History as Art or Science
Over the past several thousand years, the study of history has gone through numerous changes. Histories were oral, then became written. Histories that were looser with details have now become more precise as we have begun to apply the scientific method to the study of history. Ancient battlefields where the man recounting the battle would have described legions in the 100s of thousands, might now be more accurately told as battles between no more than a thousand men. Our refining of the scientific method and its application to softer sciences, such as history, have undoubtedly yielded more accurate figures and understanding of data. However, is there a point where the fixation on data begins to rob us from what history is supposed to teach us about being human?
Our model of teaching history has begun to rely more heavily on recitation of facts than moral instruction. Student today can tell you the name of the 19th president of the United States, but they couldn’t tell you about the great physical and spiritual things these men grappled with. Our study of the facts of history has led us away from the instructive myths of history. The myth of George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree may not be entirely true, but the lesson of the man’s honesty is. In teaching history, it appears that we have become much more concerned with just recounting what happened than inspiring zeal in the hearts of man. In The Iliad, Achilles’s glory is not only in his prowess on the battlefield but in the fact that his war-song will be sung forever. He will live to inspire fear and courage in men as long as people sing his song and tell his story. There was an understanding in the ancient world that a historical tale was just as much about saying what happened as it was about instructing about the greatness, or foibles, of the men who made the event happen.
To the reader; what would be the important part of your story to tell? Would a complete history of your life be compromised of facts such as birth, death, company worked for? It wouldn’t. The instructive and even historical part of your life is probably measured in sentences about how you bore a great suffering or strived and even perhaps failed at a goal. Maybe your greatness could be encapsulated in how you treated your spouse or child with unique kindness and gentleness as you endured a hardship at work. If a great general won a battle against a force twice the size of his own, and then returned to his quarters to pray in thanksgiving to God – there would be a different moral story to tell than if the general returned to his quarters to engage in raucous partying. Telling us the greatness of the general was wholly within the achievement of his victory might be factually true but would lack a whole dimension of his character, and his greatness, leaving us poorer for it and with less to strive for!
The past contains a rich source of inspiration in the great stories and tales of those who came before us. There is a proper balance that we should seek in the modern day between art and science as we learn our history. Though much of history today is taught in the analytical model, we should seek to balance that with instruction from narrative history, presenting history as comprehensive stories that engage with the experiences and motivations of individuals. Narrative history combines instruction of facts with vivid and dynamic character in what feels like an unfolding story. There have been many great and inspiring books in the form of narrative history, such as The River of Doubt, Empire of the Summer Moon, and Devil in the White City. To those who viewed history as boring, didn’t learn much, and don’t seek to learn any more, I implore you to try reading narrative history. History is a science, and we are richer for treating it that way. However, we should not lose the heart and vigor found in our stories from the past. The struggles and victories of generations are not dead, we carry them with us in our lives today.