Title

Learning to Think Like a Historian

Publication Type

Podcast

Publication Date

November 21, 2023

Authors

Griffiths, Casey Paul (Primary), and Woodward, Scott (Primary)

URL

https://churchhistorymatters.podbean.com/e/learning-to-think-like-a-historian/

Terms of use

Items in the BMC Archive are made publicly available for non-commercial, private use. Inclusion within the BMC Archive does not imply endorsement. Items do not represent the official views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of Book of Mormon Central.

Bibliographic Citation

Abstract

How can we know what actually happened in the past? Whose stories are true? Piecing together accurate history can be tricky business. People in the past, like people today, were diverse. Some were honest; some were not. Some were straight-shooting truth tellers who gave honest, though subjective, accounts of what happened. Others emphasized or omitted specific details in ways that would serve their particular agenda. And others just lied. So how should we think about and evaluate the reliability of historical claims and assertions to discern what is historically accurate from what is mistaken or misleading? In this episode of Church History Matters, we dig into the basic toolbox that trained historians use in their efforts to be source critical. And being source critical essentially means caring about where our information is coming from and being honest about what that information can and cannot tell us. It means we recognize that not all historical claims are created equal, and so we aim to use only the best data to inform our understanding of the past. And while we cannot always protect ourselves from deception, developing the skill of being source critical will greatly reduce the odds that we will be misled. So, in short, today is our crash course in learning how to think like a trained historian.