Redeeming Our Thinking about History

A God-Centered Approach

Vern S. Poythress

wheaton, illinois

Redeeming Our Thinking about History: A God-Centered Approach

Copyright © 2022 by Vern S. Poythress

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Dan Farrell

Cover image: Wikimedia Commons

First printing, 2022

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-7144-2

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7147-3

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7145-9

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-7146-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Poythress, Vern S., author.

Title: Redeeming our thinking about history : a God-centered approach / Vern S. Poythress.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021019171 (print) | LCCN 2021019172 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433571442 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433571459 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433571466 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433571473 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: History—Religious aspects—Christianity. | History—Methodology.

Classification: LCC BR115.H5 P69 2022 (print) | LCC BR115.H5 (ebook) | DDC 261.5—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021019171

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021019172

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To my wife, Diane

Contents

1 The Importance of History

PART 1: WHAT WE NEED IN ORDER TO ANALYZE HISTORY

Essential Resources That God Supplies

2 Experiencing History

3 Foundations for Historical Analysis

4 Spiritual Antithesis: Darkness and Light

5 Reductionistic Historical Analysis

6 Understanding People

7 Understanding Historical Causes

8 Miracles

PART 2: HISTORY IN THE BIBLE

How the Bible Goes about Writing History

9 Unity in Biblical History

10 Diversity in Biblical History

11 The Uniqueness of the Bible

PART 3: UNDERSTANDING GOD’S PURPOSES IN HISTORY

Divine Purposes—and Our Limitations—in the Study of History

12 God in Biblical History

13 Cautions in Understanding Divine Purposes

14 The Value of Recognizing Divine Purposes

15 Biblical Principles Guiding Historical Understanding

16 Academic Historical Analysis

17 Pressure toward Religious “Neutrality”

18 Applying Principles from the Book of Revelation

PART 4: WHAT DOES HISTORY WRITING ...