What is a primary
source?
A primary source is a first-hand account of an event,
including eyewitness accounts, diaries, testimonies, or even institutional
documents such as certificates of birth, baptism, or death. Primary sources are considered authoritative
in the sense that they present the facts as they are perceived through a
particular person or party; however, it is important to remember that these
accounts may be only a partial relation of events, or even an incorrect record.
A few examples of primary sources from the course:
- · Pliny-Trajan correspondence
- · The diary of Perpetua
- · “First Homily on the Song of Songs” by Origen
What is a secondary
source?
A secondary source is a text or account which has been
created after or as a result of a primary source. Encyclopaedias, history textbooks, some
biographical material, essays, and hearsay are all examples of secondary
sources. These sources cannot be
considered authoritative, as they have no immediate connection or witness to
the events and/or people to which/whom they refer.
Some examples of secondary sources from the course:
- · The Story of Christianity by Justo L. González
- · ‘Faithfulness Unto Death: The Spirituality of the Martyrs in “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,”’ an essay by Ilana Isaacs
What is the use of primary and secondary
sources?
There are different
purposes for primary and secondary sources.
Primary sources provide direct access to historical events/persons
through their testimony/witness.
Secondary sources, without that direct access, may still provide a
valuable analysis of a variety of primary sources. For example, an autobiography would be
considered a primary text, but may only reveal those events or details which
the writer would wish known. A
biographer, on the other hand, may use some primary source material, but would
have a much more distanced and possibly more accurate overview of the person’s
life, even though it is a secondary text.
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