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How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
http://www.amazon.com ^ | May 2, 2005 | Thomas E. Woods

Posted on 06/02/2014 7:13:05 PM PDT by NKP_Vet

Thomas Woods' book titled HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILD WESTERN CIVILIZATION is an unanswerable antidote to anti-Catholic bashers and their mindless sychophants. Prof. Woods provides a compelling case that Western Civilization could not have thrived without the valuable achievements of the Catholic Church over the past 2,000 years.

Prof. Woods survey of the Catholic Church in late Ancient History and during the Dark Ages makes clear that the Catholic Church authorities and especially the monks were invaluable in preserving learning. He makes clear that the early Catholic monks and nuns were the only literate people in Europe, and they preserved learning by handcopying books and teaching. Prof. Woods' treatment of this historical episode gives the thoughtful reader an insight as to how crucial those who were in religious orders were to European recovery.

Prof. Woods' chapter on Medieval universities is solid. He gives the conditions under which teachers and students operated and makes clear that the "Age of Scholasticism" was an intllectually vibrant age. The books gives examples of the curriculum and the emphasis on logic and reason both in learning and solving intellectual issues. The Age of Reason actually began in the Medieval Catholic universities rather than in the 17th and 18th centuries. Prof. Woods' evaluation of Medieval Scholasticism compares favorably with John Baldwin's THE SCHOLATIC CULTURE OF THE MIDDE AGES, 1000-1300.

Chapter five of this book undermines the notion that the Catholic authorities tried to undermine scientific study. For example, Prof. Woods cites numerous examples of Catholic university officials supporting scientific study and lending considerable resources to the study of astronomy. He also gives an honest assessement of the trial of Galileo who was also highly praised by Catholic authorties including the Pope. This reviewer learned for the first time that the Jesuits started the study of seismology. This chapter is important because it undermines the false notion that the Catholic Church was against science. One should note that many scientific advances that are taken for granted and which are important originated with the Catholic Church.

Not only did the Catholic Church make invaluable contributions in science and philosopy, but Prof. Woods presents an abundence of evidence of the valuable contributions that the Catholic Church made in developing both Canon Law and the concepts of natural and legal rights. These chapters are especially important in that they clearly prove that the Catholic jurists had meticulous concern for the rights of individuals including those who were not Catholic. This thesis is proven beyond doubt in chapters nine, ten, and eleven.

Prof. Woods presents a historical case of what happens in "A World Without God" which is the title of the book's conclusion. The twentieth century is thus far history's bloodiest century. The absence of moral codes except that of what the state dictates without religious convictions, convictions taught by the Catholic Church, presents historical tragedy.

Prof. Woods could have written a five foot book shelf on the crucial role of the Catholic Church in creating Western Civilization. Those who want to know more should consult the bibliography at the end of the book HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILT WESTERN CIVILIZATION which is a good bibliography. This reviewer would have included Regine Pernoud's book titled THOSE TERRIBLE MIDDLE AGES:DEBUNKING THE MYTHS and G.K.Chesterton's ORTHODOXY. A recent book published by Father Duffy titled QUEEN OF THE SCIENCE:THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY AND LIBERAL LEARNING should be read in tandem with Prof. Woods' book.

Prof. Woods has simply written a great book. HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILT WESTERN CIVILIZATION should be in every Catholic school on the planet. Thoughtful Protestants who do not define their religion by Catholic bashing would benefit from this book. This book should not be recommended to Catholic bashers as it could cause cultural shock and apoplexy. If anyone reads this review and assumes this reviewer is a Catholic, they would be wrong. This reviewer has studied enough history to know just how crucial the Catholic Church has been and is wise enough to appreciate the Catholic Church's achievements.


TOPICS: General Discusssion; History; Religion & Culture; Theology
KEYWORDS: books; catholicism; nonfiction; westerncivilization
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To: boatbums

Former Lutheran Dr. Thomas E. Woods is one more favorite CATHOLIC CONVERTS.


41 posted on 06/02/2014 8:44:31 PM PDT by NKP_Vet ("Truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself")
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To: Steelfish

White people did well before Christianity, after Christianity started, after the Catholic denomination gained power, and after the Catholic denomination lost power.

