A Christian worldview of history often gets construed on what it is and is not. It is not a spiritualization of history nor the providential look at history.[1] These two perspectives work to try to figure out what the specific purpose of God in a given situation. This is impossible to do as Isaiah writes that God’s ways are not the ways of mankind nor His thoughts.[2] As humans we cannot know what God’s specific purpose in history is as he is in control over everything that happens so it makes it impossible to know why things happen the way that they do.
What a Christian worldview of history is has to do more with the person than with history itself. This means that a Christian is supposed to look at the world through Scripture in an attempt to see it through God’s perspective.[3] There are three main things that is needed for a Christian worldview of history. First, that God is central in the way that one looks at history as He is the Creator of it all[4] and He is working history to fulfil his purposes.[5] Secondly, a historian needs to be honest and objective as much as possible in their research as they study the past.[6] Thirdly, to realize that no one is perfect and is sinful.[7]
It is important to have a Christian worldview as a person and as a historian. As a person it is important because God is the center of my beliefs. He gives me a foundation to stand upon to see people the way that God wants me to see them as well as the world. As a historian the values that God gives in the Bible helps me to understand that history is not random, that it has a purpose. It also helps me to look at history in a way to try to see different perspectives of people as God has given them value as man is made in his image.[8]
Bibliography
Smith, Sam. “Christian Worldview and History.” Lecture at Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA, 2014.
[1] Sam Smith, “Christian Worldview and History” (lecture at Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA, 2014).
[2] Isaiah 55:8-9 (New King James Version).
[3] Smith, “Christian Worldview.”
[4] Genesis 1 (NKJV).
[5] Revelation 22 (NKJV).
[6] Proverbs 12:19 (NKJV).
[7] Romans 1:18-32 (NKJV).
[8] Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)
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