Perspective
Life in the Russian River Valley has been an eye-opening experience. Our summertime tourist hotspot becomes a deadly menace in the midst of winter storms. Even the small creek on my property can quickly evolve into a dangerous torrent. We do not take lightly the threat of flooding or falling branches. I had no idea what “Rainy Season” meant prior to moving here. I used to live in Southern California – rain was a myth! The ebb and flow of the seasons here have helped to elucidate the passage in Joshua 3:15a for me, “It was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks.” It is the beginning of the story where the Israelites enter the Promised Land.
(images of my creek during flood season and just a few months prior at the end of the summer)
I have been to Israel and stood in the Jordan River. When I went, it was not harvest season. The river did not overflow the banks. I had a hard time imaging why it would be dangerous and hard to cross this river. Where was the need for a miracle of God to make it across? After living through flood season for three years and seeing the changes in the river, I get it. I now have a better understanding of what it looked like for the Israelites and why it took a miracle for them to cross at that time.
What, you may ask, does this have to do with Nigel Biggar’s book Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning? Perspective. How we perceive the world impacts how we view the past. Biggar writes,
We cannot help but judge the past by our present ethics. We can make sure, however, that our present ethics are informed by a sensitivity to human limits and frailty and by a historical imagination that enables us to enter sympathetically into the moral constraints and demands of circumstances very different from our own.[i]
Just as, prior to living on the river, I did not understand what flood season looks like, we have a limited understanding of life during the era of colonialization. We can look at it and say, “that is wrong,” but we do so with a limited perspective. Our view is marred by what we do and do not know. In the same respect, the actions of the British Empire were also marred. They did not know that they would bring terrible diseases to indigenous populations nor did they view slavery as morally reprehensible.
We have the luxury of looking at the actions of the British Empire with hindsight vision. We can look back and judge the way they did things without living in the reality of the times. In a literary review of Biggar’s book, Jonathan Sumption writes, “There are few notions more pious or conventional than that empires are wicked and that the British Empire was unutterably and irredeemably so.”[ii] He further adds, “Biggar’s point is that it falsifies history to collect together everything bad about an institution and serve it up as if it were the whole.”[iii]
Biggar expresses the intent of his book in saying, “What I have written is not a history of the British Empire but a moral assessment of it.”[iv] This book is a means of looking at the history of Colonialism from the balcony of perspective. As Sumption puts it, “Depending on one’s values, one can read Colonialism and conclude that the British Empire was on balance a very good thing or a very bad thing. But one cannot read it and plausibly suggest that there is nothing to balance at all.”[v]
If we judge the history of Colonialism from our twenty-first century perspective, what does that say about us? Additionally, how will future scholars judge the actions of our time?
[i] Nigel Biggar, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning. (London: William Collins, 2023).
[ii] Jonathan Sumption, “Cruel Britannia?” (February 2023). Literary Review.
[iii] Nigel Biggar, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning. (London: William Collins, 2023).
[iv] Nigel Biggar, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning. (London: William Collins, 2023).
[v] Jonathan Sumption, “Cruel Britannia?” (February 2023). Literary Review.
About the Author
Becca Hald
Becca is an ordained Foursquare minister, serving as the Online Community Pastor at Shepherd's House Church. She has over twenty-five years of leadership experience both inside and outside the church. Becca has served her community in many capacities ranging from Administrative Assistant and Children’s Ministry Director to Secretary and President of multiple school organizations. She and her husband, Andrew have been married for over 25 years. They have two adult children, Drew and Evelyn. Her great passion is to equip others, to raise awareness about mental health, and to help reduce the negative stigma surrounding mental health issues. In her free time, she loves going to Disneyland, reading, sewing, and making cards.7 responses to “Perspective”
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Becca,
Thank you for sharing this quote:
We cannot help but judge the past by our present ethics. We can make sure, however, that our present ethics are informed by a sensitivity to human limits and frailty and by a historical imagination that enables us to enter sympathetically into the moral constraints and demands of circumstances very different from our own
I hope you are having a great time in Atlanta. I know that you were struggling to pull this blog together due to various circumstances. What a great job pulling your thoughts together.
Thankyou for the perspective.
I wonder what future appraisals will come from those who look back on the 2020’s! I am sure there will be some judgment.
Thank you Kristy! Atlanta has been great and I am glad to be able to think more clearly again!
I think it is so important to keep perspective in mind. It is so easy to judge the past, but what are the things we do not see clearly? I call them my “duh” moments. I read the Bible and think, “Why did the Israelites not get it?” How many times did they experience the fallout from not following God, followed by crying out to God, repentance, and prosperity… only for the cycle to repeat. Or the disciples. How many miracles did they witness only to wonder about the next one? Sure, it is easy to see from my perspective, but where in my life is God shaking His head and waiting for me to “get it?”
Becca,
Great post and powerful point.
“We cannot help but judge the past by our present ethics. We can make sure, however, that our present ethics are informed by a sensitivity to human limits and frailty and by a historical imagination that enables us to enter sympathetically into the moral constraints and demands of circumstances very different from our own.”
Powerful post, great job!
Thank you Greg!
Becca, Thanks for your post! I like the quotes you pulled out of the book, particularly the one mentioned by Greg and Kristy, as well as this one: “What I have written is not a history of the British Empire but a moral assessment of it.” Really interesting info that you brought in from Sumption, too. It’s so interesting to see what parts of our reading stick out for everyone in our cohort. Feeling so thankful for the group learning environment that broadens and challenges me. I sure do appreciate you!
See you tomorrow. 🙂
Thank you Jenny, I agree, I am so grateful for our cohort and the way everyone challenges me and broadens my perspective. I love that we can engage in these conversations in such a loving and open manner.
Becca,
I like how you suggest that just as you lacked a full understanding of flood season before living on the river, modern observers may have a limited perspective on the complexities of colonial-era life. That was a great way to tie it in for me.