More from historian Stark on the history of the West

I feel like I have to preface these blogs with a defense of all the time I'm spending on Rodney Stark's book How the West Won.  You probably understand by now that my purpose has been to let Stark demolish the unfair attacks made against the West and Christianity in particular. Many historians have a worldview that encourages them to smear Christianity and the West, with the result that many today don't know the true story of all the goodness brought by the West to the world. Thanks to leftists like Obama and many others, we are told of only our sins (and, heaven knows, there are many). But they fail to inform us of all the good that has come to the world through Christians. So here goes the next installment of my review of this important book.

In chapter 10 Stark talks about exploration taken on by the West. Because Europeans now had ships and navigational technology, they were able to sail out to secure a sea route to Asia. The Portuguese, Spanish, and English accomplished some amazing explorations. Stark points out that the three decades from 1490 through 1520 changed the world. This age of discovery ushered in conquest and colonization – and the dawn of modernity.

The next section of Stark's book How the West Won is called "The Dawn of Modernity." It deals with the years 1500-1750. Chapter 11 discusses  conquests and colonies in the New World. Unfortunately, one of the results of this age of exploration was the resumption of slavery by Europeans. However, Stark points out that this did not introduce slavery in the Western Hemisphere because in pre-Colombian times indigenous societies already practiced slavery, from the Incas in the South to the Indians of the Pacific Northwest. The author states that this is a sad story, but that it has been accompanied by a great deal of misrepresentation, exaggeration, and what he calls "plain foolishness" that has been added during the past century.

It's pretty obvious, but Stark has to point out that the Spanish succeeded in the invasion and conquest of Mexico because of the brutality of the Aztecs. Every year they sacrificed tens of thousands of men, women, and children seized from subordinated tribes, so it was no surprise that local natives joined the Spanish in their attack on the Aztecs. Stark says many modern textbooks claim that stories of Aztec sacrifices were falsehoods told to justify Spanish imperialism. But archaeology in has verified human sacrifices were conducted in more than 80 different places in the Aztec capital and in hundreds of other ceremonial centers.

Stark and the history of the West--next installment

I realize that these blogs are taking up a long time. But the topic is vital for us today because there are so many who have given us a false idea of where we as Westerners have come from. Why? In an attempt to put down Christianity and to make us feel less proud of our values. Multiculturalism in all its silliness is on the rise, so the West has to be brought low. Sad . . .

Stark begins chapter 9 of his book How the West Won by attacking revisionist scholars in another area. Many of them claim Europe's industrial and technological lead over the rest of the world developed only recently. Some even claim that the West stole it all from Asia.

But he says the reality is that medieval Europe, home to Christianity, was responsible for this rise of technology and  industry. It was during this time that the rise of banking, elaborate manufacturing networks, rapid innovations in technology and finance, and a busy network of trading cities occurred.  For example, English capitalism arose because of political freedom as seen in the Magna Carta; English merchants enjoyed secure property rights and free markets. Capitalism became essential to England's industrialization.

The most remarkable technological progress in that era was occurring in Europe, not elsewhere. From 1200 through 1500 European technology was rapidly improving in many areas that Stark mentions. I'll list just a few critical areas he discusses--metallurgy, ships, and armaments.

So, another slur against the West (and Christianity in particular) has been laid to rest.

Stark on the history of the West--continued

I'm still on Rodney Stark's book How the West Won. Right now I'm covering the rest of chapter 8.

Stark deals here with the rise of universities, which were the product of the medieval church. They were not limiting their scholarly work to reciting received wisdom. Instead, the scholastics who founded the universities esteemed innovation. They were dominated by empiricism from the start. If it was possible to put an intellectual claim to observational tests, then that is what should be done. Faculty members gained fame and invitations to join other faculties by innovation, not memorization of the ancients. Stark shows that Copernicus, who pushed the heliocentric model of the solar system, succeeded because of an invaluable legacy of centuries of scholastic scholarship. He says there is no such thing as a scientific revolution, a term invented to discredit the medieval church by claiming that science burst forth in full bloom only when Christianity no longer could suppress it. Again, we see there have been many modern myths set up to discredit Christianity's role in history.

Stark ends this chapter by saying the pursuit of knowledge did not suddenly appear in the 17th century. Actually, from early days Christian theologians were devoted to thinking about the world. That provided the fundamental basis for the creation of universities, thus giving an institutional home to science. The Christian thinkers who studied and taught at these universities were responsible for remarkable advances in an era supposedly short on progress.

