When teaching on the importance of historical context, I often enlist the help of a movie that many of you are likely to watch this Christmas season. I have in mind Frank Capra’s holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. Hollywood rarely aids the life of the mind–and in truth, the movie’s theology is really messed up–but when it comes to the importance of historical context this film gets it right.
So writes Wheaton College historian Robert McKenzie in his latest post. For his helpful case about It’s a Wonderful Life and the importance of historical context, see here:
via LEARNING ABOUT HISTORICAL THINKING FROM “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE” | Faith and History.
I am a historian. I am particularly interested in "place," the American West, American Indians, religion, the environment, books and libraries, and Christian theology and spirituality. For more on me, see About. For stuff by me, see Miscellaneous and also my webpage http://douganderson.academia.edu.
Buffalo Doug 
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