It seems to have something to do with white people, because I look at 500 years of protestant Christianity here, and 500 years of Catholic Christianity to the South, and I see some things related to science and such.


42 posted on 06/02/2014 8:45:38 PM PDT by ansel12 ((Ted Cruz and Mike Lee-both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Comm as Ginsberg's importance fades)
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To: Steelfish

Orville and Wilbur Wright were actually secret Catholics. That’s how they gained access to Vatican archives to find Geovanni Ghinovagelli’s plans from 1427 for a working flying popemobile.


43 posted on 06/02/2014 8:45:52 PM PDT by DManA
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To: NKP_Vet

John wrote to the seven churches, so I just accept the fact that it is God who gave us all we have and give Him the glory. Period.


44 posted on 06/02/2014 8:47:04 PM PDT by huldah1776
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To: ansel12

Without the Catholic Church there would be no United States. Columbus and the rest of the great exployers were Catholic.


45 posted on 06/02/2014 8:47:27 PM PDT by NKP_Vet ("Truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself")
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To: NKP_Vet

But we speak English. Isn’t that weird?


46 posted on 06/02/2014 8:49:23 PM PDT by DManA
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To: NKP_Vet

Sounds like it. Thanks. Just read Orthodoxy, by GK Chesterton, and it is great. Chesterton was a brilliant Catholic apologist.

Chesterton was so wise—way ahead of his time, and he recognized the evil Postmodernism/Atheism, which was descending on Western Civilization as early as 1905, and if not rejected, would destroy the greatest civilization in the history of man.

Common Sense and Reason was being ejected; Language/Words were being made meaningless. And Chesterton recognized it all and sent out warnings constantly....but it fell on deaf ears. There is a book which includes many of his best essays which is great. He was a prolific writer who wrote on every topic—including the destruction of the Natural Family.


47 posted on 06/02/2014 8:52:47 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: NKP_Vet

The Catholics could never have created a United States, and they didn’t, but there about 20 Catholics nations starting a few miles from my house.


48 posted on 06/02/2014 8:52:53 PM PDT by ansel12 ((Ted Cruz and Mike Lee-both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Comm as Ginsberg's importance fades)
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To: NKP_Vet

So every nine years you are going to post this garbage?


49 posted on 06/02/2014 8:56:38 PM PDT by DManA
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To: DManA
So every nine years you are going to post this garbage?

So says the church of what's happening now.

50 posted on 06/02/2014 8:58:23 PM PDT by JPX2011
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To: JPX2011

I asked. You don’t know the difference?


51 posted on 06/02/2014 8:59:11 PM PDT by DManA
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To: vladimir998

They were big in the hospitality and re-location business just after WW2 as well.


52 posted on 06/02/2014 9:01:27 PM PDT by llevrok (Straight. Since 1950.)
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To: aumrl

I respect your right to your assertions, but the Inquisition created the first real due process in world law, cross-examination, discovery and even the right to public statement of charges, at a time when civil governments engaged in routine torture and prosecuted heresy as a kind of treason, a juridical policy they inherited from the Romans, who used it against Christians. Civil prisoners were known to blaspheme specifically to have their venue transferred to comparatively milder ecclesiastical courts. A Roman Pontiff around 1475 forbade the Spanish monarchy from holding the Spanish Inquisition, 50 years later a Spanish monarch sent a menacing letter to a Roman Pontiff warning him against interfering with the Spanish Inquisition, which was a Spanish civil institution despite being staffed by Dominicans. The Spanish attitude towards our Hebrew elder brethren has to be tempered by the fact that Jews had recruited the Almoravids to invade Spain 700 years earlier. Though the various parties were distinguished by religion, the conflict had a strong civil involvement. A secular writer unsympathetic to the Spanish and the Church reackons an average of 3 executions per year for hundreds of years over a geographical expanse of Spanish occupation ranging from Sicily to Peru. Heretics couldn’t be summarily executed, only upon relapse/recidivism a second time. Even today the civil heresy of defense of traditional marriage is ruthlessly suppressed. Finally, the dark ages were done by the 10th century.


