Historiography and Historical Thought: Christian Tradition

Abstract

Ever since the beginnings of orderly reflections on the topic of history in Christianity and the first literary attempts to write history, four basic problems have been characteristic of all such attempts. All Christian historical thought and also all Christian historiography can be characterized by basic decisions concerning the following four problem areas: (a) the classification as a specific inside or outside perspective on Christianity; (b) the respective understanding of the position of one's interpretation on a range between historical and theological standards; (c) specific mechanisms of selection; and (d) a small number of models by the help of which the past is reconstructed. These four basic problems of Christian interpretations of history cannot be solved by means of an isolated special theological hermeneutics. They call for an original contribution to the general discussion of history and of the interpretation of history.