‘God and Country’ equips Christians to love their country without worshiping it and to critique its sins without despising its gifts.
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My high school history courses emphasized big themes and simple explanations for cause and effect. Those classes were designed to give some sense civilization formed in the Fertile Crescent, why the Roman Empire fell, and the way punitive reparations contributed to Hitler’s rise. In this model, the distance between history and our daily lives seems like an uncrossable ditch. History in textbook format can quickly become a tool for political activism that distorts the past and empowers evil.
Ialsoexperiencedhistorymorepersonallygrowingup.Ispentnumeroussummerdayswanderingamustybrickbuilding,lookingatglasscasesofoldbuttonsandarrowheadsasmygrandmother,thecuratorofthecountyhistoricalmuseum,helpedvisitorslookupwhereancestorshadlivedandwereburied.Forme,historyalwayshadmoretodowithcemeteriesandcensusesthantextbooksandpoliticaltriumphs.Thatapproachtohistoryismoreconsistentwiththemessyrealityofafallenworld,butitdoesn’tdomuchtoinspiregrandpolitica
