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Meaning of history
The discussion now focuses on the meaning of history. Does history have any meaning at all? If it does what is that meaning? Speculative history (Broad 1923:1) attempts to investigate patterns in and meaning of history. Such a speculative investigation about patterns on the nature of the past is beyond the scope of this study. This study zeroes in on clearly defined problems relating to what happened in the past. History is understood as a process through which clearly defined historical problems are addressed by meticulously examining all sources relevant to the respective problems and the product of the process. According to Marwick (2001:25) what actually happened in human past, whether or not historians have written about it, is what is meant by the past and the accounts of the past written by historians is history. As a process historical understanding is treated as hermeneutics (Le Roux, 1993:36). Hermeneutics in this study refers to a science of formulating rules of exegesis on one hand and a study of the exegete’s context, the text and its context and methods of understanding the text on the other hand. History in this study means two things: a body of knowledge about the past and the processes through which the knowledge accumulates as a direct result of historians’ activity. As a process history has a set of procedures, the methods, which are employed to find out about the past.
The dimension from which each piece of historical work is written heavily imputes the meaning of history. This research is scientific and presents a Christian view of history. According to the Christian view history “…is about human beings who are like God yet habitual wrongdoers, who have immense creative potential yet are enmeshed in a web of circumstance and who are the shapers and yet also the victims of history” (Bebbington 1979:168). Cairns (1996:18) delineated seven ways to understand the meaning of church history. History may be understood as an event which occurred at a particular place and specific time. In that view, “… history may be defined first as an incident, an actual event or happening in time and space as the result of human action. Such an incident is absolute and objective and can be known only directly and fully by God” (Cairns 1996:17).
History also means information about the past. This information is derived from historical sources relating to historical events. Another meaning of history is an inquiry, research to find out data about the past, (Cairns 1996:17).This is done through a scientific study of historical sources. Interpretation of historical evidence is another meaning of history. This leads to a reconstruction of the past from the perspective of method of analysis, historian’s biases and available data. History as incident or event is absolute, it occurs only once in time and space, while history as information, inquiry, process, product or interpretation is relative and subject to change (Cairns 1996:18).
Purpose of history
“All history is ideological, because all history reflects the concerns of the individuals and societies which produce it” (Isichei 1997:7). Every piece of history is an argument from a particular perspective. In this section the focus is on history as knowledge about the past, the product of the historian’s labour. Historical study must not be understood as rarefied luxury. History is essential for human survival and harmony.
“History is collective memory, the storehouse of experience through which people develop a sense of their social identity and their prospects” (Tosh, 1994:1). In all spheres of life, which include personal relationships, choices, political judgements, important decisions and others, people interpret their experiences in time perspective. Even in terms of personal or corporate identity, people trace their roots in the past.
History provides a framework from which to link the present to the past in order to get meaning. In everyday life people cannot understand individual situations without reference to whether they fit into a continuing process or what happened before.
History stimulates the past to be alive through the study of deposits it has left behind (Gundani 2003:6).
People are always curious to know how their society came to be the way it is. History is thus essential, fundamental and indispensable to life. Individuals and communities could barely exist if all knowledge of the past were to be wiped out. “Without history (knowledge of the past) we, and our communities, would be utterly adrift on an endless and featureless sea of time” (Marwick 2001:31). For every community history is like memory in an individual. Without memory individuals grapple to relate to others, to make intelligent decisions and choices. They easily lose their sense of
identity. The same happens to a community without history. This study aims at providing valuable history for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. History can be used both positively and negatively. Bank (1997:261) demonstrates that history was used by the Cape Dutch conservatives and British settler conservatives in South Africa ideologically to justify racial discrimination. From another end, history can be used to address ideological racial politics. In this presentation the purpose of history is to expose how the British settler government used history to discriminate blacks and how to empower blacks to tap from history in attempts to address the imbalances that exist.
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Setting the stage
1.2 Motivation
1.3 Goal of the study
1.4 Literature review
1.5 The gap
1.6 Study design
1.7 Definition of terms
Chapter Two Methodology
2.1 Understanding history
2.2 Sources of history
2.3 Methods of data collection
2.4 Discussing historical data
2.5 Zimbabwean context during the colonial era
2.6 Conclusion
Chapter Three An interpretation of John Wesley’s teaching on politics
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Translation model
3.3 Political order
3.4 Liberty
3.5 Slavery
3.6 Impact of John Wesley’s political teaching on British citizens
3.7 Wesley’s political philosophy
3.8 Implications of Wesley’s political teaching
Chapter Four Missionary Wesleyan Methodism and politics in colonial Zimbabwe
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Wesleyan Methodist Church and a Zimbabwean church geography
4.3 Politics of land
4.4 Race relationships
4.5 War
4.6 Federation
4.7Conclusion
Chapter Five The voices of African Wesleyan Methodist ministers during the colonial era
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Presentation of data from interviews
5.3 Discussion of data from interviews
5.4 Findings from data on African ministers’ participation in politics
Chapter Six An analysis of Zimbabwean Wesleyan Methodists’ political praxis
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Insights from Zimbabwean colonial era
6.3 Politics of land in Zimbabwe
6.4 Race relationships
6.5 Wesleyan Methodists and Central African Federation
6.6 Wesleyan Methodists and war in Zimbabwe
6.7 Theological evaluation of Zimbabwean Wesleyan Methodists political praxis
6.8 Conclusion
Chapter Seven Conclusions
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Summary
7.3 Future prospects of Wesleyan Methodist political teaching and practice in
Zimbabwe
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