We find our roots in history and from these roots spring forth new growth, new ideas, and new directions. –James Seale, 1983, from his first editorial for Discipliana
When we recently received the sad news of the passing of Dr. James Seale, President Emeritus of Disciples of Christ Historical Society, several aspects of his continuing legacy to the cause of Stone-Campbell heritage came immediately to mind. As noted in the Declaration of Honor from the DCHS Board of Trustees in 1997, “James Seale was a called-out leader who in turn called out to his church to renew a portion of its ecumenical vision and commitment. His calling, both received and sent forth, was grounded in caring. [The presidency of Disciples of Christ Historical Society]…was his highest calling and through it he called the church to be informed by the best of its heritage.”
One of Jim Seale’s most lasting contributions is his history of the Society: Forward from the Past: The First Fifty Years of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society (Nashville, DCHS, 1991). In this book he traces the origins of the Society from the early vision of the founders through the extensive collecting efforts of librarian Claude Spencer and historian Eva Jean Wrather, J. Edward Moseley, Jr. and others through the struggles to gain sufficient funding for a “national archives” of Stone-Campbell collections, the design and construction of the grand Thomas W. Phillips Memorial Archives building, to implementing increasingly sophisticated means of gaining intellectual control over and describing the mass of documents, books, pamphlets, and periodicals that were collected for the archives.
The study of the study of history, or metahistory as it is now called, has become an increasingly popular area of exploration among professional historians in the last couple of decades, and Forward from the Past presents an excellent example of that kind of history. In this work Seale provided both a traditional institutional history as well as a more discerning picture of the challenges inherent in preserving the history of three separate, though related, churches, the “three streams” of the Stone-Campbell heritage. Even though the Society is now approaching its 70th anniversary, Forward from the Past still makes good, useful reading.
In several public venues, Jim Seale revealed his deep thinking on the uses and importance of history. In “A Perspective on History” (1988) he demonstrated his kinship to the ancient writers of scripture as he imparted the necessity of knowing our own history: “Far too often, when we consider history, we think only of the length of our own memories, or perhaps the memories of our parents and grandparents. We live almost as if nothing went on prior to that time. Yet the more we learn about our human bodies, our culture, our world, the more we realize how closely tied we are to a much longer history than two or three generations.”
He also knew that the mission of the Historical Society was absolutely vital in acquiring that knowledge. In 1987 he wrote: “The history of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is not found in the dry bones of past events but the life-producing seeds planted by men and women whose vision created a multitude of ministries….Today’s records will form an important link in our history for another generation of Disciples who will discover their religious heritage in our ministries. Without these and other materials, the link between the past and the future will be broken.”
Jim Seale certainly had no objection to antiquarian interests in church history, history for history’s sake, but he saw history as having a more utilitarian, even urgent, use, in playing its vital role in the life of the church and in civilization…and that is why we think of Jim Seale as history’s historian.
Forward from the Past: The First Fifty Years of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society is available for purchase in our online bookstore.
Sara Harwell 8/30/2010
