History as a Window to the Future

The essays that make up this substantial little book are actually lectures delivered by Dr. Justo L. González during a tour of Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina in 2001, at the invitation of the Association of Theological Seminaries and Institutions (ASIT). As a result, it deals with questions that arise in ecclesiastical history courses and that frequently have to do with practical aspects of studying this branch of theology. During the same visit, González delivered other series of lectures, published under the titles "History Also Has Its History" and "Maps for the Future History of the Church." This book is, therefore, part of a trilogy conceived and developed as a whole.

The first of these three books outlines the history of church history. The second uses the metaphor of geography to illustrate the radical changes taking place in the discipline of ecclesiastical history. This third one, however, collects a series of seemingly miscellaneous topics, but united by the common thread of the need to relate church history to the life of the church. "What interests me here," says the author, "is above all to show that church history is not simply the study of bygone times and deceased people, but a study undertaken in the present, with a view to the future, and therefore closely related to the life and mission of the church."