History is always changing. This brings back memories of graduate school. I have always loved history since a child. I instinctively knew that no one source told the whole story. My introduction to Christian history was spending several years in an Eastern Orthodox church. I had come from a Southern Baptist church so this was a beautiful flower opening for me. I continue to find resources that expand my history (and Christian history) window. One Christmas, The Rest Is History podcast spent a week on a time I always felt was a hole in European Christian history after the fall of Rome. Another podcast, Empire, introduced me to Christianity’s introduction and growth in India. I haven’t been to VBS in many years. Thank you for this joyful time.
Your question about stories of Christianity growing up reminded me of a comic strip in the San Francisco Chronicle next to Dick Tracey and Gordo. For those of you not old enough to recognize those names, this was late 1950s/early 60s. The strip was about an early Christian community living amidst persecution, using the Ichthys as a secret pass code and worshipping in the catacombs to avoid detection by the Roman's. Though I was raised in a "Chreaster" household that attended church (maybe) on Christmas and Easter, I looked forward to reading the strip every day.
This is so fun! And I have to admit that I found it hard to picture that there was once a time when you didn't know you could put your foot down about something, even with a publisher.
Thank you for this series, I am looking forward to it. This video is a great introduction into the study. I love history, but know little about Christian history. My oldest is an historian and there were many things in this video that were familiar because they have shared them with me.
I also like your phrase “Great Command Christianity.” Though we spent many years in Evangelical churches, our family’s creed was “Love God, Love Others”. That was a huge reason why we moved out of the Evangelical church.
With trepidation about suggesting to a historian that she may have the data on history wrong, I want to point out that slavery was in America before 1619. We have data that show records of slaves (https://aaregistry.org/story/the-first-recorded-african-slaves-arrive-in-the-united-states-of-america/) in the US before 1619. I believe 1619 is the date of when the first person was sold as a slave in VA (or the soon to be US). Previously, in most of the colonies, Europeans brought their slaves with them and they lived with their masters. Some were more indentured servants and were released after a time. So here the meaning of the word slave comes into play. This is all an example of what you talked about in the video of course. And I thank you for the wonderful explanation. I found the triangle explanation very helpful. But I would like to suggest you change the sentence about slavery and 1619 to something more like: the first African was sold into slavery in the US colonies in 1619.
Listening to your lecture, when you read the quote from Hillary Mantel, I could not help but recall Faulkner’s line “The past isn’t dead; it’s not even past.”
Regarding what Christian History I learned in my denomination growing up, it was almost nothing. This was 1950s-1960s Southern Baptist faith, and my Dad was a seminary-trained minister. I recall that once when I asked a question (that I don’t recall) he said that Baptists believed that there were always people who held the (then current) Baptist beliefs! Maybe he was over-simplifying for a child, but maybe that explains the student question about Protestants that you told.
Early on in "A People's History" (copyright 2009), you wrote: The second, and maybe more surprising, claim is that after decades of struggle, moderate and liberal Christianity is experiencing an unexpected renewal in North America. Many people now refer to this energized cluster as “progressive” or “emerging” Christianity." [Bass, Diana Butler. A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story (p. 12). Kindle Edition.]
A few years later, in a presentation to the Episcopal Diocese of Easton, on the changing climate of Christianity, you talked about the almost sudden rise of the spiritual but not religious nones. What might you say today about the state of "moderate and liberal Christianity"?
Your discussion around your maxim validated my own experience of writing a memoir as requested by my daughter "before you forget more than you already have, Dad". That required remembering, connecting and sequencing what started out as ten thousand random dots over seventy years. And that process was informational. interpretive and imaginative in just the way you described. That dramatically changed my own 'life story'. For one example, I saw past crises differently. I didn't "crash and burn" as I had remembered. In the new 'historical' context they revealed themselves as the transformational events that they actually were, which I had never put together before. Thank you for giving me a better perspective for understanding how and why that worked the way it did.
Just watched your first lecture. Thinking that interpretation is a matter of personal choice. That is how I choose to look at history (evidence/information) through my own experience and influenced by the presence or absence of empathy.
wow. i am so excited! thanks, diana, this is going to be fun and informative and, also, something good to think about instead of all the horrible news.
Diana, thank you, thank you for this first lecture in the series--for creating the triangle of information, interpretation and empathy. I was an undergraduate history major, loved history but ended up in a career in criminal justice reform. I now read a lot of history and am concerned about Christian nationalism in this country. I am wanting a framework for understanding what happened to a clear sense of what Jesus taught.
This should be great for me. My only church background was attending vacation Bible school a few times as a child. My Dad never set foot in a church. My mom, although brought up Baptist, seldom went to church as an adult. You can see that I'm kind of a tabula rasa. I identified myself as Unitarian in my adult life up until age 64, but I never institutionalized it. My wife and I have since connected with a UCC church and a Presbyterian church. Both are open and affirming and liberal. Before that, we were in and out of several churches. It will be great at age 85 to finally get some of my gaps filled in with your course.
