the impeccable geoffrey nuttall
“The great questions which engage men’s minds across the centuries are like streams which flow partly underground. Below, it is itself continuous. It is continuous, not identical; for lower down not only is it fuller from the rains it received in its upper reaches, its colour also is altered by the new soil through which it now flows. So, of the questions which men ask in any age, it is inevitable that some, at least, should be related, and even similar, to questions asked by other men in earlier generations. Yet they will never be quite the same questions, partly just because they have been asked before, and partly because of the change in the conditions and mental framework in which they are asked.”
i’m of the opinion that geoffrey nuttall was one of the clearest thinkers of the 20th century. i dont know all the thinkers of that century, but i have only ran across one with such devastatingly clear expression. none of you will know who he is. most of the people in his own field do not know him. but to those who do, he remains the only historian who you might dare to use the word “infallible” for.
the above quote is the most beautiful expression i’ve come across of what is one of the backbone philosophies of the historical profession: that each era must ask its own questions of the unchanging past, of the ever changing present, and of the unknowable future. what is startling is that such an expression came at the start of nuttall’s career, from a dissertation while training for the ministry. the work that followed this opening invocation was full of such philosophical gems. but nuttall was not a philosopher. he was a church historian. a church historian who only occasionally engaged with the secular historians and their questions. yet 60 years later (the above quote was published in 1946) his work remains the greatest history of english puritanism during “the puritan revolution”.
at least two of the best current historians of early modern england trust nuttall’s conclusions unquestioningly. great historians are not supposed to trust anyone without question. more over, they are not supposed to tell their students to trust someone without checking yourself. yet i’ve only heard these historians give such a wide open door twice about geoffrey nuttall.
nuttall’s second great book, written in 1957, remains the only modern book on congregationalism of the puritan revolution. i plan to write the next one. his legacy is a bit unnerving. sadly, he died a few years ago; i must go it alone.
2 years ago