Integrite Fall 2012

66 IntĂŠgritĂŠ: A F aith and Learning Journal field he began almost single-handedly. Chapter three engages political concerns, which is perhaps the most applicable chapter of all. %XWWHUILHOGÂśV LQLWLDO FKDSWHU FRQVWUDLQV RXU YLHZV DQG XVHV RI WKH SDVW 7KH past should be understood for itself, in its own terms, not what we make it to be.

History should not be used as a bludgeon to beat down or prop up whatever positions we hold today. Liberals and conservatives both need to learn the lesson: past perspectives are not automatic molds for the present. Assailing an ethnic group now for the sins of past generations must be held in check. Transposing statements from past generations with immediate applications to our day must be resisted. Objectivity²VWLOO WKH DFDGHPLFLDQœV LGHDO²should be of primary concern throughout halls of learning. Practices and methods of his discipline were %XWWHUILHOGœV LQWHUHVW %XWWHUILHOGœV &KULVWLDQ GRFWULQH FOHDUO\ SOD\HG D UROH LQ KLV YLHZV RI OLIH Belief in inherent human corruption formed the crux of his viewpoints. Folks are fallen, fragile, and finite, incapable of full intellectual understanding. When politicians or movements co-opt the historical enterprise for their own ends speeches and textbooks are obviously limited by prearranged political perception. $SDUW IURP *RGœV UHYHODWLRQ WR PDQ ERWK KLVWRU\ DQG VFLHQFH ZRXOG QHYHU KDYH the foundational support for human activity. Indeed, Butterfield would argue that WKHUH ZDV QR ¾UHYROXWLRQDU\œ WKRXJKW ZKLFK KDWFKHG KLVWRU\ DQG VFLHQFH &RPSHOOHG E\ 6FULSWXUH UHDVRQ DV LWV VHUYDQW PHQ ZHUH OHG WR *RGœV understanding of the world. Practical, progressive, present-minded viewpoints only seek to reorient achievements in any academic discovery away from the service of God to the idolatries of men.

As is the case with everyone, views of the human person motivate thinking. Both liberals and conservDWLYHV FDQ VKDUH %XWWHUILHOGœV SUDFWLFDO political insight; the former spotlights the problems of big business, the latter of ELJ JRYHUQPHQW ³%LJ´ DQ\WKLQJ LV UHSXOVLYH WR %XWWHUILHOG ZKR EHOLHYHG ORFDO communities are the best form of life for people. *RYHUQPHQWœV UROH LV VLPSO\ WR SURYLGH RUGHU IRU OLIH QRW WR RUGHU SHRSOHœV OLYHV 0F,QW\UH HOLFLWV D VPLOH ZKHQ KH VXPPDULO\ LQVLVWV WKDW ³KXPDQ VLQ RIWHQ OHDGV %XWWHUILHOG WR DGYRFDWH D SXUHO\ SURSK\ODFWLF UROH IRU WKH VWDWH´ ,QWUXVLRQV RI WRS-down controls in any culture stultify a populace. Citizenry begin to think the state owes them something, giving up individual freedoms along the way. Of course, Butterfield would maintain the opposite is also true: pure democracy is unproductive (104).

Masses of people remain unrestrained by law. One of many marvelous quotes H[SUHVVHV WKH HVVHQFH RI KXPDQ FXSLGLW\ ZKLFK ³VHWV HYHU\ FRPSDVV VOLJKWO\ wrong; it puts the bend into our wishful thinking; and it gives a bias to our very ULJKWHRXVQHVV´

Yet, the positive role of practical, political purposes is also owed to human nature. Persons have worth because they are created in the image of God. The individual has value so liberty is rightly tied to conscience. With a wary eye on human depravity, personal dignity sustains the tension of human limitation in political affairs. Revolutionary uprisings tend toward human perfectibility, resisted by those who refuse to believe overthrow of one government automatically means the next will be better. Evidence for the destructive legacy