Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

munication."method."with"objective"sun"The Relation of Church History to PreachingSeminary Opening Lecture September 14, 1955S. Bruce Willson, D.D.Dr. Wm. G. T. Shedd, an influential church historian, once declared that the purpose of an inaugural discourse is "to justify the existence of a specificprofessorship, and to magnify the specific disciplinewhich it imparts." In keeping then with this highpurpose, it becomes a part of a pleasant duty not onlyto attempt to justify the existence "of a specific professorship"in the academic framework of the Seminary, but to indicate a close and vital relationshipbetween two fields of theological study, which aresometimes considered unrelated.The Synod has committed to my trust the teaching of Church History and Practical Theology. In myfirst lecture two years ago, I sought to discuss thesubject, "Practical Theology and the Divine ComTonight I invite your attention to therelation that exists between the disciplines of ChurchHistory and Preaching.To the popular mind these two subjects mayseem irreconcilable one dealing with that whichis totally past, the other dealing with that which ispresent. Furthermore, history, and especially Churchhistory, may be felt to be utterly dry and uninteresting and impracticable by its very nature; whereas"preaching"is essentially practical and contemporary.To discuss a relation between two or morethings, or disciplines, we must define our terms.I. The Nature of Church History.The most obvious fact we have here is that weare immediately confronted with a double term, forit has to do with history and with the church. Butless obvious is the additional fact that the term"church"is not a mere adjective delimiting the extent of the history to be considered. It is not asthough there is the broad scope of history which inturn can be broken down into all types of sub-topics,and sub-sub-topics. Church history then, is not asubordinate part of the record of the human species,but has to do with a study of God's plan of redemption as seen in the record of human life.The Term HistoryOur English word for history came from theGreek (through the Latin) word historia, which isderived from the Greek verb historeo. In its originalinvestigation."usage it meant to "learn by inquiry orIt signified the activities of one seeking knowledge.As to method, it might be compared to our modernusage of the term "scientific It is in thisoriginal sense that Paul uses the word in Galatians1:18 when he describes his interview with Peter inJerusalem. In the King James Version we read, "Iwent up to Jerusalem to see (historesai)Peter."Dr. Verkuyl hints at this meaning of the term in histranslation: "to get acquainted Peter. Paulwas doing the basic work of the historian when he278sought to learn by investigation the truth about Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ.The Greeks had begun to use the word historikosfor history. It differed from the word historia in thatit was the knowledge acquired by the process of investigation.The first meaning was the process by whichthe records of history were made.The second meaning was the product of that investigation.Then there has come to be a third meaning, theone most commonly used today, "a narrative, a setting forth in writing of the results of an investigation."So we have such a "History of Egyptian Writing"; "A History of the Civil War" ; or "A History ofPreaching."The writings of Luke, the Gospel andthe Acts would be history in both the second andthird meanings.The waiting of history would seem then to be amatter of careful consultation of primary sources,and the recording of answers to the important questions of historical method who? what? when? andwhere? However even a casual comparison of booksof history reveals that given the same "facts" or"data"dealing with these questions, there arises thequestion of evaluating and interpreting those facts.It is at this point that the historian must recognizecertain philosophical elements of history. Facts areinterpreted from some perspective. Even the naiveassertion that certain modern writers have madethat "we write from no preconceived notions, we areentirely is in itself a perspective.Broadly speaking history as the recorded interpretation of the socially significant past may be written and taught from the perspective that all humanexperiences can be understood in terms of this natural world in which we live. "Under the becomes the perspective of two broad concepts of history.1. The Materialists adopt one. They conceive ofman as essentially knowable in the environment ofthis material universe, without reference to the Godwho reveals Himself in revelatory actsprovidential,or redemptive.prophetic,Such men, may adopt a pessimistic attitude andlook uponhistory as a meaningless cycle of humanfrustrations, without purpose, and whose only endcan be decay and oblivion. Oswald Spengler's "TheDecline of the West" follows, in general, this theme.Not allhistorians, who seek to interpret humanlife m terms of this world only, have been of thispessimistic turn of mind. Some have been humanistsin the sense that they have attributed to man himself the innate ability to achieve a better world, andso interpret the data of human experience in thelight of that point of view. The German philosopherHegel, whose influence has been felt in almost evervfield of mental discipline, looks uponhistory as theunfolding of the Absolute Spirit in the developmentCOVENANTER WITNESS