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The way you were taught church history directly impacts the way you view and interact with Christians who have different convictions than your own. Too often, what passes as "church history" is simply apologetics for your own stripe of Christianity. That's not honest history.
Christian traditions and institutions that have prided themselves as being niche, narrow, and the gatekeepers of pristine, unchanged theology are particularly susceptible to this form of apologetical church history. The way they teach on Christians of old makes it sound like...
these figures were secretly all in agreement with one's own theological persuasion. The way they teach on Christians of the present makes it sound like the only people worth learning from look and sound just like them. All nuance is unnecessary and all other voices are footnotes.
Ultimately, they make it seem as though the Holy Spirit has only been active in a narrow stream of the church, and that deep suspicion of compromise to the spirit of the age is due to anyone who does not communicate theology to the same exact iota of your theological expression.
Those who teach church history, especially in these institutions, need to be mindful of the fact that they are actively molding and shaping their students by word and example. If you teach this apologetic form of church history, do not be surprised when your students turn out...
to be prideful of their own views, uncharitable to those they disagree with, and unwilling to listen and learn from anyone outside of who they deem as worthy gatekeepers of theology - including you.
