Friday, January 18, 2008

Why I love History

I figured I should start posting about history, or else I'm going to have to change the name of my blog to The Geek. I found one of the best quotes about history and this completely encompasses the reasons why I love history. It describes history as a discussion without end.

"You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers you; you answer her; another comes to your defense; another aligns herself against you, to either the embarrassment or the gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally's assistance. However the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress."
- Kenneth Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form

2 comments:

Matt Doan said...

Yes, a history post...keep 'em coming

Eric Wakeling said...

The beginning of this post made me laugh out loud - especially after the Trekkie Post. I like that quote. I think that's the same for theologians. If you are going to take a position on something, expect to then begin the (hopefully friendly) battle of going back and forth on the issues.