Troeltsch formulated three principles on which he believed the critical historical inquiry was based, and which were incompatible with traditional Christian belief: (1) the principle of criticism: our judgments about the past are provisionally true, open to revision in the light of criticism by peers, by the discovery of new evidence, and so on; (2) the principle of analogy: we are able to make such judgments of probability only if we presuppose that our own present experience is not radically dissimilar to the experience of past persons; and (3) the principle of correlation: “the phenomena of man’s historical life are so related and interdependent that no radical change can take place at any one point in the historical nexus without effecting a change in all that immediately surrounds it. Historical explanation, therefore, necessarily takes the form of understanding an event in terms of its antecedents and consequences, and no event can be isolated from its historically conditioned time and space“.9
The third principle, the principle of correlation, led Troeltsch to conclude that no critical historian could make use of supernatural intervention as a principle of historical explanation since that broke the continuity of the causal nexus, and “no event could be regarded as a final revelation of the absolute spirit, since every manifestation of truth and value was relative and historically conditioned. Troeltsch believed that ‚history is no place for absolute religion and absolute personalities‘”.10 F.H.Bradley and Marc Bloch made the same point when they postulated that among the presuppositions of critical history were (1) the uniformity of nature and (2) the causal connection. Bloch wrote that all history assumes that “the universe and society possess sufficient uniformity to exclude the possibility of overly pronounced deviations“.11
History, in effect, presupposes all the sciences. It presupposes physics, for example, when the historian assesses the capabilities of weapons in the battle of Waterloo; it presupposes astronomy, when the historian evaluates reports about the sun having stood still as in Biblical story of Joshua [Joshua X.12-13]12. In fact, as Morton White noted, “It seems impossible to put a limit on the number of sciences history does presuppose“.13
Central to the critical historian’s method is the notion of autonomy, with which Immanuel Kant identified enlightenment. Enlightenment, Kant argued, is man’s release from all authority that would deprive him of his freedom to think without direction from another. The motto “Have the courage to use your own reason” summed up “his declaration of independence against every authority that rests on the dictatorial command, ‘Obey, don’t think'”.14 Kant elevated the will-to-truth above the will-to believe. It is entirely fitting in this context to note that the entire Enlightenment was launched by Baruch Spinoza. As Jonathan Israel, a colleague of Crone’s at the Institute for Advanced Study, in his magisterial work of extraordinary learning, scope and analysis, Radical Enlightenment, put it, “Spinoza and Spinozism were in fact the intellectual backbone of the European Radical Enlightenment everywhere, not only in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, and Scandinavia but also Britain and Ireland.“15 And the work that did more than any other to bring about this profound revolution in human history was Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus published clandestinely but nonetheless courageously by the Dutch publisher Jan Rieuwertsz [c.1616-87] in Amsterdam in 1670. For Spinoza, the Bible is purely a human and secular text, theology is not an independent source of truth. “…Spinoza offers an elaborate theory of what religion is, and how and why religion construes the world as it does, creating a new science of contextual Bible criticism. Analyzing usage and intended meanings, and extrapolating from context, using reason as an analytical tool but not expecting to find philosophical truth embedded in Scriptural concepts.“16 In his attack on the very possibility of miracles, and the credulity of the multitude, Spinoza’s Tractatus made a profound impression everywhere — in England, Italy, Germany and France. Spinoza, in effect, denounces clerical authority for exploiting the credulity, ignorance and superstition of the masses. Spinoza’s ideas were easy to grasp in one sense even by the unlettered , ideas such “as the identification of God with the universe, the rejection of organized religion , the abolition of Heaven and Hell, together with reward and punishment in the hereafter, a morality of individual happiness in the here and now, and the doctrine that there is no reality beyond the unalterable laws of Nature, and consequently, no Revelation , miracles or prophecy”.17
What poetic justice that it was Spinoza’s Biblical Criticism that launched the Enlightenment! Can Cook and Crone still maintain that Biblical and Koranic Criticism do not upset the apple-cart, that their effects are not less than devastating?
