Skip to content
The Historic Faith
Sign in
All Questions
Question 6
John Fea’s “hermeneutic of love” says we should meet the past like Jesus met people, even “a 19th-century slave owner or Hitler”; what does it mean to “relinquish power” over the past, and how can a commitment to truth-telling coexist with Dean’s call to explain opponents (Calvin, Augustine) in ways they “would appreciate”?
Another way to ask: What does it mean to “give up power” over the past instead of using it to win arguments? How can we tell the truth about people like Calvin or Augustine while also describing them in a way they would say is fair?

Direct Answer To “relinquish power” over the past means refusing to use historical people as tools for our agenda and instead reading them to learn love and humility. Truth-telling still matters, but Dean says we should represent opponents fairly—explaining their arguments as they would recognize—while still being free to say where they made “terrible mistakes.”

Support from Transcript:

  • Fea quote: historians must “relinquish power and avoid the temptation to use the powerless… to serve our selfish ends.”
  • Purpose: read texts “for the purpose of learning how to love people who are not like us… perhaps even… our enemies.”
  • Extreme examples named: loving “a 19th-century slave owner or Hitler” when they seem “unlovable.”
  • Fea’s conclusion: “Failure to respect the people in the past is… a failure of love.”
  • Dean’s practical rule: “When we speak of people we disagree with, let’s try to give them the argument… in a way that they would appreciate.”
  • He models both fairness and critique: Calvin has “really good stuff,” and Augustine made “terrible mistakes,” yet we must “love” and understand them.
Discussion Follow-ups What habits help you avoid straw-manning theological opponents? How do you hold together moral clarity about evil actions with the call to love those who did them?

Jumpstarter 6 of 10
Back Questions Next