53 posted on 06/02/2014 9:02:06 PM PDT by CharlesOConnell (CharlesOConnell)
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To: DManA
I'm sorry. Let me rephrase:

So says asks the church of what's happening now.

54 posted on 06/02/2014 9:02:44 PM PDT by JPX2011
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To: JPX2011

So............


55 posted on 06/02/2014 9:03:59 PM PDT by DManA
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To: DManA
So............

And so in a take on the old lawyer's aphorism: if one can't argue the facts they argue procedure.

Additionally, it suggests that dated material is useless. So I have to wonder whether truth is not being analyzed through the prism of modernistic materialism.

56 posted on 06/02/2014 9:15:05 PM PDT by JPX2011
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To: JPX2011

Dated, as something that was already posted in 2005?


57 posted on 06/02/2014 9:23:30 PM PDT by DManA
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To: DManA
Dated, as something that was already previously posted in 2005?

There. I think that is a more apt way to phrase it. It removes the negative connotation.

But in answer to your question, sure. I mean, why not? I don't recall seeing it in 2005. But that's not really the issue.

What is the issue is whether or not something has to be, "new" to be of any value? I suspect many people feel that way. There is an inherent post-modern predilection to dismissing that which came before.

58 posted on 06/02/2014 9:33:45 PM PDT by JPX2011
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To: ansel12
What's that saying? “To the victors goes the writing of the history books.”
59 posted on 06/02/2014 9:44:50 PM PDT by boatbums (Proud member of the Free Republic Bible Thumpers Brigade.)
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To: aumrl

“The RC closed book, discouragement of reading, earthcentric theories, inquisition contributed to the dark ages.”

Your comments are completely out of touch with reality. First of all, the “Dark Ages” is largely an Renaissance/Enlightenment construct with little or no truth to do it. Secondly, if there were any “Dark Ages” they were OVER by the time of the “Inquisition”. The inquisitions - and there was no single, dominant entity covering all of Europe called “The Inquisition” - were first set up in the thirteenth century - the same century in which Aquinas, Gothic Cathedrals, and dozens of universities came into being and thrived. That was not a “dark age” by any stretch of the imagination.

Also, the Church had no “earthcentric” theories. And the correct term is “geocentric” not “earthcentric”. If you’re going to attack a thing, should you at least know its correct name?

Quite frankly, since Henry Ansgar Kelly’s famous 1989 article about the false understanding of the inquisition came out - called something like “Inquisition and the Prosecution of Heresy: Misconceptions” and available online just recently - there has been no reason for such ignorance about the inquisition to continue. Yet it does. Prejudiced people often don’t care about evidence.

Even liberal academics know:

“A misconception about the medieval and Renaissance tribunals collectively known as the Inquisition is that they represent a unified movement of the Catholic
Church to repress intellectual progress and the scientific pursuit of knowledge. This particular falsehood is often cited in popular discourse when wanting to
characterize Christianity as inherently anti-science. However, an exploration of the patterns of obedience and resistance to Church authority in the trial histories
of Galileo Galilei, Giordano Bruno, and Domenico Scandella reveals a different picture.” http://kritiki.hpdst.gr/sites/kritiki.hpdst.gr/files/articles/kritikh_11_083-088.pdf

Some inquisitors - with horrible modern reputations - genuinely cared about the rights of the accused:

“The Spanish Inquisition, which was getting under way at the time that Regnier was writing, seems to have had, at least at the beginning, a similar concern for observing the rule of law. In the trials held in Ciudad Real from 1483 to 1485, the procedure was to bring an unconfessed suspect to court and give him detailed charges and to allow him to select a lawyer and a proctor before denying the charges.32 Undoubtedly, abuses did develop, especially in connection
with holding suspects for a long period of time in the hope of generating proofs; but the Grand Inquisitor, Thomas de Torquemada, took steps to stop such irregularities. In the Instructions of Avila, dated 25 May 1498, he insisted that suspects were not to be arrested unless proof of specific
crimes had been assembled, and the arrestees were to be formally charged within ten days.33” http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/Joan_of_Arc/OLR/cr_Kelly_theright.pdf

And we hear about exactly none of that in school, or on television, etc.


60 posted on 06/02/2014 9:47:08 PM PDT by vladimir998
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