Meaning and Relevance of History

• History studies life in society, examining past events in connection to present and future developments.
• It explores humanity through time, relying on evidence.
• History studies the past, focusing on what happened, when, and how. It looks into changes in human affairs and their effects on societal life.
• Collingwood in 1945 was particularly interested in the concept of rethinking the past.
• History aims to aid students in understanding the current social, political, religious, and economic environments.
• Knowledge of history provides context for understanding religion, customs, institutions, and administration.
• Studying history enables students to explain and analyze the present and understand its evolution.
• History presents the cause-and-effect relationships between past and present.
• History aids in understanding present-day problems at both national and international levels accurately and objectively.

Meaning and Relevance of History

• History refers to the past or memories and the significance of past events.
• History can be viewed through individual, national, or group perspectives.
• Leopold Von Ranke, a German scholar, described history as "acquiring knowledge about human affairs."
• Studying history informs and educates by providing knowledge of various situations and their historical context.

Distinction of Primary and Secondary Sources

• Primary sources offer ground-level evidence for any discipline.
• Secondary sources use primary sources to create new materials.
• Each has distinct characteristics and locations.
• Primary sources often appear in legitimate books or studies by professionals.
• Secondary sources incorporate personal interpretations of primary sources.
• Secondary sources cannot exist without primary sources.
• Primary sources offer direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art.
• They provide original material that allows access to what transpired during a specific time or event.
• Published materials are primary resources if they date to the period under discussion and are by someone with firsthand experience.
• Primary sources reflect the perspective of a participant or observer and can be written or non-written.
• In scientific research, primary sources contain original thought, report discoveries, or communicate new information.
• Examples of primary sources include archives, manuscripts, photographs, journals, speeches, and artifacts.

Secondary Sources

• Secondary sources analyze, interpret, and comment on primary sources.
• Secondary sources are removed from the event and are written after the event.
• Secondary sources may lack the freshness of original material.
• They may collect, organize, and repackage primary source information and can be written or non-written.
• Examples of secondary sources include biographies, reference books, literature reviews, history books, and textbooks.

Criticism

• External Criticism also called lower criticism.
• It is used by historians to determine the validity of documents related to historical significance.
• Internal Criticism also called positive criticism.
• It defines trying to restore the meaning of the text.
• Historians assess the literal meaning of documents.
• Immature readers seek inconsistencies in the source unlike external criticism.
• Historical criticism investigates ancient texts' origins to understand "the world behind the text".
• The main goal is to find the text's original meaning in its historical context.
• A secondary goal is to recreate the historical context of the author and audience.
• In biblical studies, historical criticism can interpret both "The Literature of Israel" and "The History of Israel".
• In the 18th century, higher criticism was a mainstream term, while lower criticism was not.