Who Will Remember Us After We Die? The Importance of History and Memoir

Memoirs, diaries, and autobiographies are all “unvisited tombs.”

Elaine and I met at the International Institute for Christian Studies (IICS) the summer of 2009 in Kansas City.  She regaled me with dinner-time-travel-stories which included her emeritus philosophy professor husband Jim.  Some years ago they went to Siberia for a semester with IICS.  Elaine’s eyes welled with tears as she told lovely tales of the Russian people who hungered to know about The Creator of the universe.  One lady wondered if God was there, because she was told by the Communists that no God existed.  “Why tell someone something does not exist?  Perhaps this is another Marxist lie,” she reasoned.  Visiting American Christians led her to the Faith on a visit to her village.  Then there was an old woman who had believed in Jesus based only on a few scraps of the New Testament.  Given a Bible for the first time by Elaine, the Russian pressed the book against her chest so hard it left an imprint.  She testified, “I have lived many years but this is the most important possession of my life.”  Elaine’s stories deserve to be written.

His last entry read like a spy-thriller.  In his accounting, Jim was miraculously spared physical harm in one of his many speaking trips to the former Soviet Union.  My adopted Dad, Jim Braley, wrote stories of his past.  Jim’s life is full of experiences: stories which have been told and retold but need the promotion of pen to paper.  Fifty years a school headmaster, educational leader, and worldwide Christian school speaker, Jim’s life is chuck full of interesting tales.  Personal histories must be filed for the future.

Dan and Kathy Vaillancourt, along with my daughter Chelsea, have been hard at work cataloguing personal lives of Americans. The Vaillancourts’ vision stands in the long line of histories and historiographers who help us to understand the past.[1] Many cultural historians will owe them a great debt for the dedication to and creation of memoirs.  As George Eliot wrote in Middlemarch,

The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric [unrecorded] acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.[2]

Personal accounting honors unknown people, their untold tales, and the unappreciated impact on our world.  Historical story leaves a heritage, a standard of belief and practice.

But Hatshepsut, the famed female king of Egypt, was unsure of her own legacy.  One of the great rulers of the mighty African nation, the “She-King” left her stone chiseled inscriptions all over Egypt.  Even with her one-of-a-kind access to histories’ longest lasting, rock hard memories, Hatshepsut worried she would be forgotten.

Now my heart turns this way and that, as I think what the people will say.  Those who see my monuments in years to come and who shall speak of what I have done.[3]

What will people say about us?  We can establish our history in words, but will anyone care?  Who will believe us?  Will our memories be only regarded as opinion, fog evaporated in the morning sun of another’s point of view?  Is Daniel Boorstin’s concern correct when he questions “the bias of survival?” Are historical points of view fashioned by only those who had the time, opportunity, or inclination to establish their perspective?[4] And has the quest for scientific truth usurped the proper role of discovering historical truth?[5] Ultimately, if we question the reliability of ancient sources is there any hope of securing authentic authorities from the past?

Should Moses’ words be reinterpreted as just one more perception of truth?  Karen Armstrong believes so.  Armstrong says Genesis is non-factual.  With “no pretensions to historical accuracy” the first book in the Hebrew Bible is simply “an early form of psychology” dispensing “an inner source of strength . . . with serenity.”  The cosmology (the study of origins) of Genesis “was primarily therapeutic” providing consolation “to a displaced people.”[6]

Is it historically honest to reinterpret Genesis as therapy?  No.  Genesis makes Truth claims unlike non-historical myths.[7] It is not academically fair to evaluate a document based on one’s personal assumptions without examining the evidence.  Genesis should either be rejected, if it is historically unreliable, or taken at face value without therapeutic reinterpretation.  Writing establishes Truth and attacks falsehood.[8] Truth is more than proposition or story.  Truth is or Truth is not. No area of human knowledge is neutral.  Historical Truth is tied to reality, establishes identity, and forms the bridge to ethics.  Jesus’ simple statement draws a line in the sand:

If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.  But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?[9]

“Soon I will die and all those who knew me; it will be as if I never existed,” laments Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie About Schmidt. It is then that Schmidt discovers that he has lived Eliot’s “hidden life” because of “unhistoric acts”—those events whose importance is unrecorded in books.  Israel’s powerful neighbors said little or nothing about the Hebrews’ “unvisited tombs.”  Seemingly insignificant in the throes of international heavyweights, Israel’s historiography was ignored in recorded human history.  But like the stories from Elaine, Jim, Dan, Kathy, and Chelsea, the First Testament account of Genesis provides “the growing good of the world.”  Our personal histories are important because The Personal Eternal Creator has entered our stories: “in the fullness of time God sent His Son.”[10]

Dr. Mark Eckel enjoys visiting cemeteries, mentioning them and their importance when he teaches. [Originally written and posted 29 September 2009 at WarpandWoof.org]


[1] Visit the website www.memoirforchange.org

[2] George Eliot.  1872, 2003. Middlemarch. (Barnes & Noble Classics): 794.

