Today's Scripture Reading (June 23, 2021): Genesis 5
Who do you think is the most influential person in
human history? Who is it that has changed the course of life as we know it, shaping our
world, for good
or bad? And to make this a little more complicated, let's remove the religious icons like Jesus, Muhammad,
Buddha (Siddartha Gautama), or Confucius. Of those who are left, who makes your
top five influencers of history?
It was a question that astrophysicist Michael Hart
undertook in the early 1990s. In the process, he came up with his top 100 influencers, released in 1992. Hart put a lot of work into developing
his list, but it was not a list
without its problems. Hart was not playing by our rules,
for starters, because he left the religious icons in his list. Muhammad took the number one spot, while Jesus was
relegated to number three, Buddha came in at number four, and Confucius rounded off the top five. You might be wondering who the lucky
person might
have been that took the number two position, and Hart lists the mathematician Isaac Newton behind Muhammad and before
Jesus.
Another problem with Hart's list is that white men dominate it. Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times said that
the book "stands out as a textbook example of cultural parochialism:
Hart's list includes three Africans, two women and one South American." He
declared Hart's choices to be arbitrary.
Ken McGoogan of the Calgary Herald wrote,
If Michael H. Hart has done nothing else, he has
demonstrated that picking a public fight can be profitable … How about, for
starters, ranking both Muhammad and Isaac Newton ahead of Jesus Christ? Or
including John F. Kennedy while relegating Benjamin Franklin and Abraham
Lincoln to a list of "honorable mentions and interesting misses."
But then, I guess we all have our own opinions of
who should be included or left off our list of influencers. And, for Hart, it
was not just those who influenced the world in a positive way that were included
in his list. Genghis Khan, a name that instilled fear into the people he conquered,
is included in Hart's list at number 29, as is Adolf Hitler, who is listed at number
39.
Genesis 5 does not just present us with a list of
names. We are also not sure that a member of every generation is included in
the list, but we should understand that this sampling of men were the influencers
in the early history of our world. Martin Luther makes this comment about the
men of Genesis 5.
"This is the greatest
glory of the primitive world, that it had so many good, wise, and holy men at
the same time. We must not think that these are ordinary names of plain people;
but next to Christ and John the Baptist, they were the most outstanding heroes
this world has ever produced. And on the Last Day we shall behold and admire
their grandeur" (Martin Luther, cited by James Boice).
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Genesis 6
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