the end of time. For this reason "as Catholics, we are preeminently the people for whom history matters."[1] [from "Light to the Nations: Reclaiming the Catholic Historical Imagination" by Prof. Rollin Lasseter on the Catholic Educator's Resource Center]
"The birth of Jesus at Bethlehem is not an event which can be consigned to the past. The whole of human history in fact stands in reference to him: our own time and the future of the world are illumined by His presence. He is 'the Living One,' 'who is, who was and who is to come.'" |
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