On History

Quote:

Men make their own history.

But they do not make it just as they please;

They do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves,

But under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past.

The traditions of all dead generations weigh like a nightmare on the minds of the living.

Quoted of Carl Marx by James Caroll.
In Carolls' book "Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews"

The above quote is a fascinating commentary on how history can unavoidably lead to following history. Suggesting that awareness of history can sometimes be as equal a curse as the curse of being ignorant to it.



Btw, Caroll's book, 'Constantine's Sword' is a stunning trek through the history of (mostly Catholic) Christianity from the perspective of its relationship to Judaism and the development of that relationship in western society - from the simple rivalry of very similar but competing 'sibling' religions; to the seemingly protective philosophy of 'survive but not thrive' arising in the eventually more dominant Church; to the grotesque perversion of murderous antisemitism that slowly but seemingly inexorably evolved out of each preceding century of repression and dehumanization, sometimes explicitly promoted , always quietly approved of by the Church.