[3] Chip Brown. “The Woman Who Would Be King,” National Geographic April 2009, accessed at https://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/hatshepsut/brown-text/2

[4] Daniel Boorstin. 1987. Hidden History. (Harper & Row): 3. The first chapter of Boorstin’s book entitled “A Wrestler with the Angel” should be read and re-read, giving pause to the process of historical analysis.

[5] I tell my students that television shows like CSI have hurt the impact of eyewitness accounts in the courtroom suggesting that fiber and follicle are the end-all of guilt or innocence.

[6] Karen Armstrong. “Essays: Man vs. God,” Wall Street Journal 12 September 09.  https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574405030643556324.html

[7] See my comments and footnotes on historiography in part two of this series, “Hummingbird Amputees.”

[8] 2 John 5 references “These written commands which we have had since the beginning” linked to First Testament instruction (Leviticus 19:18) which have come to us “through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him” (Romans 16:26).  Second Testament books such as 2 and 3 John identify the need to compare Truth with falsehood.

[9] John 5:46-47.

[10] Galatians 4:4.

“Beauty” is found in Cooking, Dance, Artwork, Music & Everything in God’s Creation

The Creator created creatures

who creatively create from creation.

beauty-hummingbird

Truth, goodness, and beauty

are generally accepted indications of human creativity.

Pleasure in life suggests outside standards which allow for innovation within life’s margins. Architecture, theatre, painting, poetry, music, artwork of all kinds by all people everywhere suggest humans were made to express and enjoy aesthetics.

beauty-michaelangeloBiblical Theology of Aesthetics

God is Truth: all truth is His, and truth reflects Himself (1 Kgs. 17:24; Ps. 25:5; Isa. 45:18, 19). God is Beauty: equality, harmony, symmetry, and proportion have their source in Him (Gen. 1:3, “He separated,” meaning all things are given their exact place; Ps. 27:4; 90:16, 17; 96:6-9). God is Good: He sets the standard for both expression and evaluation (Gen 1:3, “He saw that it was good”; Matt. 19:17; Mark 10:17-18). All good things come from God (1 Chr. 29:14, 15; Jas. 1:17; 1 Tim. 6:17). Creative skills come from God including intelligence, knowledge, and craftsmanship (Ex. 28:3; 31:1-11; 35:30, 31; 36:2; Isa. 28:23-28).

The Creator created creatures who creatively create from creation. Humans are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27).  beauty-artPeople represent God and are God’s representatives on earth (Ps. 8).  God’s likeness in humanity imbues creativity, intelligence, willfulness, design, purpose, planning, imagination, and appreciation with the creation (Pss. 111:2; 145:3-13). Creation was intentionally made to entwine utility (trees made good for food) and aesthetics (trees made pleasing to the eye, Gen 2.9). God combined strength, balance, function, and beauty in His creation as do His creatures (Gen 1; 2:5, 8, 15).

beauty-architectureArtists used their God-given gifts (Ex. 26:2) of artistic design (35:32) and abilities of intelligence, knowledge, and craftsmanship (35:31) who could also teach (35:34) and who were stirred to do the work (36:2). Songs were rehearsed in Israel (1 Chr. 15:19-22). Order, arrangement, preparation, skill, creativity, and professionalism are important. 1 Chronicles 15:16-16:6 records a full choir, orchestra, and a dance troupe punctuated with “shouts” and percussion (vv. 25, 28).

beauty-rembrantIn the Old Testament The Holy Spirit indwelt people for leadership purposes, including proclamation (1 Sam. 10:5-6) which was also an art form (Ex. 35:21). The instructions for the tabernacle were given through language as written revelation (Ex. 39:42-43)—not the personal, inner experience of the prophet-artist. So the creation of the tabernacle was dependant upon outside revelation not an internal, artistic “voice”. This observation suggests that a biblical view of artistry begins with God rather than humans. Unbelievers contribute excellence in their artwork (1 Kgs. 5:6; 2 Chr. 2:17-18) which pleases God (2 Chr. 7:12-16).

