Institute for Christian Teaching
Education Department of Seventh-day Adventists
GOD
AND HISTORY:
INTERPRETING
CONTEMPORARY EVENTS
FROM
A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
by
Lovemore Sibanda
Prepared for the
33rd International Seminar on Faith
and Learning
Held at
January 30-February 11, 2005
We are living in a dynamic and turbulent period in world history, which
has witnessed the end of some of the most intractable conflicts of the 20th
century. The world witnessed the breaching of the Berlin Wall and the
subsequent collapse of communist regimes and the democratisation of
It is the purpose of this paper to offer a Christian interpretation as
to why these events took place. According to Butterfield the Christian
perspective of history ‘ … provide
certain bearings for the interpretation of the whole drama of human life on
this earth….’[3] The
significances and values of history are not to be found by focussing our
attention upon man in nature, but are to be sought by the contemplation of man
and the ways of God with man in history.[4]
Atheistic interpretations of history are arid and focus on petty discussions
and evade issues that relate to man’s larger destiny.[5]
I am aware that I have entered a minefield, as debate concerning God’s
providence in history is controversial among Adventist historians. Adventist
historians in my view have gone to sleep (as it were) on this important subject
and I intend to resuscitate the debate without running the risk of being
labelled a trouble causer. It is also my contention that in as much as the
atheists have developed their own interpretation of historical events, which is
compatible with their worldview, Christians should also interpret contemporary
events according to their worldview. In order to lay a theoretical foundation I
will firstly analyse the atheistic interpretation of history as well as the
generic Christian providential philosophy and relate them to the chosen
contemporary events. Secondly the Adventist approach to history will be
examined, showing its distinctness as well as its likeness to the generic
Christian philosophy, relating it to the events under discussion. Last, but not
least, I will attempt to use the generic Christian and Adventist philosophies
to interpret three chosen contemporary events. In doing this I do not claim to
have received any revelation at all. I am also aware that beyond the NT times
we have limited revelation. Geering commenting on limiting the Christian’s
concern with history to those events to which the Bible only witnesses says ‘ These events have been referred to as
“salvation’s history” as if the hand of God is seen only in a selected events
of the distant past.”[6]
He goes on to argue that
the OT shows us that
By implication God is present in
both past and contemporary events. Our
Christian worldview makes us assume and presuppose that ‘…the past is
meaningful [and] in the hands of God even when we cannot see him’.[8] May I also add that the presence is also in
the hands of God even if we do not seem to see the hand of God in the
present. To the eye of faith the works
of God are seen in everyday life in events both public and private and in
secular affairs.[9] V. Soto
adds ‘every act of the historical drama
is meaningful. No historical act is too insignificant to be outside God’s
interest.’[10] It is
against this background that I am forced to think and interpret these
contemporary events Christianly in order to discover meaning in the human
drama.
The Marxist
interpretation of events
The Marxist interpretation is the brainchild of K.Marx and F. Engels. It
is commonly referred to as’ the materialistic conception of history’ or
‘historical materialism’. Later Marxists invented the alternative labels of
‘the economic interpretation of history’ and ‘dialectical materialism’. The
Marxist philosophy of history has dominated historical interpretation for years
and has no room for the acting of God in history emphasising that the course of
history is determined solely or largely by economic forces. To Marxists,
different societies are based on different modes of production (primitive
communism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism, socialism and communism) and in
these societies class relations are based on the role an individual plays in
the economic structure. This structuring inevitably leads to a class struggle
because some people have and others do not have. The end of this class struggle
according to Marxists is the abolition of all classes and the attainment of
complete freedom in a perfect communist society. Therefore, to Marxists history
is nothing more than a class struggle culminating in a utopia on earth.
Marxist explained these three
chosen events in economic terms and the class struggle. According to Marxists
the fall of communism was a result of the fatal flaws of communist economics
and the struggle between the rulers and the ruled. For
Christian philosophy of history comes out of the reading of the Bible.
