Gordon L. Heath - Blog

Gordon L. Heath

Blog

My blog posts revolve around my interests and vocation as a historian:

the intersection of history and contemporary church life
the intersection of history and contemporary politics
serendipitous discoveries in archives or on research trips
publications and research projects
upcoming conferences
speaking engagements

I also blog for two other organizations, the Canadian Baptist Historical Society and the Centre for Post-Christendom Studies.

The views expressed in these blogs represent the views of the authors, and not necessarily those of any organizations with which they are associated.

Lost Land and Revanchism

9/8/2020

Albert Bettannier’s painting La Tache Noire (The Black Spot) in 1887 is a vivid depiction of the education of French children on the subject of the lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. It captures the spirit of revanchism, a movement that sought to instil in every Frenchman the duty to wage war against the Germans to retrieve sacred French soil.

The spirit of revanchism – revenge – stirred a French generation and contributed to the excitement surrounding the outbreak of the Great War in 1914.

Sadly, in numerous places around the globe, the spirit of revanchism is alive and well. In countless places, past injustices are highlighted, bitterness nurtured, hatred stoked, and revenge plotted.

The Waxing, Waning, and Wandering of the UN and NATO

9/4/2020

The United Nations (founded 1945) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (founded 1949) were two critical organizations throughout the second half of the twentieth century. The UN played a seminal role in famine relief, educational assistance, medical care, humans rights advances, and global peacekeeping. NATO helped to ensure the security of western Europe until the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.

However, the future (or at least efficacy) of both organizations is increasingly uncertain. And the consequences of their demise are serious.

Climate Change & Inevitable Conflict

8/28/2020

I am a sucker for a good science fiction movie, especially one that casts a vision for what life on earth will be like in the near future. While there are positive portrayals of the future, the genre is rife with visions of a dystopian future brought about by sudden climate change – whether the future is hot or cold, violence is inevitably one of the ways in which humans respond to the loss of habitat and security.

While the movies are fantasy, the harsh reality in the real world is that changes to climate lead to unrest, uncertainty, and inevitably violence.

Serendipitous Discovery: "Slave Days in Canada"

8/27/2020

*Images of the Canadian Churchman taken from Anglican General Synod Archives, Toronto.

One of the exciting aspects of being an historian is finding documents that you never expected to find.

The above two images of an article on slavery in Canada are taken from the Anglican weekly periodical Canadian Churchman from 1919. I was looking through the periodical for something else - but I had to make a copy of this surprise finding.

The article was on slavery in Canada, and is noteworthy for a number of reasons:

The author - W. T. Hallam - was a woman, and a well educated one with a B.A.

The history of slavery in Canada was no secret - its history was published for all to see over 100 years ago.

The article only deals with European slavery, not the slavery in the Americas that predated the arrival of Europeans.
The author provides a very detailed summary of those who owned slaves, as well as provides the names and experiences of some enslaved individuals. The province-by-province summaries are especially effective at providing a sense of the nature and extent of slavery in what would become Canada. We are left wondering how she knew what she knew - for the details are extensive, but, alas, no footnotes.
The author provides a contrast with the system of slavery in the US.

In conclusion, some of the language used by the author is not how we today would write, nor are some of her assumptions what we would assume today, but that is to be expected since the author lived and wrote 100 years ago. The article, however, provides a fascinating glimpse not only of the past, but also how that past was understood in the past.

For further reading on the subject of slavery in Canada, see Robin W. Winks, The Blacks In Canada: A History (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press & New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1971).

Atlantic Baptists and Their World: A Festschrift in Honour of Dr. Robert S. Wilson

8/27/2020

Our experiences as students of Dr. Robert Wilson were at opposite ends of his tenure at Acadia Divinity College. My experience began in 1991, the first year of his professorship, and my master’s thesis was one of the first he supervised. Taylor's experience began in 2015, near the end of his time at the college, and his thesis was one of the last he supervised. Both of us were fortunate enough to have experienced the teaching and mentoring of “Dr. Bob,” and both of us consider it a privilege to put together this Festschrift in honour of his contribution to our lives, the church, and the academe.

We hope that these chapters will accomplish two things. First, they will not only contribute to our knowledge of Baptist history in Atlantic Canada, but also stimulate further research into hitherto unexplored subjects. Second, they will be a testament to Wilson’s work as a professor, one who both trained young scholars and spurred on the study of Atlantic Baptist history to develop to the place it is today.

Taylor Murray and Gordon L. Heath, eds., Atlantic Baptists and Their World: A Festschrift in Honour of Dr. Robert S. Wilson. Kentville: Gaspereau Press, 2020.

The Evolution of Warfare and Technology

8/21/2020

“By early in the twentieth-first century it was apparent that the inherited scripts for future war were inadequate.” Lawrence Freedman, The Future of War: A History (2017)

Freedman’s observation should be a pressing concern for Christians concerned for the just use of force. The world is changing quickly, and there are many developments in the evolution of warfare and technology that require thoughtful consideration.

Frankenstein, Educators, and Cancel Culture

8/13/2020

In my college years I had an idea related to a serious issue. The course professor seemed like a nice guy, so I naively went up to him after class and told him what I was thinking. He listened, was kind, and spent the next fifteen minutes explaining why my idea was simply – and obviously – wrong. I listened, was convinced, and dropped the idea.

Upon reflection, it was a ridiculous idea and one that needed to be purged from my young mind.

Upon reflection, I also realize that if I were a student in today’s woke cancel culture I could never have talked to a professor about the idea; students listening in would have been triggered, the professor would have been outraged, and I would have been excoriated and perhaps even expelled. And my crazy idea would have remained lodged in my head.

Which leads me to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and the brief lamentation by the novel’s chief protagonist, the scientist Victor Frankenstein.

The Rise and Decline of Great Powers

8/10/2020

When Christians focus on this or that local conflict, they often are completely unaware of larger trends and trajectories related to the “great powers” that have a direct bearing on foreign affairs, trade, migration, civil unrest, treaties, and actual war. They are like sheep described by David Mitchell: “Up the hill, sheep bleat, oblivious to human empires rising and falling.”

Failed (or Failing) States, Christian Militias, and Machine Gun Pastors

6/30/2020

Niall Ferguson has rightly observed that “the worst time to live under imperial rule is when that rule is crumbling.” As an empire disintegrates, the loss of centralized power allows for old scores to be settled without fear of government crackdowns.

My previous post was on the rise, fall, or return of Christendoms. But what about Christian communities that face the violence that inevitably comes with no effective government at all? Will they continue to face violence or will they take up arms to defend themselves?

The Rise, Fall, and Return of Christendoms

6/26/2020

Christianity’s relationship with culture and the state has always been fluid, and developments over the past half a century have led to the rise, fall and return of Christendom in some old and new places. How those changes will impact the church’s view of war and violence is the focus of this blog.

[Note: “Christendom” is a term used to describe a church-state relationship marked by (1) the state identifying as Christian, (2) the church having a place of privilege over against other religions, (3) the church and state working in some sort of symbiotic partnership, and (4) the church being the primary shaper of culture.]