The Priests of History – Stewarding the Past in an Ahistorical Age by Sarah Irving-Stonebreaker (Zondervan, 2024, 242 pages)
Sarah Irving-Stonebraker contends that we live in an age in which the past is either ignored as irrelevant or weaponised to serve contemporary political or cultural agendas. It is, therefore, vital that Christians develop a clear biblical understanding of history so that we can rightly value and use the past in living and ministering in a time such as this. Her book Priests of History will be a great help to any Christian who seeks to take history seriously.
At first glance, the title of the book might seem a little strange, but it contains the heart of her main argument. Historians have a solemn responsibility towards the past as they seek to act as mediators between past events and the current age. History is not merely a random collection of facts but requires careful stewardship as we seek to approach it with truthfulness, integrity, and a sense of obligation to those who came before us. Holding this perspective is even more vital for Christian historians, both professional and amateur, as we seek to give serious consideration to the outworkings of the will of God in both salvation and general history.
Irving-Stonebraker is well qualified to write about this subject. In between her thoughts on the interpretation of history, she relates her own story—how she went from growing up in a completely secular environment in Australia to developing a deeper appreciation for the interplay between faith and history during her PhD studies at Cambridge, her conversion while teaching history at Florida State University, and her current practice of a deeply historically informed Christian faith within the Anglican tradition. As such, parts of the book can be read as an extended testimony to God’s sovereign goodness in bringing someone to himself within what might seem to some like an unlikely context—the halls of often strongly anti-Christian secular academia.
Throughout Priests of History, Irving-Stonebraker reminds us of how deeply historical method and interpretation were shaped by Christian historians. She also includes several case studies to show what it might look like to “steward” history from a Christian perspective.
Although the author is a highly credentialed professional historian, the clarity and accessibility of this work is one of its great strengths. Her arguments are easy to follow as she presents a thoughtful and carefully articulated case for the relevance of Christian convictions when we engage in historical inquiry. In the process, she encourages us to see faith as a positive asset rather than a hindrance when dealing with history.
What I perhaps appreciated most was her stirring calls to integrity and truth-seeking when dealing with history. It can be so easy to fall into the pitfall of using history merely to provide commentary on, or ammunition for, modern debates. When we do this, we are not being good stewards, and we are not taking historical events and figures seriously on their own terms.
I intend to recommend Priests of History to all students taking Christianity in History units here at RTC. It will provide a powerful underpinning to such units, focusing as it does on the “why” and “how” of history. It also clearly sketches the contours of what Christian engagement with history should look like. It is, however, not only for those engaging with history in an academic setting. Any serious Christian who is keen to think through how we should engage with the past will benefit from Priests of History.