Book Review: Redeeming Our Thinking about History: A God-Centered Approach” By Vern Poythress

Vern Poythress. Redeeming Our Thinking about History: A God-Centered Approach.  Wheaton, IL: Crossway, March 15, 2022.  256 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

How should Christians think about the study of history?  In this book author Vern Poythress explores the biblical worldview as the foundation for history.  Poythress has written on a biblical worldview for other areas of academic discipline such as philosophy, science, sociology and linguistics.  Similar to his other works in this book Poythress draws out implications from the contents of Scripture to discuss about the method of history. Arguing in the way of Cornelius Van Til’s Presuppositional Apologetics, Poythress also advocate that only the Triune Christian worldview can give an account of history in a way that makes it intelligible and meaningful.

The book has twenty six chapters grouped into five parts.  The first chapter is on the importance of history and then followed by part one which consists of eight chapters and is titled “What We Need in Order to Analyze History: Essential Resources That God Supplies.”  Part two is titled “History in the Bible: How the Bible Goes about Writing History” consisting of three chapters.  Chapter twelve through eighteen is grouped under part three, “Understanding God’s Purposes in History: Divine Purposes—and Our Limitations—in the Study of History.”  The next three chapters is under part four which is on “What Does History Writing Look Like? Examples of Challenges in Writing about Particular Periods.”  The final five chapters make up part 5, “Alternative Versions of How to Think about History: Competing Ways of Doing History among Christians.”

There are other books out there on a Christian view of historiography.  This one emphasize more the biblical content to inform the activity of doing history.  That’s one of the thing I really like about Poythress.  In addition Poythress bring to bear his Perspectivalism with the discussion about history.  Poythress notes there are three dimensions with historical study: events, people and meaning.  These “perspectives” (I prefer to call them dimensions) are inter-related and can’t be separated.  They also correspond to John Frame’s discussion about perspectivalism with the normative, situational and existential.  Specifically events correspond to the situational, people with the existential and meaning with normative.

The most helpful discussion in the book is the topic of the various ways Christians have chosen to pursue the study of history.  In particular Poythress defends Providentialism that actively and openly refer to God with the meaning of events.  This might not be popular today; in fact Poythress interact with others who disagree with his view.  Even in the last few years there are books published on Christian and history such as John Fea’s Why Study History which is critical and suspicious about openly talking about God’s providence in serious historical discussion.  The last part of the book’s discussion about various historiography were critical, thoughtful and biblical.  I also love how Poythress lands with his conclusion of how the various historiography aren’t necessarily in opposition with one another but can be seen as complementary “perspectives” of how to do history.

I recommend this book, it isn’t necessarily very controversial for those rooted in a biblical worldview and he did a good job bringing Scripture and reason to bear.