Science and the Idea of Church History, an American Debate
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3260217 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Henry Warner Bowden (Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1967 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 308-326 |
| Publication date | 1967-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Church History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-6407 • E-ISSN: 1755-2613 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3162576 |
| OpenAlex | W1977993707 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 10 |
Students of American historiography value the latter part of the nineteenth century as a period in which distinctive ideas about the nature and procedures of historical research became explicit. More specifically, it was an era when the scholarly world was greatly influenced by the ideal of scientific objectivity and exactitude. Rapid advances in scientific theory and practical application in the post-war industrial boom set a standard for reliable knowledge in all fields. In that general enthusiasm for scientific precision several practicing historians tried to align their craft with the dominant criteria of their day in hopes of winning added respect and integrity for historical writing. The acceptance of that standard in the realm of historio-graphical theory produced significant repercussions in current ideas about church history, an area which until that time had been considered a separate field of inquiry. The decades between 1884 and 1896 mark a watershed in American thought, a transition from historical sensitivity at once patriotic and hagiographical to a discipline self-consciously, perhaps naively, tied to documentary evidence. But, beyond the popular rubric of faithfulness to the written record, there was a great debate over both the possible interpretations allowed by accumulated data and the final purpose of historical information. Such questions were especially relevant to church historians because they often answered the latter query before the former. The conflicting opinions, articulated by a fresh generation of European-trained scholars, broached questions about the historian's task that continue to be pertinent today. Contemporaneous problems besetting all historians came into open conflict in this earlier period, and serious dilemmas still confront us
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Comparative historical research · Craft · Enthusiasm · Epistemology · Historiography · Objectivity (philosophy) · Realm · Social science · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Catholicism and Religious Studies · History · Mormonism, Religion, and History · Philosophy
The Life of Moses Coit Tyler
The Beginnings of Graduate Education in America
Historical Scholarship in the United States, 1876-1901
The German Historical School in American Scholarship
Romanticism in American Theology
The Meaning of Romanticism for the Historian of Ideas
The German Historical School in American Scholarship
| Citations per year | 0.08 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2013 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |