Nothing sets me off in the classroom like discovering the students\u2019 textbooks have referred to the \u201cdecline of the Ottoman Empire\u201d or \u201cthe decline of the Islamic societies.\u201d I\u2019m sure I can blame taking an entire class in graduate school called \u201cThe Decline of the Spanish Empire\u201d whose purpose was to deconstruct what decline means and demonstrate that there are few ways of measuring it with any precision.<\/p>\n
Decline implies fault. Hidden within the discussion is the idea that if different decisions or policies had been made, decline would not have had to happen. It smacks a bit of theories around the \u201crules\u201d of history or the idea that political powers or cultural groups have either a \u201cnatural\u201d life or could create different futures for themselves if they just did things differently.\u00a0 It also implies we all know what the benchmark is and agree on the standards.<\/p>\n
All of this can be dissected. The Spanish Empire did eventually end. At some point it was smaller than it had been before. Is this what is meant by \u201cdecline\u201d? Or does it refer to the amount of money that the empire brought in from taxation? Should that money be adjusted for inflation? What if we use the standards of the Empire itself, where each generation believed it was poorer and less powerful than the great folks of the past, creating the mythology of the Golden Age?<\/p>\n
It appears to be a better policy to suggest that we be specific about what we mean when we say \u201cdecline.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes what is being described is just change\u2014things are different than they were in the past. Instead of referring to the nebulous idea of decline, point out that this was the time where the Ottomans governed the most land. Or it might be helpful use the language of greater or lesser ability to collect taxes or enforce laws. One might notice that after such and such a battle, the Ottomans were unable to win wars against their Eastern European neighbors or that this was the last naval battle they won against Spain. Being specific allows us to communicate clearly about what changed over time and to indicate what we or the people at the time valued and used as their measurement for success.<\/p>\n
Change over time happens whether we want it to or not. No society or context stays the same. Having flexibility to deal with new developments might be a sign of resilience and flourishing. Using the term decline indicates that perhaps something should have been done so that there was no change and everything stayed the static. It implies fault, when perhaps what has happened is just a relative difference between one society and another.<\/p>\n
When people talk about decline in the contemporary world, when they discuss the United States, for instance, as being in decline, it is equally useful to find out what measurements are being used. Is there any data, or is it just a feeling that things used to be better, that our ancestors did things with more skill or moral character? When we speak of decline we reveal what our values are.<\/p>\n
Decline narratives aren\u2019t just collective or political. They are also personal. Now that I\u2019m at midlife I understand a bit more why my elders were so nostalgic about their youth and childhood. The more time we are alive, the more experience we have, especially when we\u2019ve had a vibrant and full life, change sometimes feels like loss. The church I invested in planting can feel less rich and meaningful as time goes by, less exciting or maybe even less mission focused. I can create decline narratives about my job that are based on things that may or may not be measureable, maybe it just all feels different. And sometimes we aren\u2019t the best judge of what has actually changed. How things were in our youth feels like the \u201cnorm,\u201d though it wasn\u2019t for the adults we lived with. They were experiencing the challenges of change and the difficulties associated with making a living and organizing society that their adulthood had brought them.<\/p>\n
Historians are used to decline narratives. We read them in the writings of the children and grandchildren of the Puritans who settled New England. They believed each generation had lost the purity and fervor of the one that had gone before. And maybe that was true. Or maybe our mentors and spiritual forebears always seem to have had it together, to have been more hard working or virtuous, even as our children and students often think that we are fully formed and heroic in what we are doing at midlife.<\/p>\n
So, is there such a thing as decline? If there is, how do we measure it? Fewer numbers? Is it just about size? Simply that bigger is better? Is it about rich relationships or a sense of meaning? Maybe it\u2019s about financial wealth or how easy our lives are compared to the past. If we ourselves aren\u2019t feeling good, do we think this is the story for everyone in our community?<\/p>\n