Jeffrey Burton Russell: An Appreciation of a Career on the Edge of the Profession

April 2002 · Historically Speaking1 7 Rick Kennedy Jeffrey Burton Russell:An Appreciation of a Career on the Edge of the Profession Jeffrey Burton Russell is not dead. Aldiough he retired from the history department at the University ofCalila , Santa Barbara in 1998 and aFestschrift has beenpublished, heisstillwriting. Atpresent , he isworkingon a historyofthe concept of heaven for Oxford University Press (Princeton University Press published his previous book on the subject). He is probably best known, however, for his five-volume historyofdie concept ofthe devil (Cornell University Press, 1978-1988). These books are all still in print widi translations available in several languages. Russell began his career with books on medieval heresies and witchcraft. Notsurprisingly, then, backat UCSB we graduate students knew not to bodier him around Halloween—diat was when he would be busy widi crank calls and requests for interviews. Awarded byhis colleagues die honor of Faculty Research Lecturer in 1991, Russell prefaced his presentation with a storyofhowhis ratherwas expelled from die University ofCalifornia, Berkeleyin 1926 for blasphemy, pornography, and bolshevism. Blasphemy, Russell explained, because his father published in The Daily Cal a poll showing that a majority ofundergraduates did not regularly attend church; pornography for writing a story that included a young woman in a "diaphanous gown;" and bolshevism forwriting an article condemning compulsory ROTC. Lewis Russell could have recanted and thus been able to graduate; however, as his son explained, "he was a principled heretic and refused."1 Inheriting the genes of a California heretichelpsexplainthecareerofJeffRussell . His students and readers have long found in him somediing mildly heretical, out on die edge, and highlyprincipled. Everyone withwhomIhad contactin die historydepartment had great regard for Russell as a person and scholar, butmerewas gigglingin the halls when he offered a graduate seminar called "Truth." Real historians were not supposed to waste a whole seminar reading epistemology. Russell's books were sometimes harshly reviewed because they did not fit easily into the normal categories ofprofessionalhistory. Some in our own department did not really thinkhe was "doinghistory." Hishistories of the conceptofdie devil were aboutdie development ofpeople's perceptions ofthe devil, but were also confusingly notjust about die people—diey were also about die devil and the evil that people experienced. Russell was obviously carving out something odier dian either die history ofmentalitésor the history ofideas. He called it the historyofconcepts, buthis notion ofconceptcarried more freight than people expected. In an article for The Historian entided "History and Trudi," Russell wrote that "a conceptconsists ofdie tradition ofdieviews of whatitis." Conceptscanbeveryspecific, such as "cat,"orfuzzy, suchas"democracy." Indie case ofdie former, diehistoryofdie concept was notmuch needed to define it;whereas, in diecaseofdielatter, diehistoryofdieconcept showeddieextentofitsundefinability.2Aconcept "includes the affective as well asdie analytical and has hazier boundaries; whereas an idea is rational, a concept drawsuponunconscious patternsaswell as conscious constructions. To die history ofconcepts, myth is as interesting as philosophy."3 IfRussellhadsatcontentedlyondiat definition ofconcept, there probably would nothave been anygigglingin die halls or harsh reviews. But Russell dug deeper into his subject. He was notcontentsimplyto find evidence ofdevelopingconcepts ; hewanted to use diedeveloping concepts as evidence for possible truths. Russell was quite unashamed of his belief diat ineffable truths exist and historiansshould tryto getatdiem. Even more unfashionabfy, he believed diatdie academic discipline ofhistory was the high road to diose truths. "History is aimed at die truth," he proclaimed, and can give us "die surest truth available to us in diis world."4 It is important to note that Russell did not say diat historians attain truth; rather, he believed historians have access to much that is intentional toward trudi. Since diroughout history people have constructed concepts to help them understand truths, die accumulation of concepts that develop into long traditions indicate a human consensus about trudis. Historians have the "surest truth available to us in diis world" because in die longrun oftime people are gettingglimmers oftruth and die development ofdiose glimmers into dominant traditions offers evidence pointed toward mat trudi. All historianshave deep faiths diatmake it intellectuallyrespectable to muckaboutin the 1 8 Historically Speaking » April 2002 past. Russell's faith is diathistoryis connected within a cosmos that is not fully opaque to human understanding, and, like Descartes, he must believe there is no malingénie capable of misdirectingall...