Numerous people have written about this building, suggesting
that we need to be careful to preserve and respect its
history.  To evaluate that claim, it would be useful to know
just what its history *is*.

Absent that information, the best we can do is to make
assumptions.  But when we argue from unfounded assumptions, we
enter into a rather detached realm of conjecture.  Its an easy
move, and one made by various participants in this
conversation, to begin with assumptions, and then to wind up
treating those assumptions as gospel truth later in the
discussion.  

Does anyone know the history of Wren Chapel?  Can anyone
summarize it for the rest of us?

Until we have an answer to this fundamental question, we
simply are in no position to evaluate the suggestion that we
should honor the building's history.  

All best,
Kevin
Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University

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