A Little Book for New Historians: Why and How to Study History (Little Books)
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Many people think of history as merely “the past”—or at most, information about the past. But the real work of a historian is to listen to the voices of those who have gone before and humbly remember the flesh and blood on the other side of the evidence. What is their story? How does it become part of our own?
In A Little Book for New Historians veteran historian Robert Tracy McKenzie offers a concise, clear, and beautifully written introduction to the study of history. In addition to making a case for the discipline in our pragmatic, “present-tense” culture, McKenzie lays out necessary skills, methods, and attitudes for historians in training. Loaded with concrete examples and insightful principles, this primer shows how the study of history, faithfully pursued, can shape your heart as well as your mind.
Key Features
- Examines the essential skills, methods, and attitudes of historians
- Explores the importance and rewards of studying history
- Provides a helpful introduction and guide to the study of history
Contents
Part One: Why Study History?
- So What Is History Anyway?
- Our “Present-Tense Culture”
- Practical Rewards
- Transformation
- Discipleship
Part Two: How to Study History Faithfully
- Listening to Other Historians
- Listening to the Dead
- Contributing to the Conversation
- Why Does It Matter?
Top Highlights
“First, history is foundational to our sense of identity.” (Page 15)
“But if we are all already historians who know some history, it doesn’t follow that we are automatically equipped to remember the past accurately and wisely.” (Page 17)
“Academic historians refer to this as the problem of presentism—our unthinking inclination to view the past through the lens of the present and to misread what we are seeing as a result.” (Page 78)
“academic historians insist that history is not the past.” (Page 12)
“History is unavoidably a study of causes, but establishing causation is the most difficult thing a historian can undertake.” (Page 90)
Praise for the Print Edition
This book makes an outstanding contribution—for students of history, readers of history, history classes in college or high school, and discussions of history in church groups. It explains clearly what historians do, how historical study can promote the right kind of intellectual discipline, and why history means so much for Christian faith. The book is as powerfully effective as it is accessibly succinct.
—Mark Noll, author of In the Beginning Was the Word: The Bible and American Public Life, 1492-1783
This primer for new historians is full of Christian wisdom about the study of the past. Written by a seasoned veteran who has taught history majors for more than thirty years—in both secular and Christian academic institutions—it will instruct and transform you with profound historical thinking about the world in which we live and the people we should love. Read it and join the conversation!
—Douglas A. Sweeney, distinguished professor of church history and the history of Christian thought, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Beautifully written and thought provoking. Tracy McKenzie reminds us that history is so much more than knowledge about the past. He invites us to understand history as a Christian vocation; he equips us to develop historical habits of the mind, and he challenges us to be transformed by our historical consciousness. Just as history is foundational to Christian faith, McKenzie shows us that historical understanding is also foundational to being a faithful Christian. His book will enrich both the college and church classroom.
—Beth Allison Barr, associate professor of history, associate dean of the graduate school at Baylor University
Product Details
- Title: A Little Book for New Historians: Why and How to Study History
- Authors: Robert Tracy McKenzie
- Series: Little Books
- Publisher: IVP
- Publication Date: 2019
- Pages: 120
- Resource Type: Introduction
- Topic: History
Robert Tracy McKenzie (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is Arthur F. Holmes Chair of Faith and Learning and professor and chair of the department of history at Wheaton College. His books include Lincolnites and Rebels, A Little Book for New Historians, and The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving God and Learning from History.