Autobio 2000

A Personal View of the Twentieth Century

by Robert Brow 
JLP Digital Publications - Odessa, Ontario, Canada  2000
Introduction

At school I was taught history as a series of objective facts. I first learned the facts through French eyes then, at the age of nine, I discovered that an English boy was meant to see them quite differently. So I learned the dates of all the kings and queens of England. I also knew the great battles that were won: Crecy 1346, Poitiers 1356, Agincourt 1415, Trafalgar 1805, Waterloo 1815 -- these were all triumphs against those terrible Frenchmen. Very much later I discovered that for Russians, Chinese, Arabs, Zulus, Pathans, and Polynesians, the English facts were of no significance at all.

Even within a country facts have a different meaning for lords and serfs, generals and privates, mine owners and children working underground. Women perceive a war differently from their sons and husbands. For each individual there is a personal history seen through the models he or she received with their mother's milk, and then through the other models adopted in later conversions. As I write, I know that even my very personal facts could be interpreted quite differently by sociologists and psychologists. In some cases readers will recognize the model I lived by. But often we no more recognize our own point of view than fish see the water they swim in.

For many people, there is also a vision of ultimate reality that gives meaning to their life. For the past forty years I have tried to set out the models that explain the logic of each of the main religions and ideologies. Theology is the study of alternative models to explain what God must be like. This is why the web site where this book appears for all to read is called the Model Theology Web.

So, in one sense this is a history book, a very personal history of the twentieth century. But I have added in some dates in capital letters that connect my family with events the media reported as important. I have therefore written for posterity. My grandchildren and their children can download from my web site and get info for a school assignment. Or there could be a Ph.D. student in the year 3,000 discovering this ancient document and writing a thesis that explains what my century was really about.

  1. Half My Genes
  2. French and English
  3. The Other Half
  4. The Indian Army
  5. Sudden Conversion
  6. Mission in India
  7. Mission Interserve
  8. Becoming Canadian
  9. An Anglican Priest
  10. Kingston is Home
  11. Free to Write