Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Looking for Lincoln

I am watching a superb PBS documentary this evening hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. and featuring Lincoln experts such as Doris Kearns Goodwin. One of the features of the first hour deals with the mythology that has grown up around Lincoln since his death. One of the lines from the show that caught my attention went something like "Memory has as much to do about forgetting as it does with remembering."

One of my "take-aways" from this evening relates to the mythology and misconceptions that grow up around great historical figures. This leads to the question for Christians who study the historical Jesus: Are we prepared to address the mythology that grew up around Jesus that seems already evident in the New Testament documents?

If you missed this show, you can see it online at the PBS website.

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