Why History?

History. Names and dates, right?  Well, that’s only the beginning. While it involves names, it seeks to understand the people behind those names, with all of their emotions, motives, worldviews, and biases. Likewise, it includes not just dates but the context and sequence that those dates provide. The study of history seeks to facilitate critical thinking and promote understanding of all things human by locating them within time and space. Thus, it encompasses such fields as literature, science, psychology, music, philosophy, theology, psychology, anthropology, economics, and communications.

Moreover, history is more than a study and reconstruction of the past; insights into the human experience gained from historical inquiry can be of utmost relevance to an understanding of the present. That insight and relevance take on even greater significance when such efforts are integrated with the transcendent biblical truths about reality in general and humanity in particular that are the foundation of a Christian worldview.

What can I do with a History major?

The B.A. in history is the preferred major for those planning to go on for graduate work and eventually teaching history at the college level. Knowledge and skills obtained within the major serve also as excellent preparation for graduate work in law school or seminary. Career opportunities are wide and varied: education, law, business, journalism, and government are some of the fields in which a degree in history is valued.

What if I want to teach history in the public schools?

Those who wish to teach History at the middle or high school level (6-12) should pursue a Secondary Education major in History offered through the Teacher Education Department.

What is the difference between a history degree at TFC versus a public college or university?

While TFC’s history major might not compare in size of faculty or in number of courses offered to those at public colleges or universities, it does compare quite well to those at similar-sized Christian schools. Moreover, coupled with TFC’s 30-hour requirement in Bible, it provides a distinctive educational package unavailable not only at public institutions but also at Christian liberal arts colleges and most traditional Bible colleges. The major exists within an intentionally Christian academic context that seeks to facilitate the integration of biblical truths with historical understanding.

“We need intimate knowledge of the past.  Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion. A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village; the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.” — C.S. Lewis

What Our Students Say:

C.C. (2009): My experience as a TFC History major can perhaps be best summarized by two C.S. Lewis quotes. First, he mused, “I think no class of men are less enslaved to the past than historians. The unhistorical are usually, without knowing it, enslaved to a fairly recent past.” Not only did the courses teach me to think and provide a context into which I fit everything else, but they gave me an ability to somewhat see past the intensity of the moment to understand what is really going on in the world around me. Second, Lewis wrote that history is “a story written by the finger of God.” My education taught me that there is a profound and inseparable link between one’s faith and the discipline of history. Christian thought is distinguished from that of all other world religions precisely because of the weight attributed to history. Not only did God moor the progressive revelation of His character, plan, and action in history, but He gave His people explicit commands not to forget their history. It is through history that God’s people learn of His character and devotion, to trust and believe, and the necessity of preserving the faith in order to accurately transmit it to the next generation. Through the coursework and interaction with the professors my faith was grounded, transformed, and matured.