Land says that the Bible does not present a philosophy of history as such and
suggest that we should infer from the stories of the Bible the understanding of
history.[13] White
boldly asserts that ‘the Bible is the most ancient and most comprehensive
history….’[14] The
Bible presents God as transcendent, as the creator and sustainer of the world.
Hebrews 1:3 sees a God who sustains all things and Job says God’s hand is in
the life of every creature and the breadth of all mankind. Ellen White says
that Ezekiel 14 and 10:8 seem to indicate that the complicated play of human
events is under divine control. She contends that ‘amidst the strife and tumult
of nations, He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of
men’.[15] This is a bold statement that indicates it is
futile to imagine that men on their own make history but that God is guiding
history to a ‘…. grand conclusion according to His will, purpose and
knowledge’.[16] The
book of Revelations tells us that the destiny of men is not a utopian earth but
a renewed earth. More importantly the God of Revelation does not only foresee
but He sees right down the course of events to the end of all things, to the
final end.
The God who made the world and
everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples
built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one
man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and
he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should
live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and
find him, though he is not far from each one of us.[17]
This passage suggests that God knows in advance the rise and fall of
nations. What we need to address however is whether God simply knows in advance
what will take place or whether He causes these developments. With reference to
the three contemporary issues two critical questions to ask are: 1) Did God
know in advance that these governments in
God does not do everything that happens, but He knows it all beforehand.
He foresee without being able to alter the course of events, but the very fact
that He foresees it means that He leaves room for it to happen. God limits
Himself in order to create room for the creature.[19]
Therefore in the unfolding of
events human beings have a choice and history becomes an interface of God’s
will and man’s choice.
The Old Testament (OT) seems to suggest an interpretation and meaning of
history. The Cambridge historian, Butterfield has said of the OT ‘Altogether we
have here the greatest and most deliberate attempts ever made to wrestle with
destiny and interpret history and discover meaning in the human drama….’[20]
The Biblical accounts on the history of Israel, the ministry of Jesus and the [21]growth
of the early church point to a God who intervened in the affairs of men for a
purpose. The Israelites saw the hand of God in events and ascribed their
success to God.[22] It
would appear to have been one of the functions of the great prophets to point
out that God was still acting and intervening in history as in the time of
Moses. Before king David God raised up charismatic leaders to meet particular
crises.[23] These men and women such as Moses, Joshua,
Miriam, Esther, Samuel, Gideon and so forth carried out divine tasks. Moses was
sent by God to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage and he led them to
the land of milk and honey. God is seen here to be interested in the freedom,
justice, mercy, and dignity of the Israelites. Would God not be equally
concerned with the freedom, justice and dignity of the peoples in
In the New Testament God came down to live among men in the form of
Jesus. Land sees the first advent of Christ as the most important intervention
in history.[24] The
apostle John says we have seen His glory the glory of One and who came from the
father (John 1:4) At Nazareth Jesus declared His ministry as ‘ to preach the
good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of
sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:18-19). This is a loaded statement from Jesus suggesting
that apart from the deliverance from sin He cares about the physical, social
and emotional needs of people. Dr McAfee Brown addressing the Fifth Assembly of
the World Council of Churches in 1975 spoke of Jesus as ‘liberator’ concerned
with ‘social, political and economic liberation’.[25]
The ministry of Jesus culminated in His death on the cross an event which
became the lynchpin of history. Beyond the cross history is made as people
respond or are repulsed by the cross. The power of the cross-manifested itself
in the works of ordinary and unsophisticated men like Peter, John, Stephen,
Paul, Huss, Jerome, Luther amidst trials and tribulations. When Satan sought to
destroy God’s church during the dark ages God raised men to save the church
from false teaching and heresy. Is this not what Paul was alluding to when he
says that God determines the place and time men live? Is it not possible that
the power of the cross-determined the place and times of the people concerned
with the demise of the regimes in
The early church believed that
God had spoken and acted in their day in a way, which lit up all that had gone
before.[26]
The OT and NT seem to suggest that all that happens takes place within the
knowledge and will of God. Consequently, Christians believe in divine
providence and that history moves in a linear pattern. Brunner writes that ‘
the historical time process leads somewhere. The time line is … a straight
line. This is so because God … has entered … at a certain point’.[27]
In other words, God intervenes in history and has His own timetable of events.
