James J. Walsh
speaker
33 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 30 Jul
James J. Walsh’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
section three of catholic and anti catholic history by various this librivox recording is in the public domain twenty historical don'ts by james j walsh
as the discerning reader of the daily papers and of periodical literature is aware ignorance of catholic history is still quite dense and widespread even well-meaning writers and speakers when the church is their theme fall into grave errors largely because their knowledge of history is not up to date these men do not realize what remarkable advances have been made in the science of history within the past few years
as the editors of the cambridge modern history declare in the preface to that monumental work the long conspiracy against the revelation of truth has gradually given way and competing historians all over the civilized world have been zealous to take advantage of the change
in view of this it has become impossible for an historical writer of the present age to trust without reserve even to the most respected secondary authorities the honest student finds himself continually deserted retarded misled by the classics of historical literature and has to hew his own way in order to reach the truth
So it has seemed to the writer that possibly a little historical guide in the shape of a series of don'ts, warning editors and writers about certain popular historical fallacies, so often repeated that they seem to represent accepted truth, would be useful.
Some years ago, these handy don'ts manuals used to be popular, notwithstanding the fact that human nature would much rather be told what to do than what not to do.
though couched in the imperative form the following don'ts are meant to warn even educated people who may not be very familiar with recent historical research from falling into absurd errors
Don't write about the long night of the dark ages.
John Fiske speaks of all the work big with promises of the future that went on in those centuries, which modern writers and their ignorance used once to set apart and stigmatize as the dark ages.
You do not want to be classed with the modern writers whom John Fiske thinks ignorant.
don't compare the middle ages with pagan antiquity to the great disadvantage of the medieval period for john fiske said that there is a sense in which the most brilliant achievements of pagan antiquity are dwarfed in comparison with what was accomplished in the middle ages
don't accept the ordinary opinions about the middle ages unless you are sure you know a great deal about the period john fiske gives high praise to medieval times in the introduction to his work on the beginnings of new england or the puritan theocracy and its relations to civil and religious liberty if he said it there you can be sure that he must have had absolutely compelling evidence for it
don't talk about the catholic church hampering education in the thirteenth century when the catholic church was most powerful when the popes for good reasons were able to put kings down from their thrones there were more students at the universities of europe in proportion to the population than there are now read any serious history of the universities and see
don't proclaim confidently that there was no study of science until our time the mediaeval universities were scientific universities studying everything from the scientific aspect
don't write that all the university education before our time was founded on the classics the classics came into education at the renaissance before that the university curriculum consisted of physical and ethical science and philosophy don't think that the medieval university study of science was trivial professor huxley declared in his address as rector of aberdeen university
i doubt if the curriculum of any modern university shows so clear and generous a comprehension of what is meant by culture as this old trivium and quadrivium the medival university curriculum does don't talk about medival ignorance
for if you turn to any history of the universities you will find that at the end of the thirteenth century there were more students at the universities of europe and particularly of england in proportion to the population of the various countries than we have at the present time
don't talk about mediaeval superstitions being particularly grovelling because superstition occurs at all times perhaps the lowest depths of superstition were reached in europe at the height of the witchcraft craze at the end of the seventeenth century
don't laugh at medieval people for accepting the transmutation of metals many chemists now confidently expect to manufacture gold and silver out of lead and copper they even say that the precious metals are being constantly manufactured in the midst of the baser ores throughout the radioactive energies that are present
Don't talk too freely about all the harm that the Catholic Church did to mankind during the Middle Ages.
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