Getting Started

This assignment will be a discussion on the entire theme of Chapter 14 in your textbook and its parts. You will come to appreciate the difficulty with which history is decided upon. This encompasses a number of choices, approaches, questions and scenarios, that all center around two main concepts—progress (innovation) and factual accounts (interpretation). Western thought is unique in that it proposes both a meaning and purpose to history based on a linear concept. Our study will enable you to determine what that might be, especially for people of faith. However, we still have questions of interpretation such as who writes our history, is it true to fact, or is it a series of organizing the linear concept of history? Are we able to reach objective conclusions about our past, and does that attempt constitute proper authority to head into the future?

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

· Demonstrate an understanding of the different elements of historiography.

· Examine the notion of progress in connection with how one interprets history (hermeneutic).

Resources

· Textbook: A Christian Philosophical Journey

·

A Standard Translation of the Bible as noted in the syllabus.

Instructions

NOTE: You may use the Bible for illustrations in application, but not for final proof (we want to avoid “proof-texting.”). You may also want to try to do the synthesis step by coming up with your own new paradigm for these concept (along with your own illustrations).

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Review the Questions to Consider on page 293 in Chapter 14 of your textbook, A Christian Philosophical Journey.

3. Navigate to the discussion thread below and respond to the following: Use the four-step course methodology of understanding, analysis, evaluation, and application. Write a 150- to 200-word description (three or four paragraphs or at least five observations) about your understanding of historiography. Answer these questions by integrating the different parts of historiography in Chapter 14. For example: Talk about the difference between primary and secondary documents, the question of supernaturalism, cyclical vs. linear concepts of history, secular vs. Christian notions of progress or of the goal of history (end times?). Give examples from history that you are familiar with. Answer the following Questions to Consider from page 293:

a. What makes something a “history”?

b. What is the best way to investigate history?

c. To what extent is history-telling subjective?

d. Is history moving in a particular direction?