History is always changing. This brings back memories of graduate school. I have always loved history since a child. I instinctively knew that no one source told the whole story. My introduction to Christian history was spending several years in an Eastern Orthodox church. I had come from a Southern Baptist church so this was a beautiful flower opening for me. I continue to find resources that expand my history (and Christian history) window. One Christmas, The Rest Is History podcast spent a week on a time I always felt was a hole in European Christian history after the fall of Rome. Another podcast, Empire, introduced me to Christianity’s introduction and growth in India. I haven’t been to VBS in many years. Thank you for this joyful time.
Your question about stories of Christianity growing up reminded me of a comic strip in the San Francisco Chronicle next to Dick Tracey and Gordo. For those of you not old enough to recognize those names, this was late 1950s/early 60s. The strip was about an early Christian community living amidst persecution, using the Ichthys as a secret pass code and worshipping in the catacombs to avoid detection by the Roman's. Though I was raised in a "Chreaster" household that attended church (maybe) on Christmas and Easter, I looked forward to reading the strip every day.
Share a link to the video, thx Diana.
It is right there. In this newsletter. Above. Just click on the video.
This is so fun! And I have to admit that I found it hard to picture that there was once a time when you didn't know you could put your foot down about something, even with a publisher.
Thank you for this series, I am looking forward to it. This video is a great introduction into the study. I love history, but know little about Christian history. My oldest is an historian and there were many things in this video that were familiar because they have shared them with me.
I also like your phrase “Great Command Christianity.” Though we spent many years in Evangelical churches, our family’s creed was “Love God, Love Others”. That was a huge reason why we moved out of the Evangelical church.
With trepidation about suggesting to a historian that she may have the data on history wrong, I want to point out that slavery was in America before 1619. We have data that show records of slaves (https://aaregistry.org/story/the-first-recorded-african-slaves-arrive-in-the-united-states-of-america/) in the US before 1619. I believe 1619 is the date of when the first person was sold as a slave in VA (or the soon to be US). Previously, in most of the colonies, Europeans brought their slaves with them and they lived with their masters. Some were more indentured servants and were released after a time. So here the meaning of the word slave comes into play. This is all an example of what you talked about in the video of course. And I thank you for the wonderful explanation. I found the triangle explanation very helpful. But I would like to suggest you change the sentence about slavery and 1619 to something more like: the first African was sold into slavery in the US colonies in 1619.
Thank you for doing this series! I learned so much from the first lecture
Listening to your lecture, when you read the quote from Hillary Mantel, I could not help but recall Faulkner’s line “The past isn’t dead; it’s not even past.”
Regarding what Christian History I learned in my denomination growing up, it was almost nothing. This was 1950s-1960s Southern Baptist faith, and my Dad was a seminary-trained minister. I recall that once when I asked a question (that I don’t recall) he said that Baptists believed that there were always people who held the (then current) Baptist beliefs! Maybe he was over-simplifying for a child, but maybe that explains the student question about Protestants that you told.
Do you have a transcript of your lecture? I can read a whole faster than listening to a video.
Early on in "A People's History" (copyright 2009), you wrote: The second, and maybe more surprising, claim is that after decades of struggle, moderate and liberal Christianity is experiencing an unexpected renewal in North America. Many people now refer to this energized cluster as “progressive” or “emerging” Christianity." [Bass, Diana Butler. A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story (p. 12). Kindle Edition.]
A few years later, in a presentation to the Episcopal Diocese of Easton, on the changing climate of Christianity, you talked about the almost sudden rise of the spiritual but not religious nones. What might you say today about the state of "moderate and liberal Christianity"?
Your discussion around your maxim validated my own experience of writing a memoir as requested by my daughter "before you forget more than you already have, Dad". That required remembering, connecting and sequencing what started out as ten thousand random dots over seventy years. And that process was informational. interpretive and imaginative in just the way you described. That dramatically changed my own 'life story'. For one example, I saw past crises differently. I didn't "crash and burn" as I had remembered. In the new 'historical' context they revealed themselves as the transformational events that they actually were, which I had never put together before. Thank you for giving me a better perspective for understanding how and why that worked the way it did.
Just watched your first lecture. Thinking that interpretation is a matter of personal choice. That is how I choose to look at history (evidence/information) through my own experience and influenced by the presence or absence of empathy.
wow. i am so excited! thanks, diana, this is going to be fun and informative and, also, something good to think about instead of all the horrible news.
You’ve got me champing at the bit, Diana. Thank you for this summer study!
Diana, thank you, thank you for this first lecture in the series--for creating the triangle of information, interpretation and empathy. I was an undergraduate history major, loved history but ended up in a career in criminal justice reform. I now read a lot of history and am concerned about Christian nationalism in this country. I am wanting a framework for understanding what happened to a clear sense of what Jesus taught.
This should be great for me. My only church background was attending vacation Bible school a few times as a child. My Dad never set foot in a church. My mom, although brought up Baptist, seldom went to church as an adult. You can see that I'm kind of a tabula rasa. I identified myself as Unitarian in my adult life up until age 64, but I never institutionalized it. My wife and I have since connected with a UCC church and a Presbyterian church. Both are open and affirming and liberal. Before that, we were in and out of several churches. It will be great at age 85 to finally get some of my gaps filled in with your course.