The purpose of history is to seek knowledge of the truth about the human past and,
through that study, understanding of human conduct.
History is a subject particularly appropriate to the University of Dallas, which defines
its purpose in terms of the renewal of the Western heritage of liberal learning and
the recovery of the Christian intellectual tradition. History provides a unique bridge
between the two. As a discipline, it was created by the Greeks and taken up as an
intellectual pursuit by the Romans, one of whom—Cicero—called it "The light of truth,
the witness of time, the mistress of life." It represents the Greco-Roman cultural
tradition which lies at the foundation of the Western heritage in an especially powerful
way. History is also of particular relevance to the Judeo-Christian tradition, which
is predicated on the significance of events in time as revelatory of the relationship
of man to God.