This whole section reminds me that historians are not neutral observers of their filed. Many famous (and not so famous) ones have slanted their reports to make Christianity look bad. So much for intellectual honesty in many cases.

Stark--continued

The next section of Stark's book (How the West Won) deals with medieval transformations that took place between 1200-1500 A.D.

A favorite chapter of mine was Stark's seventh, where he discussed medieval climate. I'm so tired of hearing the global warming fanatics screaming about climate change. Stark points out warming and cooling trends are quite common. He says because substantial changes in the climate occur very slowly, people tend to regard their current climate conditions as normal. But that's not true. For example, beginning some time in the eighth century, the earth began to heat up, producing something known now as the Medieval Warm Period, which lasted from about 800-1250 A.D. Then temperatures began to drop until early in the 14th century, when the Little Ice Age began and lasted until about 1850. I don't think we can blame these climate changes on modern technology. Shoot, I remember when magazines in the 1970s had headlines dealing with a coming ice age. But this is not the time for me to take on climate change fanatics such as Al Gore. I have done so in previous blogs if you're interested.

In chapter 8 Stark focuses on the pursuit of knowledge. He says the most fundamental key to the rise of Western civilization has been this interest in knowledge. Guess where he says this started? The Christian commitment to theology. The pursuit of knowledge was inherent in theology to more fully understand God. This was then extended to include God's creation. He says it was scholastics in the medieval period who founded Europe's great universities, formulated and taught the experimental method, and launched Western science. Again, i have spent time in previous blogs dealing with the rise of science as a result of the Judeo-Christian worldview that saw all of nature coming from the mind of a rational God.

Stark notes the importance of Christian theology as far as what it says about God. He is seen as a conscious, rational, supernatural being of unlimited power and scope. He says Eastern religions do not develop theologians because they reject this first premise of theology dealing with God. For Taoism, for example, there is a supernatural essence, but it is impersonal, remote, lacking consciousness, definitely not a being. The same applies to Buddhism and Confucianism. In addition, there are no Muslim theologians. In Islam, believers deny the legitimacy of relying on reason to expand their understanding of Allah. All that needs to be understood about this God is written in the Koran. The proper role for Muslim thinkers is to interpret Scripture so that the people will follow Allah's commands. Note the lack of thinking for yourself in Islam.

More from Stark's book

Whoops! I didn't have a chance to do my blog last week due to lots of babysitting. But I love the time with the grand kids, so here we are. Let's get back to Rodney Stark's book How the West Won.

Stark in the next section of his book turns his attention to the rise of political freedom, which appeared first in a number of Italian city-states. We see again appreciation for small political units rather than one large empire. Dozens of city-states in northern Italy dispersed political power among various interest groups. Two of the most prominent of these include Venice and Genoa. Stark emphasizes that the church vigorously advocated and defended democracy in northern Italy. It unequivocally asserted moral equality, and also ventured into the political arena, with bishops and cardinals playing a leading role on behalf of expanding the franchise.

Capitalism came about because of the church. It first appeared in the great Catholic monastic estates back in the ninth century. He points out capitalism rests on free markets, secure property rights, and free (unforced) labor. By the ninth century the Christian church was deeply involved in the earliest forms of capitalism. Monastic estates increased productivity and engaged in trade to secure any needs they had. The estates often grew in the small cities, which led to more sophisticated and far-seeing management. In addition, there was a development from a barter to a cash economy. One more development had to do with the rise of credit.

Just as important as these economic developments were changes in attitudes toward work that Christianity inspired. Roman and other precapitalist societies had no belief in the dignity of labor. Again, we can see the virtue of work being stressed by early Christians, including the sixth century St. Benedict. Unlike other great religious cultures, or piety is associated with rejection of the world and its activities, there was a strong commitment to manual labor in these medieval Christian churches.

So, in summary, Stark says by no later than the 13th century the leading Christian theologians had fully debated the primary aspects of emerging capitalism – profits, property rights, credit, lending, and the like. In each case they came up with a favorable acceptance of capitalism. Again, Stark contrasts this with Islam, whose holy book condemns all interest on borrowed money. Religious opposition to interest, combined with the avarice of repressive regimes, preventive capitalism from arising in Islam – and it still does, according to Stark.

Stark ends this section of his book by saying there is one single factor responsible for the rise of the West – freedom. Freedom leads people to hope, to act, to invest, and to enjoy the fruits of their dreams as well as their labor.