Abstract

Under the impact of twentieth-century catastrophes, historians are realizing that the disciplines of church and secular history have a transcendental point of reference. These two disciplines, separated during the dissolution of the old res publica christiana, are finally starting to converge. Secular historians' new interest in the determining aspects of religious life, church historians' attempts to combine 1he believer's insight with philologico -critical distance, and a common emphasis on methodology illustrate this trend. Recent publication of Newton's theological writings, suppressed and dismissed by his popularizers' trite Deism, show that Newton himself tried to overcome the tremendous tension between faith and reason which his work created. Historians today, living in a period which suggests a resonance with Newton's baroque age, should follow Newton's example and attempt a synthesis of church and secular history