Priests of History
Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age
- History & Biography
- Publisher: Zondervan Reflective (Zondervan)
- Published: 2024
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Publisher's Description
How can Christians engage meaningfully with history? In an age underpinned by the idea that life is about self-invention and fulfilment, contemporary Western culture holds that the past has little to teach us. We live in what this book terms the "Ahistoric Age," in which we are profoundly disconnected from history. In the attempt to appear relevant, the church often embraces this ahistoric worldview by jettisoning the historic ideas and practices of Christian formation. But this has unintended consequences, leaving Christians unmoored from history and losing the ability to grapple with its ethical complexities. In Priests of History, Sarah Irving-Stonebraker draws upon her expertise, and her experience as an atheist who has become a Christian, to examine what history is and why it matters. If Christians can learn how to be "priests of history," tending and keeping our past, history can help us strengthen and revive our spiritual and intellectual formation and equip us to communicate the gospel in a confused and rootless world.
Endorsements (8)
“In an age of relentless self-invention, I believe that many people are desperate to find an enduring story that makes sense of their lives. Historian Sarah Irving-Stonebraker is a superb guide to the religious and spiritual history that has shaped generations of our forebears over hundreds of years. Priests of History is an enlightening and compelling account of how re-engaging with the traditions, stories, and practices of the past can provide us clarity for our present times. In a confusing and divided age, this volume will give you hope for the future.”
“A scintillating and much-needed plea to move beyond our shallow and simplistic cultural mood. Professor Irving-Stonebraker invites us to rediscover our place in history and the vitality of a worldview that is attentive to complexity and ambiguity, as well as open to learning from the past.”
Professor. Alister McGrath
“Drawing on both her own story of coming to Christ as a history professor and the stories of Christians through the ages, Sarah Irving-Stonebraker invites us to discover what for many of us is a long-lost inheritance. Priests of History encourages us to mine the riches of a Christian past that goes beyond our own lives and to learn from the insights and practices of brothers and sisters who are long dead but are still relevant. I knew Sarah back in her atheist days, and her story moves me greatly. I took particular delight in sitting at her feet and feeling her fresh and challenging rebuke of instruction to my own overly ahistorical life.” “This book is not only an exciting overview of much modern history and historical thought, but it is an invitation to our ahistorical age to rediscover its own history. History offers us a lens through which to understand our own times and problems and also gives us a creative glimpse at ways forward out of the West’s cultural malaise. Sarah Irving-Stonebraker’s volume is one of the most learned, accessible, personal, and hopeful books in years to look at our current generation and talk constructively about history. In the process of reading this book, we will come ultimately to a deeper awe of the God who is not just the God of the universe but the God of history.”
“Priests of History shines a piercing light on the damaging ahistoricism of much contemporary church culture: we have forgotten how to listen to the past. I hope and pray that this unique and precious book will help many Christians to comprehend the ill effects of ahistoricism and encourage us to learn from two millennia of mistakes, insights, and everything in between.”
“If you’re like me, you’re guilty of presentism. You uncritically see yourself as the free-floating, self-made, smartest person in the universe. But this perspective is intellectually dishonest, naïve, and existentially unfulfilling. We will consequently all benefit from Sarah Irving-Stonebraker’s wonderful book Priests of History. This book shines the light on our historical situatedness. It will make us humbler and wiser simultaneously—enabling us to learn, understand, and prosper.”
“Sarah Irving-Stonebraker makes the case for historical study as an indispensable part of the Christian—indeed, the human—experience. In this wide-ranging and imaginative book, she exposes just how dysfunctional our modern relationship with history has become and models how to engage the past with humility, curiosity, and moral conviction.”
“In this original and engaging book, Sarah Irving-Stonebraker offers a compelling diagnosis of our present ‘Ahistoric Age,’ arguing persuasively that Christians must recapture a lost historical sensibility.”
“Priests of History is an erudite and spiritually enriching account of the need for historical appreciation in an ahistorical age. Interspersed with autobiography, illustrated with history, and informed by much Christian wisdom, this book beckons us to see the power of history for our individual and corporate Christian lives. It is a tonic for our time!”
Rev. Dr. Mark Earngey
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