Oral Roberts University Digital Showcase College of Arts and Cultural Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship College of Arts and Cultural Studies 2020 History and Humanities Reader: The Modern World II 1850 to the Present Gary K. Pranger Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/coacs_pub Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Pranger, Gary K., "History and Humanities Reader: The Modern World II 1850 to the Present" (2020). College of Arts and Cultural Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship. 12. https://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/coacs_pub/12 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts and Cultural Studies at Digital Showcase. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Arts and Cultural Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Digital Showcase. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY HISTORY – HUMANITIES READER THE MODERN WORLD II 1850 TO THE PRESENT Gary K. Pranger, Editor and Contributor 1 THE MODERN WORLD II: 1850 To The Present TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 THE LATE 19TH CENTURY 1. THE VICTORIAN ERA G. Pranger 7 2 NATIONALISM G. Pranger 12 3. IMPERIALISM G. Pranger 35 4. 19th CENTURY PHILOSOPHERS David Ringer 41 5. REALISM IN LITERATURE David Ringer 78 6. IBSEN, STRINDBERG AND 19TH CENTURY DRAMA 92 7. IMPRESSIONISM TO EXPRESSIONISM 104 THE 20TH CENTURY 8. CAUSES & MEANING OF WORLD WAR I J. Franklin Sexton 122 9. WORLD WAR I Gary K. Pranger 129 10. FACISM G. Pranger 142 11. COMMUNISM: MARX TO LENIN AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION G. Pranger 156 12. WESTERN DEMOCRACIES BETWEEN THE WARS 1919-1939 J. Franklin Sexton 175 13. PSYCHOLOGY OF MAN 213 14. HEMINGWAY AND THE SEARCH FOR VALUES William Epperson 218 15. MANN & PIRANDELLO David Ringer 231 16. LITERARY MODERNISM David Ringer 242 17. MODERN AMERICAN POETRY Ruth Weston 257 18. SCIENCE & CHRISTIANITY William Collier 274 19. CONTEMPORARY WORLD LITERATURE David Ringer 301 20. WORLD WAR II John W. Swails 333 21. EUROPE SINCE 1945 Gary K. Pranger 357 22. CHINA 1500 TO THE PRESENT Gary K. Pranger 391 23. THE CHRISTIAN STORY & C.S. LEWIS’ SPACE TRILOGY David Ringer 408 24. CONSERVATISM Torbjorn Aronson 421 25. POSTMODERNISM & CHRITIAN ETHICS G. Pranger 436 2 PREFACE This is a compilation of ORU Humanities & History materials that ORU faculty have produced over the decades as lecture materials or as scripts for audio-visual class presentations. Here they are now articles for educational use by anyone who is interested. INTRODUCTION We study history here from a Biblical-Christian world-view. Thus, the presuppositions below are considered foundational for studying and truly understanding history, man and civilization. Oral Roberts’vision of Christ’s healing of mankind in every way included the creation of a university that would explore all realms of academic thought and inquiry and bring healing to the intellect. Oral drew academics from elite ivy leagues schools as well as many universities in the US and abroad. These academicians were and still are diverse, individualistic, gifted, talented, and never agreeable in all things. However, they all were drawn to ORU because of the vision or desire inside them to so their part in a Christian university. The purpose of man on earth is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. However, man fell and his relationship with God, others and ourselves became broken, twisted, distorted and irretrievably lost in sin and the sinful disposition. Jesus Christ became sin who knew no sin in history in order to forgive and pour out his grace and mercy and redeem all who would believe on His name and the one who sent Him, God the Father. The Holy Spirit became our counselor and through the work of sanctification helps all Christians to live in intimate relationship with God and to shed the learned and unlearned sinful tendencies of our hearts to become the glorious creations that we were intended to 3 be. We are meant to live in fellowship with God and to become more like Christ, depending on Him and not on ourselves as we live. He brings us into His purposes and the purposes for which He made us. We must recognize what history around us is all about and here we must recognize the true condition of man. The primary condition of man in history is the desire to be God; that is to replace him and make and remake humanity in a wholly human image and with the desires and purposes that are only and always man-made. Moreover, Satan and a host of spiritual forces underly the events of history and everyday life by influencing the mind of man to act contrary to God’s