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CT 4/2/01 Issue

God expects us to discern his ways. Moses chided the Israelites for their lack of perception, for not having "a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear" (Deut. 29:3-4). Jesus excoriated the people of his day who could interpret physical, weather-related signs but not the meaning of current events (Luke 12:56).

Granted, our perceptions of God's ways must be tempered by a "perhaps," and we must look deeper than what is apparent. But inserting "perhaps" is not the same as refusing to speak. And certainly there are some instances where the hand of God is readily discernible, such as:

• The influence of Christians, especially their prayers, in bringing about the successful, mostly bloodless, Romanian revolution.

• The way God turned one of the worst attacks of Satan—the Holocaust—into a tool for his purposes, for it provided world sympathy and a large population influx, two essential factors for the establishment of an Israeli state.

• God's use of the blood of the early Christian martyrs, and their more recent brothers and sisters, to fuel the spread of his kingdom.

The article demonstrates what is wrong with much of academia. To acquire the necessary credentials, scholars have had to immerse themselves in a thoroughly worldly milieu. Sadly, their immersion in this secular, often antisupernatural worldview may so have infused them with its values, they have lost the ability to discern God's hand at work, and perhaps the courage to say so when they have.

Moses gained his insight by seeking it, when he prayed on Mount Sinai, "Teach me your ways" (Ex. 33:13). Perhaps these hesitant historians would profit from following his example.
Linda McMillen Stern
London, Kentucky

Tim Stafford's question about "providential" history is theologically perilous. Using his definition, I see God's Word revealed in the Bible as "providential" history. The writers of the Bible were inspired by God to record God's interpretation of his interaction with mankind.

To suggest that a historian today should engage in writing "providential" history is misguided because it would be limited to human interpretation of God's dealings with humanity, which would require more than good scholarship—it would require divine understanding and knowledge.

Christian history can be a useful tool, just as general revelation is, in demonstrating the existence of God for those who have been regenerated. But a Christian history will never convince the unregenerate of God's providential dealings with mankind. God's Word alone has the power to change people's minds and affections—not our research, scholarship, or insightful prose.
Steve Bolin
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

As a professional historian who has spent four decades in the academic world, I found "Whatever Happened to Christian History" profoundly disturbing. It opens with a patently erroneous statement ("Thirty years ago, evangelical Christians could claim perhaps one prominent American historian") and goes steadily downhill from there.

If the reporter who cobbled together these interviews had bothered to telephone me, I could have given him the names of five or six respected evangelical scholars who held positions in research universities then, and several others who were in the early stages of their careers.

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May 21 2001, Vol. 45, No. 7