Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from History as a Science: Annual Address of the President of the American Catholic Historical Association, Given at the Final Session of the Association at the New Willard Hotel, Washington, D. C., On Thursday, December 30th, 1920
History in the concrete, to be scientific, too must be more than a mere narrative of events. It must be an analysis, an understanding and an appreciation of them, with human interest, for the ethical benefit of the living age. There must be a motive for every rational act, and no motive is worthy of man which is not for the good of humanity. His tory therefore must be truthful, ethical, and useful. With out these qualities, to say the least, it is not worth while. It may serve the sordid purpose of the individual; it may gratify the vanity of partisans. And for the moment it may mislead the living age, but ultimately it will be valued atits worth. Cardinal Newman has well said: History is a record of facts; and facts according to the proverb are stub born things. Ingenious men may misrepresent them for awhile, but in the end they will be duly ascertained and ap preciated. The Bible is. Our best model of what history should be. It tells the good deeds and the evil deeds of men for the good of the one who reads. The story. It does not respect persons, but neither does it vilify any one. It recognizes the relationship between God and man, and the relationship between man and man, and it measures every event by the standard of that relationship. It values human agencies in the designs of Providence without regard to knowledge, intention and responsibilities of the agents. A good intention cannot neutralize the evil of ignorance, nor can knowledge justify an evil purpose. Action in duress may work evil with-out culpability of the agent. The de sires of a man's heart shine through his most cunning deed. In no other place than the Bible do we find the value of human events for human happiness in the designs of Pro vidence so accurately measured and so clearly depicted. In analysis, in understanding and in appreciation of events, the Bible in those parts in which it is historical shows us what concrete history, as a finished scientific product, should be. True, it is the inspired word alongside of which the 'work of the most capable man will be defective; but it may well be taken as the model for man's endeavor.
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