"R&R Article Summary"

Citation:
Tracy, James D. "Believers, Non-Believers, and the Historian's Unspoken Assumptions." The Catholic Historical Review 86.3 (2000): 403-19. Project Muse. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.

Summary: This article focuses on historians of the Reformation and the struggle of presenting a scientific, unbiased account of events. Tracy is saying that it is practically impossible for historians to provided unbiased accounts due to their own belief system. In some way or another, that belief system does influence them and their writings. For example, a Catholic historian may place the Catholic side of the European Reformation in a more positive light- for instance, Ignatius of Loyola and the Counter-Reformation. At the same time, a Protestant historian may place the Protestant reforms on a pedestal while neglecting other arguments and sides to the story. While this may not be intentional, it is nonetheless inevitable. Tracy is making the point that historians in general, and then specifically in the case of the European Reformation, cannot avoid some form of bias or misconstruction of these sensitive historical accounts.