The ‘Fall of Man’ is the Christian concept related to how people transitioned from innocent obedience of God to disobedience of God. Here, Mark Graham shares his thoughts on ancient history and the Fall of Man.
The Fall and Expulsion from Paradise, by Michelangelo.
What is the subject of Ancient history and when does it start? Ancient history is the time period from the Fall of Man or even before this time. Some people would believe that ancient history begins with the 'Creation story' as there was a particular order that God followed and set the rules for all society. The subject of ancient history is really learning about how to 'inquire' or 'ask questions' (McGregor, 2007). It is all about building our various foundations to future generations (McGregor, 2007).
Ancient history is the beginning of us all to learn what started our cultural identities from our present religious beliefs to our present day current affairs. We all learn about the past and figure a way to make it 'useful' to what we need to do to make ourselves safe. This is a period in history that is the beginnings of learning about what makes civilizations civil for today's world of poverty, racism, and other kinds of deviance and how learning about the past will improve the present and hopefully the future.
What is the value of learning the beginnings of all history? We must all remember what has occurred. Ancient history is mainly shown through the various artifacts, traditions, and written records that are found and teaches us all about the culture and background along with the traditions we all find important (McGregor, 2007). Actually, it is how we make the various interpretations of what has happened and what is happening in the world today, such as the events related to the Black Lives Matter movement along with the related.
The Fall of Man
In learning about the first historical event that really affected the study of ancient history, 'The Fall of Man', people wonder and questioning the various philosophies of us living today (McGregor, 2007). The big question that really defines ancient history and even just history in general is “Why?” did this event and all the other events occur. These events and ideas have a way of bringing about an understanding of our limitations of the events and their judgments that are made even today. This first event, the 'Fall of Man', was the one that brought forth government, economics, and even philosophy to solve various kinds of issues from performing an actual crime to finding redemption for a crime committed (McGregor, 2007). 'Man's Fall Into Sin' forms the concept of human depravity, which is what some seem to think is currently happening with the topic of racism in our and other communities. We just need to figure a way to understand how body, mind and soul are connected (McGregor, 2007).
Ancient history is to be learned from and not repeated, even if that seems to be what is happening with current world events. Are we learning from the past? This is the question we should be asking ourselves. Ancient history is the beginning of learning how to hope and live through history. After Creation and God's divine sovereignty or authority over all history and the world that there is a purpose for all citizens. It was at the beginning of history that our true purpose was to be proposed for we were to go out 'to be fruitful and multiply' and then learn to prove dominion over the land and forming a culture through our thoughts and labors and achieve a civilization. Indeed, we all have our talents and need to follow all the rules and regulations of society that must be held accountable for what may occur and what is currently happening (McGregor, 2007). We must strive for understanding of others that are around us even if they are only around us for even a few minutes.
Remembering the past
Another version of the 'Fall of Man' could be the Adam and Eve story and the ideas they had when Eve offered Adam a bite of the apple. Thanks to this couple we all now have to learn things the hard way and hopefully make the right decisions and choices that are offered to us in all the various areas of our society (community) whether it is science and technology, art, politics, religion and philosophy to ask and answer all the many questions we have to help us to survive our lives (McGregor, 2007). We have to learn how to live with conflicts that have happened and see how events were solved then and if they were not, we will continue to work on these issues today, even if there are changes needed to fit the current issue that is presenting to us as individuals and/or the community.
'The Fall of Man' is a misunderstanding – from ancient times until today, people have struggled to overcome all the wrongs that were committed and to create a nation where we all obey and learn and praise God as well as others. That is what can be learned from the era of 'The Fall of Man'. If we do not learn from the past and pay attention to what is taught in our history and social studies classes we are doomed to repeat, repeat and repeat all the same mistakes. At times events are connected even if they do not seem to be. We all need to think and remember the past.
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Reference
McGregor, Maureen & Koontz, Terri. 2007 World History Teacher's Edition; Chapter One Foundations of World History; Third edition; Greenville, SC.