The historian is autonomous because he cannot and must not accept the testimony of an authority uncritically. For „no witness simply hands down a complete, photograph-like description of an event; rather, he selects, alters, interprets, and rationalizes“. The witness’s thoughts, and the very way of thinking are conditioned by the prevailing culture, at a particular moment in history. As Van Harvey summarized, “if the historian permits his authorities to stand uncriticized, he abdicates his role as critical historian. He is no longer a seeker of knowledge but a mediator of past belief; not a thinker but a transmitter of tradition“.18
An associated principle for the historian that prevents his or her autonomy from becoming mere subjectivism is the public communication of the historian’s conclusions so that these conclusions can be rationally assessed by his peers, and those who have the competence to do so. The historian must give reasons, that is, evidence for his or her claims, which are implicit appeals to other persons. Only such responsible dialogue, such submission of our theories, hypotheses, and conjectures to rational scrutiny by the academic and intellectual community can lead us closer to genuine knowledge, to the truth. As R.G. Collingwood who was a British philosopher and a historian wrote,
“History has this in common with every other science: that the historian is not allowed to claim any single piece of knowledge, except where he can justify his claim by exhibiting to himself in the first place, and secondly to any one else who is both able and willing to follow his demonstration, the grounds upon which it is based“.19
This principle immediately rules out the Genetic Fallacy, whereby the contingent characteristics of the historian are often used to exclude, a priori, the validity of his arguments or conclusions. Muslims tend to dismiss Koranic criticism if it emanates from a European as neo-colonialism; the work of Israeli or Christian scholars are willfully neglected as biased. Only a Muslim, it is argued can criticize Islam; it must be scrutinized from the inside. This argument leads to the absurd conclusion that only a Marxist can criticize Marxism, Stalinist Stalinism, and fascist fascism; though, of course, Muslims themselves are happy to avail themselves of any opportunity to criticize Christianity. Undoubtedly, historians are no different, no better no worse than the rest of the human race, they exhibit all sorts of predilections and prejudices that we find reprehensible. But these are irrelevant in our assessment of their work as historians, as Islamologists. Lawrence Conrad has shown, for instance, that Theodor Nöldeke was an anti-semite “whose publications and private correspondence flaunt bigotry and prejudice of a level [that was]…highly offensive“.20 I hardly need to spell out the importance of Nöldeke for Islamic Studies. Similarly, though he had what Rodinson calls a “holy contempt for Islam, for its ‘delusive glory‘ and its works, for its ‘dissembling‘ and ‘lascivious‘ Prophet,“21 and despite his other methodological shortcomings, Henri Lammens, according to F. E. Peters, “whatever his motives and style . . . has never been refuted.“22 Lawrence Conrad makes a similar point that despite Lammens’s well-known hostility to Islam, he offers a “number of useful insights.“23 Rodinson also concedes Lammens’s partiality, but once again realizes that Lammens’s “colossal efforts at demolishing also had constructive results. They have forced us to be much more highly demanding of our sources. With the traditional edifice of history definitively brought down, one could now proceed to the reconstruction.“24
9 Van Harvey, op.cit., pp14-15.
10 Van Harvey, op.cit., pp29-30.
11 Marc Bloch. The Historian’s Craft, trans. Peter Putnam, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1954, p.115, quoted in Van Harvey, op.cit., p.71.
12 There is an amusing account of a scene in a classroom in, I think, the 1850s in a story set in a mining town of California, by Bret Harte [1836-1902]. A placid compliant child called Clytie is asked to read from a book of Bible stories: “Clytie looked at the master, and the master nodded. Then Clytie spoke softly: ‘Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and it obeyed him‘. There was a low hum of applause in the schoolroom, a triumphant expression on McSnagley’s face, a grave shadow on the master’s, and a comical look of disappointment reflected from the windows. M’liss skimmed rapidly over her astronomy, and then shut the book with a loud snap. A groan burst from McSnagley, an expression of astonishment from the schoolroom, and a yell from the windows, as M’liss brought her red fist down on the desk, with the emphatic declaration: “It’s a damn lie. I don’t believe it!“. Bret Harte.The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920, p.269
13 Quoted in Van Harvey, op.cit.,p.81.
14 Van Harvey, op.cit., p.39.
15 Ibid., p.vi.
16 Ibid., p.202
17 Jonathan I.Israel. Radical Enlightenment. Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. p.296
18 Van Harvey, op.cit.,pp.41-42.
19 R.G.Collingwood. The Idea of History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1946, p. 252, quoted in Van Harvey, op.cit.,p.44.
20Lawrence I. Conrad, „Ignaz Goldziher on Ernest Renan: From Orientalist Philology to the Study of Islam,“ The Jewish Discovery of Islam, M. Kramer , ed., (Tel Aviv: the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, 1999), p.167.
21 M. Rodinson, „A Critical Survey of Modern Studies on Muhammad,“ inStudies on Islam, ed. M. Swartz (New York, 1981), p. 24.
22 F. E.Peters, „The Quest of the Historical Muhammad,“ International Journal ofMiddle East Studies 23 (1991): 291-315.
23 Lawrence I. Conrad, „Abraha and Muhammad Some Observations Apropos of Chronology and Literary Topoi in the Early Arabic Historical Tradition,“ Bulletin of theSchool of Oriental African Studies 1 (1987): 225.
24 M. Rodinson, „A Critical Survey of Modern Studies on Muhammad,“ in Studies on Islam, ed. M. Swartz (New York, 1981), p. 24-26.
Jim says
It does seem to me, I am not sure what the point of the article is. I do not know most of the authors discussed, but it seems they are talking about the methods of historiography. I have the impression that historians of Christianity and Judailsm have been free in the past century or more to examine and question the developments in these religions and ask questions about whether they have held to the founders’ principles and insights or not. In Islam it seems that the coran and other works were dictated by God and are unchangeable, eternal and beyond reproach. Consequently this would rule out reform. When there are criticisms and proposals for reform, the authors of these proposals are risking their lives and may have to go into hiding to remain safe. So, of course any historiography is pretty much ruled out. Muslim ciriticism of Christianity tends to interpret the history of the Bible and Christianity as affirming the truth of Islam, and this is also protected speech and not subject to challenge. Probably most leaders of the Islamic faith would not bother with any of the authors named in the article. I would expect.
SKA says
I wish there were links to the other two parts.
Kepha says
Re Troeltsch’s third point–
It all depends on what you mean by “radically different”. Uncle Kepha is a firm believer in the unity of the human race (he takes Genesis seriously), but his experiences of living and travel in the Far East has left him with the understanding that the texture of life can feel pretty different across cultures. Further, when Marx and Engels triumphantly declared that the German Criticism of their time was criticism of Christianity, they, and other such critics, including Troeltsch, were more often than not parasites on the selfsame Christianity they elsewhere described as a “rotting corpse”.
As for rejection of the supernatural, the Bible itself gives us miracles only in the great episodes of revelation. They are not things we should expect every day (apart from miracles of grace).