The Birth of the Past

Nonfiction, History, Reference, Historiography, European General
Cover of the book The Birth of the Past by Zachary S. Schiffman, Johns Hopkins University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Zachary S. Schiffman ISBN: 9781421403373
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Publication: November 1, 2011
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Zachary S. Schiffman
ISBN: 9781421403373
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication: November 1, 2011
Imprint:
Language: English

How did people learn to distinguish between past and present? How did they come to see the past as existing in its own distinctive context? In The Birth of the Past, Zachary Sayre Schiffman explores these questions in his sweeping survey of historical thinking in the Western world. Today we automatically distinguish between past and present, labeling things that appear out of place as "anachronisms." Schiffman shows how this tendency did not always exist and how the past as such was born of a perceived difference between past and present.

Schiffman takes readers on a grand tour of historical thinking from antiquity to modernity. He shows how ancient historians could not distinguish between past and present because they conceived of multiple pasts. Christian theologians coalesced these multiple pasts into a single temporal space where past merged with present and future. Renaissance humanists began to disentangle these temporal states in their desire to resurrect classical culture, creating a "living past." French enlighteners killed off this living past when they engendered a form of social scientific thinking that measured the relations between historical entities, thus sustaining the distance between past and present and relegating each culture to its own distinctive context.

Featuring a foreword by the eminent historian Anthony Grafton, this fascinating book draws upon a diverse range of sources—ancient histories, medieval theology, Renaissance art, literature, legal thought, and early modern mathematics and social science—to uncover the meaning of the past and its relationship to the present.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

How did people learn to distinguish between past and present? How did they come to see the past as existing in its own distinctive context? In The Birth of the Past, Zachary Sayre Schiffman explores these questions in his sweeping survey of historical thinking in the Western world. Today we automatically distinguish between past and present, labeling things that appear out of place as "anachronisms." Schiffman shows how this tendency did not always exist and how the past as such was born of a perceived difference between past and present.

Schiffman takes readers on a grand tour of historical thinking from antiquity to modernity. He shows how ancient historians could not distinguish between past and present because they conceived of multiple pasts. Christian theologians coalesced these multiple pasts into a single temporal space where past merged with present and future. Renaissance humanists began to disentangle these temporal states in their desire to resurrect classical culture, creating a "living past." French enlighteners killed off this living past when they engendered a form of social scientific thinking that measured the relations between historical entities, thus sustaining the distance between past and present and relegating each culture to its own distinctive context.

Featuring a foreword by the eminent historian Anthony Grafton, this fascinating book draws upon a diverse range of sources—ancient histories, medieval theology, Renaissance art, literature, legal thought, and early modern mathematics and social science—to uncover the meaning of the past and its relationship to the present.

More books from Johns Hopkins University Press

Cover of the book Isaac Beeckman on Matter and Motion by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Politics in the Corridor of Dying by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Lure of the Arcane by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Cultivating Inquiry-Driven Learners by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Charging Up San Juan Hill by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Making the Most of the Anthropocene by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Reducing Gun Violence in America by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book English and Catholic by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Comparison by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book The Inevitable Hour by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Patently Mathematical by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Competing with the Soviets by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Science and Religion by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book The Shattering of the Self by Zachary S. Schiffman
Cover of the book Weekend Pilots by Zachary S. Schiffman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy