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.