The infinite-personal God is there, but He is not also silent because there is
no use in having a silent God.[28]
He spoke to us through the scriptures and He should be there and not silent in
contemporary events. The Bible leads us to see the problems of peace and war,
of politics and economics, of race relations and poverty, of crises, which hang
over us as the areas where God is speaking His word in history today.[29]
Therefore Christians visualise a God who is active, directing history to His
destination. Commenting on the role of divine providence in history Butterfield
says ‘whether we are Christians or not, we are liable to a serious technical
errors if we do not regard ourselves as born into a providential order. We are
not by any means sovereign in any action that we take in regard to that
order….’[30] this
alone makes history meaningful to Christians. In other words the Christian
interpretation of history goes beyond the statement of the Hegelian philosophy
of history that “ all that is real is rational;” all reality is a means to the
final divine purpose.[31]
It is the Christian interpretation of history that can reveal this purpose. It
is this meaning and purpose, which must be at the core of our interpretation of
contemporary events. God is there in contemporary events and He is not silent.
If Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow[32]
should He not be interested in the affairs of men today?
Adventist
interpretation of historical events.
The Adventist philosophy of history is not radically different from the
generic one although it has some distinctiveness. It is based on the Bible and
the writings of White. This philosophy has evolved over time. Serious
discussion on an Adventist philosophy of history began in the 1960’s and 1970’s
as a result of the works of Shankel and Schwantes which provoked Adventist
historians. Adventist historians admit that God intervenes in History as
observed by Shankel that ‘the powers of the earth are frequently the instrumentalities
in the hands of God to accomplish His purpose, although they may be entirely
unconscious of fulfilling any such divine mission’.[33]
This statement suggests that God uses people to accomplish his will and affirm
the Biblical interpretation and may be used with caution to interpret
contemporary events. In reference to the three case studies were Gorbachev,
George Bush, Mandela and de Klerk God’s chosen instruments to accomplish his
purpose? We may never know for sure, but our faith makes us not to think
otherwise. Shankel emphasises the faith element as crucial in the analysis of
history. He goes on to say that ‘everything that happens is allowed to happen
by God.’[34] This is
critical to consider when interpreting contemporary events. Did God allow communism,
apartheid and Saddam to collapse? Our faith makes us think so. Adventists believe that in the end God’s plan
will be fulfilled and at the same time that human beings will have made their
free choice. To this end history becomes the response of men to God’s will.
After
Perhaps more critical in the Adventist perspective is the great
controversy theme of White. She describes history as a cosmic battle between
Jesus and Satan and says that these two forces influence the actions of men.
All humanity is involved in this great controversy between Christ and Satan
regarding the character of God, His Law and His sovereignty over the universe.[36]
The theme provides a worldview of our origin and destiny and the ebb and flow
of human history.[37]
However man has a choice in this cosmic battle. The great controversy theme
therefore may be used to interpret contemporary events. With reference to these
three case studies, did we not witness a struggle between the forces of good
and evil?
It is evident that Adventists like other Christians believe in God’s
providence and acknowledge God’s sovereignty in history. However they are
cognisant of their limitation beyond revelation. To this, end as an Adventist,
I propose to interpret three contemporary events by asking questions, which
will act as indicators or pointers to God being still active in history without
necessarily being declarative and certain that I have found God in history.
This approach will make learners think and reflect deeply on these issues and
enable them to go beyond the facts and dates of history.
The collapse of
communism and the emergence of nation states in
Years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of
communist regimes in
Apartheid disappeared from the political landscape rather unusually.
This has made some people to underestimate what happened. Who could have
thought in February 1990 that the release of Nelson Mandela from life
imprisonment heralded at the same time the beginning of the end of white
domination, its architects had vowed would last forever? Or that de Klerk,
instead of being reduced to irrelevancy, like Ian Smith, in
Apartheid was described as a crime against humanity. It denied the
majority any form of democratic participation in the political decision making
process on the basis of explicitly racial criteria. Political power was
exclusively in the hands of a minority, which defined itself racially as white.
Ownership and control of the means of production were concentrated in the hands
of the white minority. Africans were reduced to nothing but labour power. The
ruling class maintained itself in power through the constant use of extreme
oppression and coercive measures. In short apartheid debased and degraded other
human beings who were created in the image of God. As already allude to God is
God of love, mercy, justice, freedom, farness and equality. It is only through
justice that salvation is made evident.
Perhaps more mind-boggling is the fact that supporters of apartheid
justified it on religious grounds. They
argued that the blacks as the inferior race should continue to be drawers and
hewers of water. The state also favoured the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC)
effectively robbing people their right of freedom of worship. By justifying
apartheid on religious ground was the state not blaspheming God? The state
therefore denied the people the right to make choices in matters of religion.
God does not force. These questions and many others not asked might enable the
students to see beyond the economic and political factors as reasons, which led
to the collapse of apartheid.
The fall of Saddam
Hussein in
Saddam Hussein was dictator of
Like the other regimes already discussed,
Perhaps more critical was the goal and mission of Hussein. Hussein not
only looks alike to the ancient world conqueror Nebuchadnezzar but their
mission was the same - to control the world.[59] He portrayed himself as successor to
Nebuchadnezzar and to prove this He reconstructed the Southern Palace of
Nebuchadnezzar and the
At this point in time let me attempt to apply the interpretive framework
of White to all the three contemporary events. Land suggests that the great
controversy theme of White may be divided into distinct time periods.[60]
Looking to the future Mrs White foresaw nations rejecting God’s law, the growth
of spiritualism, the coming together of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism,
and the decline in religious liberty. It can be recognised that the three
countries in many respects rejected God’s law and denied its citizens the right
to worship God according to their own conscience. Furthermore do we not see the
struggle between evil and good in these societies? The great controversy theme
suggests that Jesus and Satan are behind the throne of rulers. These rulers
then reflect the characteristics of the one who rule them. This is the
controversy that is raging on. In this controversy between good and evil we
need to make decisions. The decisions we make in our human situations is our response
to God and in the process we are making history and encountering the God of
history.[61] There
are ups and downs in history because of this great controversy. The downs in
history are evident when we have rulers like Napoleon 1, Hitler, Stalin, Hussein,
Summary
The atheistic interpretation of history is not adequate to interpret
contemporary events because it does not give meaning to history and also fails
to come to grips with sudden global change. As already shown, secular historians
struggle to explain why these events were sudden and unexpected. In most cases
they ignore this aspect. On the other hand Christian historians especially
Adventist, whilst they agree to God’s providence in History, they are cautious
(sometimes apologetic) to claim that they have found God in history. To this
end, I have presented a Christian interpretive approach that is question based
as a way of pointing to God’s presence in history without necessarily being
declarative and definitive. In my view, this will make learners think and
reflect more on global change enabling them to find meaning in history. It will
also offer them a different explanation to historical events.
It is also imperative that Christian historians
need to develop a Christian mind to enable them to interpret events
Christianly. Blamires says that ‘the Christian mind is the prerequisite of
Christian thinking…’.[63]
The development of a Christian mind will enable Christians to see the hand of
God in their own personal experiences and in turn extend this to contemporary
events. Therefore as Christian historians we need this Christian mind to enable
us to interpret events from a Christian perspective.
