Learning History Lecture – Semester 2 Week 3
Belief, Ideology & History
Definitions
- Belief
o Mental conviction; in theology, the trust that a believer places in God, the
Christian virtue in faith;
o The mental action, condition or habit of trusting or to hace confidence in a
person or thing; trust, dependence, reliance, confidence, faith;
o Something believed, a supposition of belief
- Ideology
o The study of ideas; that branch of philosophy or psychology that deals
with the origin and nature of ideas;
o The study of the way in which ideas are expressed in language
o Abstract speculation
o A systematic scheme of ideas, usually relating to politics, economics or
society
- Implications for History
o Religious belief & political ideology, purely conceived, are directly
opposed to the philosophical relativism often employed by historians
o Emphasising shades of grey over ‘absolute truths’, university level
history examines differing opinions, and encourages independent
judgement
o ‘Religion provides a useful focal point or way in to the study of beliefs
and ideology… [E]ven Marx developed his critique of ideology by
starting first with his critique of religion.’
- History in the Hebrew Bible
o Time and experience seen as providentially guided, its writing
directly inspired by God; thematic unity throughout Old Testament
o Protagonists & antagonists subject to Yahweh (divine
orchestrator)
o Since the divine authority was incontestable, biblical history
excluded the comparison of conflicting accounts and the possibility
of doubt
o Characterised by recurrent pattern of sin and retribution; cyclical
understandings of divine causation
o Strictly linear & directional in nature from the Fall to the
Apocalypse & Last Judgement; teleological (Greek telos, the end
point)
- Early Christian History
o Continuity with the Old Testament, Sin-Redemption Cycle
o OT and NT prophesies about the coming Christ (Messiah)
o Testimony of the Apostles, Early Fathers (Patristics)
o Eusebius of Caesarea (269-339), History of the Church
Bishop in Israel, model for future historians
Belief, Ideology & History
Definitions
- Belief
o Mental conviction; in theology, the trust that a believer places in God, the
Christian virtue in faith;
o The mental action, condition or habit of trusting or to hace confidence in a
person or thing; trust, dependence, reliance, confidence, faith;
o Something believed, a supposition of belief
- Ideology
o The study of ideas; that branch of philosophy or psychology that deals
with the origin and nature of ideas;
o The study of the way in which ideas are expressed in language
o Abstract speculation
o A systematic scheme of ideas, usually relating to politics, economics or
society
- Implications for History
o Religious belief & political ideology, purely conceived, are directly
opposed to the philosophical relativism often employed by historians
o Emphasising shades of grey over ‘absolute truths’, university level
history examines differing opinions, and encourages independent
judgement
o ‘Religion provides a useful focal point or way in to the study of beliefs
and ideology… [E]ven Marx developed his critique of ideology by
starting first with his critique of religion.’
- History in the Hebrew Bible
o Time and experience seen as providentially guided, its writing
directly inspired by God; thematic unity throughout Old Testament
o Protagonists & antagonists subject to Yahweh (divine
orchestrator)
o Since the divine authority was incontestable, biblical history
excluded the comparison of conflicting accounts and the possibility
of doubt
o Characterised by recurrent pattern of sin and retribution; cyclical
understandings of divine causation
o Strictly linear & directional in nature from the Fall to the
Apocalypse & Last Judgement; teleological (Greek telos, the end
point)
- Early Christian History
o Continuity with the Old Testament, Sin-Redemption Cycle
o OT and NT prophesies about the coming Christ (Messiah)
o Testimony of the Apostles, Early Fathers (Patristics)
o Eusebius of Caesarea (269-339), History of the Church
Bishop in Israel, model for future historians
