By james art 
Lesa Scholl
October 25, 2024
Sarah Irving-Stonebraker. Priests of History: Managing the Past in an Ahistorical Age. Zondervan2024
Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Priests of history is a call to all of us to realize our disconnection from our own heritage. Part history, part theology, woven together with autobiography, this book is a provocative and personal exploration of what history means to the Christian church.
Beginning with literary accounts of her own history, Irving-Stonebraker takes us on a journey through her own conversion from atheism to Anglicanism as a researcher at Oxford. Addressing a wide range of human history—from classical times and the early church to the rich history of colonialism in Australia—she implores her reader to recognize the problems of what she calls our ahistorical age.
The early 21St century, starting from c. 2010 saw a marked transition in society’s understanding and willingness to engage with history. But Irving-Stonebraker argues that it is this reduction of history in Western culture that is the cause of the polarization of ideas. Instead, we must be prepared to “critically evaluate our cultures and societies … not least because these are often the most ingrained aspects – so ingrained, in fact, that we often forget them.” From Irving-Stonebraker’s perspective, Christian growth and discipleship requires us to embrace our own history and question it, but also use it as a context to understand how we got to where we are now.
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Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book, aside from being more accessible than conventional academic studies, is its understanding of how historical narratives help us grapple with the complexities of our moment in human history. Irving-Stonebraker is absolutely right that our ability to understand history correlates with a sense that we are “losing the ability to discuss and disagree peacefully about the past.” The tacit implication is that this inability equally affects our ability to discuss and disagree about our present. One important argument is that our understanding of our present becomes stronger when it is built upon an understanding of our past. This is especially relevant when making decisions about ethical issues.
To some extent this book seems anti-modern. Irving-Stonebraker is clear that she believes the “hyper-individualistic lifestyles” of our time encourage us to disconnect from the sacred, from God, and from each other. Indeed, her arguments resonated with many in the rise of modernism in the late nineteenth century, particularly with her use of “atomization”. But while she sometimes seems to take an ultra-orthodox approach, especially with regard to some doctrines of the church, she does not suggest that we should go back entirely on practices, but rather that we should use our understanding of the past to critique and reflect authentically our current views.
There are some aspects where it would be useful to include more recent context. For example, in her 2010 period, with the apparent shift away from interest and appreciation of history through university enrollment statistics, it would be helpful to contextualize this in terms of the global financial crisis, the cost of university degrees and they must be ready for work after graduation.
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Many students may not study history, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. Moreover, a more direct allusion could be made between the “culture of abrogation” of our century and the iconoclasm of the Reformation periods in the church.
That being said, these factors fail to diminish the urgent and necessary responsibility placed upon readers to relearn how to value and care for our heritage—to be priests of our history.
Lesa Scholl is Professor Emeritus at the University of Exeter and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.