Conclusion
It seems to me that these three case studies
have providential overtones. The questions raised in this essay are meant to
point or indicate God’s presence in contemporary events although His footprints
may not be visible and so obvious. They are clues not proofs of God’s
intervention. Perhaps let me end with Mrs White’s observation that
in the annals of human history the growth of
nations, the rise and fall of empires, appears to depend on the will and
prowess of men. The shaping of events seems to, a great degree to be determined
by his power, ambition or caprice. But in the word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold behind, above and
through all the play and counter-play of human interests and power and
passions, the agencies of the all-merciful One, silently, patiently working out
the counsels of His own will’.[64]
generations of mankind as they march by. To this end Christian
historians should ’draw the curtain’
and make people see that rulers of this world are ‘pretenders to the throne’.
[2] Ibid page 3
[3] H.Butterfield. Christianity and History.
[4] ibid page 2-3
[5] ibid page 24
[6] L. Geering. God in The
[7] Ibid, page 97
[8] G. Land. Teaching History: A Seventh Day Approach. Silver
Spring:
[9] L. Geering. God in The
[10] V.Soto.
Biblical Eschatology and the ides of progress: Implications for the teaching of
history and religion. Christ in the Classroom Vol 2. 1988,
page 240
[11] Ibid page 239
[12] L. Strauss. It May Not Be Long Until…The End Of This Present
World.
[13] Op cit page
40
[14] E.G.White.Education.California: Pacific Press, 1903 page 173
[15]Ibid, page 178
[16] H.L.Poe.
Christianity in the Academy: Teaching at the intersection of Faith and Learning.
[17] NIV page 1262
[18] C.C. Ryrie. The Bible and Tomorrow’s News.
[19] E. Brunner. The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption
Dogmatics Vol II
[20] H. Butterfield. Christianity and History.
[21] Ibid page 72-73
[22] Ibid, page 73
[23] L. Geering. God In The
[24] G.Land A
Biblical Approach to the study of history.
Christ in the Classroom Volume 21,
1998, page 459
[25]
[26] L. Geering. God in The
[27] E. Brunner.
The Problem of time in God, History and Historians (ed) McIntire
[28] F.A. Schaeffer. He is There and He Is Not Silent.
[29] L. Geering. God in The
[30] H. Butterfield. Christianity and History.
[31] E. Brunner. The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption
Dogmatic Volt II
[32] Hebrews 13:8 ( NIV page 1378)
[33] G.E.
Shankel. God and Man in His History. A study in the Christian
understanding of history.
[34] S.
Schwantes The Biblical meaning of
History.
[35] G Land Teaching
History A Seventh Day Approach. Silver Spring:
[36]
[37] SDA Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide The Cosmic Conflict between Christ and Satan, page 3
[38] The collapse of communism.htm page1
[39] ibid page1
[40] ibid page1
[41] ibid page1
[42] ibid page1
[44] J. Drane as
quoted by G. Land. Christ in the Classroom Vol 21, 1998, page
457
[45] E.G.White The
Story of Prophets and Kings.
[46] L. Strauss. It May Not Be Long Until… The End Of This
Present World.
[47] Ibid page 65
[48] E.G. White The
great Controversy
[49] R.R. Hegstad. Pretenders To
The Throne.
[50] The force behind the fall of communism.htm
[51] Isaiah 45
[52] R.R. Gegstad. Pretenders To
The Throne.
[53] E. Brunner. The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption
Dogmatic Volt II
[54] freedomforum.org page 1
[57] E.G. White. Education
[58] Ibid page 174
[59] C.H. Dyer and A.E. Hunt. The Rise of
[60] G. Land Teaching
History A Seventh Day Approach. Silver Spring:
[61] L. Geering. God in The
[62] E.S. Jones. Gandhi Portrayal of a friend.
[63] H.
Blamires, as quoted in J.M.Sire Discipleship of the mind Learning to Love
God in the Ways We Think.
[64] E.G. White Education
California: Pacific Press Publishing, 1903,
page 173