Today's reading - September 15, 2008

 

Today's Bible Reading	Daniel 7–9
I'm also reading:
American Political Writings during the Founding Era	Charles S. Hyneman and Donald S. Lutz, editors
Solomon Among the Postmoderns	Peter J. Leithart

When I was in college I had one of those professors who launches your mind into gear and guides your path into a whole new universe of thought. Dr. Rembert Carter was that professor for me.

Dr. Carter taught Western Civilization, among other things. When discussing history he quite often opened the class up to discussion of the philosophical or political thought of the time we were studying. We discussed what we thought the people at the time believed and why we agreed or disagreed with those people.

Time after time, once we had drawn lines in the sand and chosen sides on the historical issues, he would direct us to primary source documents and tell us to learn not from history books written after the events in question but from the writings of the people who lived through the times. He explained to us that these documents give a glimpse into the beliefs and motivations of the people who actually lived through and were impacted by the times we were studying.

Much of the time we began the discussion with essentially all of the students standing self-righteously on one side of the issue. After reading the primary documents, the class tended to divide over the issues and reasonable interaction ensued. But typically the majority of the class eventually ended up on the opposite side than that which we had taken at the beginning of the discussion.

So when we visited the Too Many Books Bookstore in Roanoke last week and I saw the two-volume set American Political Writing during the Founding Era I snatched it up. I was especially excited when I arrived at the register to find out that this two volume set was selling for $3.50. What a treasure!

I can't wait to dive into it and to learn about the minds of our founding fathers and the people of the time.