Week Four: Historical Documents

I have to start out by admitting I am not too fond of reading history. I understand there is an obvious importance to having a connection with ones roots and ancestors, but after year 4 of hearing the same lessons in school one starts to tune-out. What I thought was interesting about this article is that it mentions the why factor. We all want, crave, and need to know why something happened. While this is still true today one aspect of the writing and defining of why has evolved to mean something a bit different.

The article highlights the fact that over time things change. Yeah, huge discovery, right? Well, this truth, however obvious, holds some significant importance in how we record things today. In ancient times people were very much concerned with historical accuracy, but we see more attention to detail and scrutiny to perspective now than ever before. The ancient writers appeared to have a different agenda, not presuming it was a hidden one at all, just different. The ancient writers and gospel authors were more focused on preserving the truth of the story more than anything else.

I think it is important to keep both of these things in mind while being submerged, as every college student is, in historical text. This simple hallmark of Crossley's article serves a much bigger purpose in the scheme of everyday interpretation and understanding of a book like the Bible.