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.