Where Is History Going? Essays in Support of the Historical Truth of the Christian Revelation

by John Warwick Montgomery

In a closely reasoned, logical presentation, Dr. Montgomery examines such issues as: Where is History Going? / What Does a Historian Know About Jesus Christ? / The Divinity of Jesus Christ / Karl Barth and Contemporary Theology of History / Tillich's Philosophy of History / Gordon Clark's Historical Philosophy / Toward a Christian Philosophy of History. Dr. Montgomery thoroughly documents his conclusions on the basis of a wide range of authorities, and concludes that the only valid approach to history is from the Christian perspective - the authority of God, His Son, and His Word.

Genres: History, Christianity

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1969

About the author

John Warwick Montgomery was an American-born lawyer, academic, Lutheran theologian, and author. He was born in Warsaw, New York, United States. Montgomery maintained multiple citizenship in the United States, United Kingdom, and France. From 2014 to 2017, he was Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University, Wisconsin. He was Professor-At-Large, 1517: The Legacy Project. He was named Avocat honoraire, Barreau de Paris (2023), after 20 years in French legal practice. He continued to work as a barrister specializing in religious freedom cases in international Human Rights law until his death.
Montgomery was chiefly noted for his major contributions as a writer, lecturer, and public debater in the field of Christian apologetics.
From 1995 to 2007 he was a Professor in Law and Humanities at the University of Bedfordshire, England; and from 2007 to 2014, the Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Christian Thought at Patrick Henry College in Virginia, United States. He later became Emeritus Professor at the University of Bedfordshire. He was also the director of the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism & Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, and was the editor of the theological online journal Global Journal of Classical Theology.

Reviews

[Jonny Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

- pp 139:
Herbert Butterfield's warning still stands: 'the Christ of the theologians' must not be 'divorced from the Jesus of history.' Had Tillich approached religious and historical truth-questions from the standpoint of the Jesus of the primary documents, he would have found the answer to his quest. Claiming to be no less than God incarnate and verifying that claim by His resurrection, Jesus demonstrated that the ultiimate could and did enter the phenomenal world - that those who had seen Him had seen the Father (John 14:6-9) - and that therefore His Word stood in judgement and in grace over everything else. The true preservative against idolatry is, then, not a Protestant principle (or any other principle) that judges Jesus, but acknowledgment that Jesus and Jesus alone is the Way, Truth, and Life. Whereas the Protestant principle leads logically to a negation of ultimacy itself, Jesus is the door leading the believer into the Father's Kingdom. Now the characteristics of God's reign become clear through the teachings, the life, and the death of His only Son; and a literal Incarnation of God becomes the empirical centre of history, the key to its meaning, and the earnest of eschatological fulfillment at the time of Christ's return.

[Michael Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A philosophical, historical and logical critique of various well-known "historical" philosophies from the perspective of influential historians such as Toynbee and McNeill, and neo-Christian thinkers like Karl Barth and Tillich. Dense reading, but then the subject matter demands it in order to present a well-reasoned response, which Montgomery provides.

[Adam Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of speeches, reviews, and articles by Montgomery on the subject of historiography, especially with respect to history as understood in the Christian faith. The book is somewhat dated since not as many people are using Tillich's or Barth's critiques of history in religion (e.g. that historical events do not matter, only mythos that can be posed as historical events); however, the core message is always relevant: Christ's incarnation culminating in his death and resurrection for the salvation of humanity is central to history. Montgomery deeply cuts McNeill's "Rise of the West" for treating Christianity as next to nothing in the scheme of Western history despite so much of the culture in the past 2000 years associated with or warring against Christianity and salvation in Christ in some way. McNeill takes an atheistic perspective that history is driven more by human personalities and materialism (which many atheist historians still do today) instead of looking into more of the underlying ideas moving people forward, which has been Christianity to a large degree.

[G0thamite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Montgomery was (and is) a staunch historical evidentialist who fought against the theology of Barth, Bultmann, Tillich and other historical relativists that was all the rage during the middle of the last century and beyond. He has a devastating critique of such philosophies of history.