How the Church Helped Build the West (Zenit)

[stumbler]

NEW YORK, JUNE 4, 2005 (Zenit.org).- No institution has done more to shape the West than the Church. This is the thesis of a just-published book, “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization” (Regnery Publishing), by Thomas E. Woods Jr.

The Catholic Church, Woods notes, has come in for a bad press in the past few years. And many people are only aware of the darker parts of Church history. This book sets out to change that, by succinctly dealing in a series of thematic chapters with a number of areas where the Church played a crucial role.

Western civilization, Woods is careful to add, does not derive exclusively from Catholicism. Nevertheless, it is easy to forget just how much the Church contributed in such areas as art, music, architecture, science and law.

A strongly negative view still persists regarding the Middle Ages, even though Woods affirms that just about all historians have now rejected the old prejudice of this period as the “Dark Ages.” While there was indeed a period of decline in the sixth and seventh centuries, this was due to barbarian invasions and constant wars. The destruction would have been worse if it had not been for the Church’s efforts at maintaining some kind of order.

Modern civilization owes a particular debt to the work of countless monks during the Middle Ages, Woods points out. It was in the monasteries that the great Roman texts were copied and preserved for future generations. And even though over the centuries many monasteries were destroyed by successive waves of barbarians they would spring up again to continue their task.

The medieval monasteries were also vital in the development of agriculture. In particular, the many thousands of Benedictine establishments played a crucial role in clearing and developing land. They also introduced the local populations to important techniques, such as cattle rearing, cheese making, water management and raising bees. Cistercian monasteries also played a vital role, Woods adds, in areas such as the development of water power and metallurgy.

A time of learning

Far from being a period of ignorance the Middle Ages saw the birth of the university system. The Church was at the center of this advance, which took off in the second half of the 12th century in centers established in Paris, Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge. The papacy, Woods explains, also played a central role in establishing and encouraging the universities. By the time of the Reformation, 81 universities had received a papal charter.

Modern science also owes a large debt to the Catholic Church. Most people remember the Church’s conflict with Galileo, which was not nearly so negative as popular myths would have it, Woods argues. The Church was at the center of scientific advances, with many clergymen combining their divine vocation with an interest in science. . . .

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[Hildebrand]

This is a great article. The “Middle Ages” is at the top of the list of the most maligned period of time. When in reality, the High Middle Ages was one of the high points of Western Civilization.

During the praised Roman times, women were more or less the property of men. Women were forced behind the scenes. During the “Middle Ages”, there were women rulers, women property owners, and even women voters. The Renaissance praised all thing ancient and thus, much of Europe after the Renaissance fell backed into the old Roman Law and women were gradually sidelined. By the time of Napoleon, women were once again pushed aside in the Napoleonic Code (heavily influenced by Roman Law). Only until about a hundred years ago did the idea of women voting become something acceptable.

The same thing occurred with art and architecture. The Renaissance thinkers highly idealized all things classical. They believed Roman art was par excellence and all other art and architecture were missing the mark, almost childish in their form and style. These “open minded” individuals would have looked at all the various kinds of art and said: “Well he/she got this wrong, this is incorrect, the artist meant to do this and it came out like that, etc.” To many of these Renaissance individuals, art and architecture was doctrinized. Art Dogma became everything Roman and Greek, which is great if you only love classical architecture (I myself am a fan of it, so it does not bother me much … still not very tolerant and diverse).

With regard to science, the Church was a patron of the sciences and learning. However, when the Protestant Revolt (Reformation) came around… many of the leaders of the Protestant Revolt attacked the Church for being anti-Bible, anti-Christianity, etc because “science” would contradict their own interruption of scriptures. Some people within the Church tried to protect the right flank of the Church from attack from the growing Protestant threat and began to compromise and act much like the Protestant themselves.

On government, the Catholic Church much prefers the principle of subsidiarity over highly centralized governments. Catholic monarchs jumped on the bandwagon of the Heretical/Protestant notion of the “Divine Right of Kings” and used it themselves to seize more and more power and authority from the local and regional levels of government. We cannot completely blame the Protestants for the collapse of limited authority for rulers. The Catholics rulers, most especially France, did a swell job on the own in consolidating power in their hands at the expense of the people. The authority of the monarch in England greatly changed during the reign of King Henry VIII and thereafter. Before King Henry VIII, the people had the right to speak out against the actions of the King, During and after his reign, it could leave you quite dead (not mostly dead ).

The “Early Middle Ages” saw the end of slavery in Europe. Slavery reentered European life, custom, and practice when the Middle Ages were ending and the more “progressive/advanced” age of Western Civilization was dawning. The Pope condemned these actions, but what did he know? (The Pope is so old fashion, he is sooo 1300s, this is the 1400s, who does he think he is?) Over the condemnation of many Popes, the “enlightened” Europeans engaged in the barbaric practice of slavery.

I am writing all the top of my head, so if I got something wrong, please correct me.