G
gurneyhalleck1
Guest
While the Catholic Church has, no doubt, contributed to Western Civilization in huge ways, it would be more honest and intellectually honest to say that the Protestant Reformation shaped the Western World in a greater way.
The Roman Catholic Church suppressed secular science, secular art, secular literature, and exploration of ideas outside of religion in general. It wasn’t until Luther came along that Europeans discovered they had religious freedom of choice. With that came the idea that secular is not necessarily a dirty word. Sciences flourished, artwork for the first time could express daily living, literature and poetry took off like wild fire, and the rise of nations came out of the disordered chaos of the Middle Ages. We have the protestants to thank for the idea of nationalism, resurrecting democracy from the Greeks, seperating church and state, the Bill of Rights, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, on and on. Without the Reformation, none of these things would have nor could have taken place.
Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, Thomas Payne, and Abraham Lincoln would have been burned at the stake for the many things they said about the Church, criticisms of the Bible, and personal opinions they had theologically. I happen to disagree a great deal with the crazy deism of Thomas Jefferson, the cynical and doubtful thoughts Franklin had about the miracles of Christ, and the downright heretical thoughts of John Adams! Mark Twain was a real cynic and believed very little of scripture. He thought that Christianity was best kept in a museum. HOWEVER, what if these men, who happen to have been theologically pretty crazy, had not been born? They contributed in huge ways to our Western society. Only the Reformation could have given them a safe place to express their talents and their flawed views.
Western Civilization was also hugely influenced by the Greeks and Romans, both pagan cultures, more than by the Roman Catholic Church. Our ideas of warfare (read all the books of Dr. Victor Davis Hanson) and strategies are mostly Greek in nature. Our capitalistic enterprises inspired by Athens. Our republican government inspired by Rome (republic period).
Western Civilization has inherited many religious ideas from the Catholic Church but many of the things the West actually discarded from Rome are what made her great.
The Roman Catholic Church suppressed secular science, secular art, secular literature, and exploration of ideas outside of religion in general. It wasn’t until Luther came along that Europeans discovered they had religious freedom of choice. With that came the idea that secular is not necessarily a dirty word. Sciences flourished, artwork for the first time could express daily living, literature and poetry took off like wild fire, and the rise of nations came out of the disordered chaos of the Middle Ages. We have the protestants to thank for the idea of nationalism, resurrecting democracy from the Greeks, seperating church and state, the Bill of Rights, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, on and on. Without the Reformation, none of these things would have nor could have taken place.
Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, Thomas Payne, and Abraham Lincoln would have been burned at the stake for the many things they said about the Church, criticisms of the Bible, and personal opinions they had theologically. I happen to disagree a great deal with the crazy deism of Thomas Jefferson, the cynical and doubtful thoughts Franklin had about the miracles of Christ, and the downright heretical thoughts of John Adams! Mark Twain was a real cynic and believed very little of scripture. He thought that Christianity was best kept in a museum. HOWEVER, what if these men, who happen to have been theologically pretty crazy, had not been born? They contributed in huge ways to our Western society. Only the Reformation could have given them a safe place to express their talents and their flawed views.
Western Civilization was also hugely influenced by the Greeks and Romans, both pagan cultures, more than by the Roman Catholic Church. Our ideas of warfare (read all the books of Dr. Victor Davis Hanson) and strategies are mostly Greek in nature. Our capitalistic enterprises inspired by Athens. Our republican government inspired by Rome (republic period).
Western Civilization has inherited many religious ideas from the Catholic Church but many of the things the West actually discarded from Rome are what made her great.
This is a good thing! Christianity grew and grew inspite of intense persecution.
