Historical Philosophy, An Introduction

Welcome to Religion in America. We hope that this blog will interest all students of America’s religious history. Whether you are an amateur or professional historian, you should find something of interest. We intend to post book reviews, photo tours of historical sites, and historiographical essays in order to inform you about current topics in American religious history.

For our first series of posts, Lincoln proposed that we each summarize our historical philosophy. As Lincoln and I discussed starting a blog we realized that we had both been engaging fundamental philosophical ideas over the past two years but had yet to compile those late-night wonderings and isolated thoughts into an overarching philosophy of history. Even though our philosophies are not set in stone, airing our philosophies is a useful exercise. It brings into conflict or cohesion ideas that have previously been considered only apart.

Just as everyone has a theology, everyone has a historical philosophy, a matrix through which we make sense of the past. We interpret the facts of what happened according to an ideological framework. Then again, it is also true that we often adjust our ideological framework to fit the facts of what happened. We all participate in this back-and-forth interaction between our philosophical framework and the nitty-gritty of history. Our culture, personal experiences, and interactions with others all shape how we think about history.

Thus, it is appropriate to point out that Lincoln and I have much in common. We both were raised in Fundamentalist communities, both were educated at the same conservative Christian university, and both have decided to pursue graduate training in American religious history. (On a personal level, both our wives have master’s degrees in English literature.) We feel a common intellectual bond that is based upon our faith in Christ and our belief that the Scriptures ought to be the basis of all Christian thought.

Over the past two years, we have both started our graduate educations at institutions outside of Fundamentalist circles. I have been studying history with David Harrington Watt at Temple University in Philadelphia. Lincoln finished an MA at Bob Jones University, and he will begin a PhD at Brandeis University near Boston this fall. What Bob Jones is to the theological and historical right, so Temple and Brandeis are to the left, and yet neither of us has rejected Fundamentalism.

So not only do we hope to provide you with insightful historical information, we also anticipate having valuable discussions with each other and with you, our readers, as we compare and contrast the ways in which our educations both inside and outside of Fundamentalism may have shaped our understanding of history.