Why All This Old Stuff?
Sometimes I think I should like America more than I do.
I have, after all, devoted my adult life to studying the history of the United States. As I hope I made clear the last two weeks, it’s a choice I would make again in a heartbeat. I absolutely love studying the past. Some of the greatest joys of my life stem from finding the exact right document in the exact right archive that completed the beautiful puzzle that was one historical question or another. I have put more effort into and found more delight in learning about this country than almost anything else in my life.
Yet I still manage to surprise myself with how much I criticize my nation. I find myself thinking about this more now as the school year starts. It doesn’t take my students long to discover that I have a rather complicated relationship with the United States. Over the years, many of my high schoolers have asked how I could dedicate my life to understanding a country I seem to dislike so much. Frankly, it’s a fair question.
I think, though, I have finally stumbled upon an answer I like. I think I love studying the history of the United States so much because that study helps me better obey Jesus.
As Jesus commanded his first disciples, he commands all who follow him today to love our neighbors as ourselves. Going further, he commands: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” When I think of this command, I think of a need to understand those that I am called to love. After all, as the author of Hebrews said of Jesus, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses.” In other words: this campaign I saw in the background of a baseball broadcast picked a pretty good name. Jesus’ love for us is so profound because it comes from such a deep place of understanding.
As I told my students today, this is why I love studying history. When I study the past, I learn why things are the way they are. I learn how this world in which I live—full of people I am called love—came to be. I learn the origins of tensions that threaten to rip our nation to shreds. I learn the motivations behind people’s actions, even though I sometimes can’t stand the people themselves. Jesus came to Earth and lived as a human to better understand our struggles. In my own small way, I think I get to do that when I study history. I better understand the people and the nation I study.
To be clear: this does not mean I agree with what I learn. I don’t have to. Jesus does not call me to agree with everyone around me. He calls me to love them, and to lead those who do not know him closer to the saving understanding of my Lord’s love. In my experience, I can better love people if I can grasp why they are the way they are, and why they do what they do.
I’m particularly grateful I don’t have to agree with everyone about their takes on American history, as our nation makes this quite difficult to do, especially once we bring God into the picture. After all, American history makes it much too easy to assert that the United States was founded as either obviously Christian or just as obviously not. For those inclined toward an agnostic view, they need only toss out the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Those who believe the United States has a decidedly Christian foundation have countless anecdotes they might offer as supposedly obvious proof: John Winthrop’s declaration that at least the Massachusetts Bay colony would “be as a city on a hill” springs to mind.
While we can—and will, in some of these posts—argue back and forth about the nature of our nation, I will always rejoice in coming back to the question that really matters: what do we think of Jesus? If we claim to follow God, do we act, speak, and live like Jesus is better than everything else, or do we try to make him fit the traditions and practices of a worldly nation? I thoroughly believe someone can like America a great deal more than I do, and still find common ground with them in our genuine worship of our Lord. All it takes is both of us being willing to recognize the supremacy of God over anything the United States has to offer, no matter how good or bad (or likely somewhere in between) we believe our country to be.
This is why I’ll continue to discuss so much of America’s history on this blog. I’ll keep making the case for why I think too many American Christians have forgotten the crucial point of agreement I mentioned above: that Jesus is better than anything else, including our country. That’s the word I’ve been given, so that’s what I’ll say. I will, however, constantly seek to understand those who disagree with me by studying the things they love with real empathy. While I probably won’t agree with them, I can still work to love them better.
This is also why I am especially excited for what comes next: a step-by-step walk through the American Constitution to show why the Kingdom of God is quite different—and infinitely better—than what the framers imagined in that convention hall in Philadelphia. I imagine I will find a great deal to disagree over regarding the articles and amendments that form the backbone of our nation. Yet in that disagreement I am blessed to follow the example of my Lord, who chose to love those around him, even as they cursed his name. While I don’t have enough readers yet for this to ring fully true, it still feels like good practice.