By Bridget Spinks
ISLAM, its history and beliefs, is being canvassed in talks on Church history at Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in Willagee.
Second-year University of WA history student Daniel Matthys, 18, a former Trinity College boy, began giving fortnightly Catholic history talks in May, pitching them to Catholic adults (18 and up) with no assumed knowledge.
His next talk at Willagee parish is on 22 June.
While Mr Matthys doesn’t know what he’ll do after he finishes his undergraduate degree at the end of next year, he wants to share his passion for Church history with a growing audience and plans to give the fortnightly talks to the end of the year.
“To understand the world that Jesus interacted with”, he said, his first talk on 4 May discussed the history of the Roman Empire and a history of Judaism and ended with the birth of Christ.
The second talk progressed to examine the evidence for Jesus’ existence, and what would have motivated people to convert to Christianity in those early years up to 180AD.
“People will tell you Jesus didn’t exist but no serious scholar believes that. Nevertheless, you need to look at the evidence,” Mr Matthys said.
The New Testament is primary evidence as is the writing of non-Christian historians of the time, namely Josephus, a first century Jewish historian; Tacitus, a second century Roman historian and Plini the Younger, an early second century letter writer and magistrate of Ancient Rome, he said.
Each history talk is self-contained but the topics are chronological.
His third talk moved from 150 – 330AD, taking listeners up to the foundation of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), examining the “secular history of Rome, the structure of the early Church, Gnosticism and heresy”.
Although Daniel is studying arts majoring in history at the University of Western Australia, much of his content does not parallel with the epochs he is dealing with in class.
To prepare to give the Church history talks, Daniel goes to Catholic historian, Warren H Carroll’s The Founding of Christendom for an overview of the subject matter, then reads around this to go “deeper into other sources”.
“You have to read everything in case you get questions,” he said, estimating that he would spend two-three days working on the talk before giving it, depending on the topic.
“I enjoy it. It’s great to be educating people … It’s for my own benefit as well; I’m Catholic, I’m studying history so to me it’s a bonus that I can talk to people,” he said.
“People need to know their history, especially since Marxist and modern day atheists’ understanding of religion tends to stem from a misunderstanding of history,” he said.
The next Church history talk is on 22 June at 7.30pm at Willagee Parish Hall, 25 Harfoot Street, Willagee. For more information contact Daniel on 0405 322 728 or email Matthysdl@gmail.com.
As part of his third talk, Daniel also gave an overview of what history is, how one should study it and why.
What is History?
“It’s a very philosophical question. The assumed view when I talk to people who don’t study history is that history is knowledge. It’s people, places, events – the facts.
“When you learn the facts, you understand history. But it’s not a view I agree with because history involves an interpretation of the historian.
“The metaphor they use is ‘facts in history are as bricks to a house’. You praise a historian on his house, assuming the bricks are sound.
“Accurate facts are a given; they’re a duty, not a virtue.”
How does one study History?
“Understand that the historian is bringing an interpretation to the table.
“Identify the interpretation and then judge it based on the facts. Facts are not unimportant but they’re just one part of the picture.
“You have to be very critical of a lot of sources. Twentieth century British historian, journalist and author of the book What is History? EH Carr says ‘Before you study history, study the historian… Before you study the historian, study his historical and social environment’. I recommend following Carr’s advice to understand where historians are coming from and their bias.”
Why study History?
“Come to the talks. Often the Church is attacked using historical arguments.
“The other reason is that Christianity is a very historical religion. Jesus Christ in Nazareth is a historical truth.
“As we move through the middle ages, we (Christians) adopt various customs and rituals, which makes us a product of our history.”