Five Arguments To Even Slightly Increase Your Desire to Study History

Introduction

If one could obtain a transcript of all the questions raised in high school history classes across the nation, “why does history even matter” would most likely be near the top. History is deemed boring at best and irrelevant at worst. What happened hundreds and thousands of years ago—the ideas that circulated, wars that were fought, and decisions that were made—has little to no importance in the mind of most Americans. We are moderns after all, so much more civilized than the barbarians and statue-worshippers from the past. 

You might disagree with that framing, but, for many of us, a low view of history is the air we breathed throughout childhood. Through some mixture of youthful immaturity and poor education the lessons of history were deemed to be irrelevant to our lives. Therefore we might not be quick to truly value history and the lessons it teaches us.

In this blog, I want to lay out five concise arguments to get you slightly more interested in studying history. If you finish reading this and have even a teensy itch to look into the past, I will be very encouraged.

Reason #1: Our Faith is Based on Historical Events Wrought by God

As has been said somewhere, all of history is simply God’s story. He has brought all events about, from the greatest periods of human flourishing to even the clearest examples of human depravity. All rulers, events, scientific discoveries, life, and death itself flow from him. He is both the creator and author of all life.

As such, we should delight in studying his story. We should enjoy looking into what he has done and how we can see his glory through these historical events. 

History, when viewed through a God-centered lens, becomes enthralling. Though the enemy has constantly tried to destroy the church, he has failed and the church has stood for thousands of years. God promises that all the nations will come to worship God; and no other religion has pervaded all across the world without coercion like Christianity. 

Most importantly, the cornerstone of our faith, Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection, are historical events. Jesus walked this earth 2,000 years ago. Jesus died on a Roman cross, suffering under Pontius Pilate, as the Apostles Creed says. Jesus rose again, appearing to many witnesses who could corroborate his resurrection, defeating death and bringing salvation to the world (1 Cor. 15:6, cf. Acts 26:26). If this historical event did not happen, our faith is worthless (1 Cor. 15:14). As such, every Christian should have a baseline level of historical understanding and appreciation. Our salvation is rooted in history. 

Reason #2: To Avoid the Mistakes and Sins of the Past

Even secular people understand this idea—those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. However, the Christian must understand history to avoid mistakes and sins specifically as a means to honor and glorify God. Paul talks about this explicitly as he talks about Israel’s history to the Corinthian church when he says, “these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did” (1 Cor. 10:6). This is an incredible statement: the history of Israel is to be studied by Christians in order that we might not sin in the same way.

Humans are all unique but have very similar tendencies. Men struggle with passivity, like Adam in the garden. Women struggle with gossip, as Paul outlines in 1 Timothy 5. Since there is nothing new under the sun (Ecc. 1:9), we must understand and know the weaknesses of our forefathers in the faith to avoid their mistakes.

A simple modern day example of this is seen in denominations who have become LQBTQ+ affirming. If you study the history, even briefly, you see a clear pattern emerge that reliably predicts LGBTQ+ affirmation: the ordination of female pastors. Five of the largest denominations in the United States ordained women pastors during 1956–1985, and all of them were LGBTQ+ affirming by 2014.¹ We must learn from this example, and see the avalanche that flows from rejecting God’s word and saying that both men and women can be pastors.

If you want to fight sin and be on guard for what is ahead, having a good understanding of history is one of the best tools at your disposal. 

Reason #3: History is a Record of God’s Faithfulness to His People

There are numerous passages in scripture that outline God’s historical faithfulness to his people, and Hebrews 11 is one of the most glorious. In it, the author outlines how all the saints of old rightly trusted God, and how God was faithful to them, encouraging the listener in that day, and the reader now, to trust God like those saints did. 

When we study history, we behold God’s kindness, patience, and power toward his people. We see a God who can be trusted during the hardest times, as we recognize that he has delivered his people from even worse situations before. We see a God who equips his people to be obedient to him, even unto death. One of the early church fathers, Polycarp, was being pressured to curse Christ, and yet he responded “for eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no evil. How could I curse my king, who saved me?”² How can we not be encouraged by such a response!

