originally published 2/18/2015

Historian John Fea discusses how American and Protestant individualism continues to influence our orientation toward the past. In contrast to other Christian cultures, such as Roman Catholicism, European Christendom, and the Eastern Orthodox tradition — all of which have viewed their histories more in terms of dynamic, living traditions — American Protestantism has been disposed to treat history as a collection of dates and events that are extrinsic and, more or less, optional to understanding the present and future. Fea argues that the benefit of studying history is that history de-centers us, such that we are compelled to consider situations and motivations beyond ourselves. For Fea, history’s instruction leads to both moral and public consequences that must be cultivated with wise pedagogy. Rather than teaching students to be “consumers” of history, Fea and others call for practices of “producing” history, which requires engaging with primary sources and articulating informed and coherent accounts of historical documents. Fea is the author of Why Study History? Reflecting on the Importance of the Past. This interview was originally published on Volume 124 of the Journal.

22 minutes

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