Facts of History

“There are those who see no meaning in history whatsoever. They see it in terms of Joseph Heller’s graphic description, ‘a trash bag of random coincidences torn open in a wind’. But there have been others – notably Tolstoy in War and Peace – who believed that beneath the surface of events a larger plan was unfolding, of which the participants in history were unaware. The Prophets believed history was a drama about redemption. For Christians it was about salvation. For the heroes of the Enlightenment it was a narrative of progress. These are not disagreements about the facts of history. They are disagreements about the interpretation of the facts of history.”

The Great Partnership, Chapter 1, p. 31