Biblical Philosophy of Aesthetics

For the Christian, all of life is worship: the total response of the total person to the Lord Jesus (Acts 24:14; Phil. 3:3). beauty-durerChristian purpose is to give God glory, whatever the task. God’s glory (literally, “weight”) resides within His creation (1 Chr. 16:28). The responsibility to “throw God’s weight around” falls to Christians in their God-given giftedness, through their God-given vocations (1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:23). Talent, time, money, possessions all come from God (Lev. 25:23; 1 Chr. 29:14-15). Believers give back what has been given (1 Tim. 6:17-19).

beauty-dance1 Chronicles 15 and 16 kept the beauty of Israel’s history alive through the aesthetics of song.  Three major statements about art through music are established. First, singing was artistically responsive (1 Chr. 15:16, 25, 28). Art can be a human response to God’s world, His words, and His works. Old Testament stories are punctuated with song and dance, for instance (Ex. 15). The greatest Israelite kings were musicians (David and Solomon). The Psalms were Israel’s hymnal. Second, the song was rehearsed (1 Chr. 15:19-22). Order, arrangement, preparation, skill, creativity, and excellence are important in aesthetics. 1 Chronicles 15:16-16:6 records a full choir, orchestra, and a dance troupe punctuated with “shouts” and percussion (vv. beauty-ballet25, 28). Third, singing was a regular, repeated remembrance (1 Chr. 16:6, 37). Music is “sacred” (1 Chr. 16:42). The event of celebration was over but the story lives on in the song. One cannot remove music from the “story” without losing meaning (2 Chr. 20:21; Ps. 45; 137:4-6). Hymnology teaches Truth (Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:16). Healing (1 Sam. 16:23), hope (Isa. 35:5-8), and celebration (2 Sam. 6:14-15) are all themes contained in biblical song. Aesthetics are God-given expressions for community and remembrance. Court songs, battle songs, harvest songs, work songs, songs of loss and victory—all of life was worship to God’s people.

Aesthetics—value judgments about creation—is dependent upon personal interpretation of reality through the lens of Christian beauty-choirthought (“and God saw,” Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, etc.).  While the culture maintains personal and experiential parameters are outside of others’ authority, The One who made humanity demands certain standards (Gen. 2:16-17). Truth is grounded in eternal verities (Ps. 119:160). Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder; rather, appreciation of creation is based on The Creator (Gen. 2:9). Goodness is not relative; rather, within a fallen world, both method and message can coincide with a biblical framework of creative expression (Gen. 2:19-20).

beauty-theaterChristian Practice of Aesthetics

  1. Appraise the relationship between human creativity and purpose in life.
  2. Persuade students that value, meaning, and order find their source in God.
  3. Approve that pleasure and enjoyment is integral in a Christ-centered view of living.
  4. Recommend imagination is a reflection of God’s image.
  5. Affirm that taste, inspiration, vision, beauty, and appreciation have a source in a biblical-revelation controlled environment.
  6. Research an artist, go on a field trip to an art museum, or discuss the artwork of a specific sculptor, painter, etc.
  7. Discuss the problem of idolatry in artistic communities.
  8. Develop a biblical view of worship that corresponds directly to the arts.
  9. Explain that art in any form rehearses the struggles and joys of life.
  10. Exhibit aesthetics as a display of truth versus falsehood, the latter necessitating redemption.
  11. Display the battle between right and wrong through drama.
  12. Propose solutions to corruption through artists who display redemptive exhibitions.
  13. Harmonize artistic expressions to reflect God’s intention of wholeness.
  14. Express joy of The Creator and His good creation through beauty.beauty-chef

Rehearsal and repetition is the discipline of the artist, overcoming creation’s corruption and the creature’s laziness. Aesthetics can remind the Christian of God’s words and works.

Mark believes beauty comes in many forms through all people. This essay, along with 16 others, will be published in the new Christian Education Encyclopedia in October with Rowman & Littlefield. Dr. Eckel teaches the concepts of aesthetics through The Comenius Institute and to his students at Capital Seminary & Graduate School.

Other Helps

Hillary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin, Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts (Downers Grove, IL, Inter Varsity Press, 2002).

Leland Ryken, The Christian Imagination: Essays on Literature and the Arts, (Colorado Springs, Waterbrook Press, 2002).

Steve Turner, Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts (Downers Grove, IL, Inter Varsity Press, 2000).

Movies: Thinking as a Christian #3

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