Additionally, we as 21st century Christians have the benefit of seeing our God deliver his people from sin for thousands of years before us. How can it not induce confidence when we realize that in our battle against sin, “we fight with an enemy that hath been often beaten and trumped over by our brethren that went before us.”³ Millions of Christians throughout the ages have dealt with the same sins we wrestle with today, and God has delivered them. We can therefore, as we study history, be confident that he will deliver us, in his timing and in his way, as well. 

Reason #4: Truth Matters

Our God is a God of truth (Jn. 14:6) and hates all those who speak lies (Ps. 5:6). As such, being able to discern what is historically true versus what is a deceptive telling of history matters. 

Truthful history matters because God’s glory can be seen through it. It is a fact that Christians reversed the almost universal practice across the ancient world of murdering unwanted infants through exposure. It is a fact that Christian Britain ended the practice of widows lighting themselves on fire in India (called Sati) if their husbands died.⁴ When we see what truly happened we can give glory to God.

Truthful history matters when we realize that all the things we view as normal—human rights for all mankind, compassion for the oppressed, equality of all people, humility—were not present before Christianity. They are uniquely Christian ideas.⁵

Truthful history matters so that we can oppose lies that undermine our faith and the world God has created. We can study our country’s history and see that the separation of church and state was to protect the church from the state, not the state from the church. We can study the Crusades and see, though much sin was committed, the mainstream view of the crusades, that claims that “an expansionist, imperialistic Christendom brutalized, looted, and colonized a tolerant and peaceful Islam” is completely false.⁶

Knowing what is historically true helps us to worship God and we must study that truth in order to know it.

Reason #5: We Are Inheritors of Historical Decisions and Thought

Lastly, we see that we stand downstream of historical actions and philosophies. Understanding those things helps us properly evaluate our own decisions and thinking. A simple example of this comes from our childhood; what we deem as normal is probably what our parents did or said. The way they loaded the dishwasher is how we like to, the brands they bought are what we are comfortable with. We stand downstream from them and therefore view the world differently because of how they acted.

Likewise, we stand downstream of history and are affected by it. Take one simple example: emotions and individualistic thinking. While you may not use these words, you live in a world in which “being true to yourself”, “living out your own best life”, “discovering yourself”, and “following your heart” are commonly accepted ideologies. You believe your experiences, your feelings, and your thoughts hold heavy importance.

But what we fail to understand is that these are new ideas in the past 250 years; they did not exist before the late 18th century. Inwardness, authenticity, individuality, and emotion-based reasoning were all alien concepts until the enlightenment in the 1700s and 1800s.⁷ Our obsession with emotions and self didn’t just pop up out of nowhere—it is clear historical development, and we would be better served if we understood that.

Conclusion and a Starter Pack

As stated in the introduction, I hope my goal of even piquing your interest has succeeded. Now the question is: where should you start?

The below books represent a miniscule sample of all the different resources out there, but starting with one or two of these would be an engaging and informative way to begin studying history.

• The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonalez - this two volume work covers all of church history in an engaging manner.

• Sword and Scimitar by Raymond Ibrahim - an eye-opening analysis of the 1,000 year conflict between Christianity and Islam.

• Remaking the World by Andrew Wilson - a compelling argument for how events in the late 18th century have created the culture we live in today. Parts 1 and 2 of the book are best.

• Any biography by Iain Murray - the founder of Banner of Truth has a multitude of biographies on influential Christians .

• Any World War 2 book by Stephen Ambrose - one of the most well known modern historians, Ambrose’s books are well-researched and never dry.

1. Kevin McClure, “How Many Female Pastors Are There in the SBC?”, American Reformer, 10 June 2023, https://americanreformer.org/2023/06/how-many-female-pastors-are-in-the-sbc/.

2. Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation, Vol. 1. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2010), 54.

3. John Flavel, The Works of John Flavel, Vol. 3. (Edinburgh, UK: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), 298.

4. Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2019), 143. See page 419 for information on Sati.

5. Andrew Wilson, Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023), 139.

6. Rodney Stark, God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), 8-9.

7. Wilson, Remaking the World, 189-190.