CHAPTER I

THE VALUE OF HISTORY IN HUMAN PROGRESS

Many thoughtful commentaries have said in substance that a knowledge of History is the basis of Intelligence. All animal life has instinct and emotion but no concept of previous generations. Only Man preserves a record of the past and has the unique ability to visualize the experience and read the thoughts and evaluate the motives, accomplishments, and character of his ancestors; yes and their mistaken judgments and failures as well.

Out of this consciousness of the past each new generation may adapt and adopt what has proven sound and "of good report", avoiding errors, and so achieve a continuity of purpose, direction, and effectiveness in life and living.

If this concept is true in respect to scientific knowledge and Man's capacity for material progress and constantly better standards of living-because he is able to build and improve upon what has gone before-certainly it has equal application to moral and spiritual principles. Therefore the history of religion in the world-the record of the origin of the Christian Church if you please, is essential to an intelligent understanding of the faith and philosophy of our forefathers for each new generation if they would build a more noble temple on the foundations of the old, and a more effective code of useful living. We suggest, therefore, that the history of churches and religion should not merely extol the virtues of men and movements of yesterday but face also those weaknesses and failures of the past which intelligent men and women should not repeat today.