will or to compromise. For the Christian, God is our only effective weapon in this spiritual warfare. In the midst of this fallen history Christians are given a purpose to bring God joy by loving others as themselves and thus drawing others into His Kingdom. Thus, the Bible, our salvation experiences, and all of history tell us that the nature of our world is fallen. First, we must understand that the world is not the way it should be, it is not the way it was created to be, and it is not the way it is going to be someday when Jesus Christ returns. Therefore, we can expect to find ignorance, disease, illness, accidents, natural disasters, corrupt governments, false religions, and bills to pay every month. There is no perfection or true justice in this world. (Romans 1) Second, we are all fallen, broken, deprived and depraved. Our churches and denominations may use different words to describe these basic facts, but the reality is that we do not function the way we are supposed to. Our flesh wars against our spirit on the battleground of our wills and we are torn within ourselves. We are broken and we sooner or later betray our convictions. We fail to live up to our convictions and are disappointed 4 with our own performances. We do not function the way we want to. We can never be personally perfect. (Romans 7) Third, everyone else in the world is broken also. Even at their best, parents are not always right, wives and husbands are not always right and even one’s best friend is not always right. All saved people must understand the scriptural truth, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Fourth, God is with us. He is not just physically -invisibly with us in our hearts and all around us; He is emotionally with us. God rejoices in a unique relationship with every believer - even when circumstances in that relationship are strained and negative. Even if it means we sometimes hurt God’s feelings, and even when we disappoint Him. He is not like any earthly parent or friend relationship. His love is unconditional. He loves being in relationship with us and longs to forgive, and show His grace and mercy. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Let hell or high water come, He is always there when nobody else is. (Romans 8) Thus, theologically and philosophically the world is a “sad world” because it is fallen and will never be perfect. The world is a “bad world” because I am a sinner. It is a “mad world” because all people are sinners. Because it is a sad, bad, mad world, ouselves and others can become “numbed,” because emotionally we can be tuned out, overwhelmed, inhibited and made dysfunctional. But, thankfully, in the midst of this world and its turmoil God shows up and thus we can be “glad” that God has planned that the story of our lives and of all of history has a good ending. Gary K. Pranger 5 FURTHER READING: Charles Colson. How Now Shall We Live? Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House , Inc., 1999. Terry Ewing. Stickman Theology. Tulsa, OK: Plumbline Ministries, Inc., 2005. Dallas Willard. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs, Colorado: NavPress, 2002. 6 THE VICTORIAN ERA Gary K. Pranger Queen Victoria (1837-1901) reigned for 63 and one half years. She became the symbol of her age as she shared the qualities of the middle class: thrift, hard work, devotion to family and a supreme sense of propriety. She married German Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The aristocracy still governed English society and they were comfortable in their social conventions. However, they were beginning to lose economic and political power as the middle and industrial classes gained power. Power now was derived from “money” and not “privilege.” England remained essentially agricultural until the 1850’s. Many rural laborers lived at bare subsistence levels. The repeal of the Corn Laws (the protective tariffs of the old mercantilist policies) caused cheap grain imports that in turn caused an agricultural decline, the land clearances, and improved farming and yields for those who owned the land. For poor farmers and landless laborers it meant unemployment or going to the cities to work in the factories. The railway system started in the 1820’s and by 1881 there were 5,000 miles of track. The class system was rigidly maintained on rail coaches. First class had compartments containing up to four. Second class had “hard sleepers” or benches. Third class had to travel in open cars. Iron steamships replaced wooden sailing vessels. In 1866 the first Atlantic cable was laid by the Great Eastern. The first underground railway was opened at Baker street station in London in 1863.