by Rodney Stark
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Product Description
Many books have been written about the success of the West, analyzing why Europe was able to pull ahead of the rest of the world by the end of the Middle Ages. The most common explanations cite the West’s superior geography, commerce, and technology. Completely overlooked is the fact that faith in reason, rooted in Christianity’s commitment to rational theology, made all these developments possible. Simply put, the conventional wisdom that Western success depended upon overcoming religious barriers to progress is utter nonsense.
In The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark advances a revolutionary, controversial, and long overdue idea: that Christianity and its related institutions are, in fact, directly responsible for the most significant intellectual, political, scientific, and economic breakthroughs of the past millennium.
In Stark’s view, what has propelled the West is not the tension between secular and nonsecular society, nor the pitting of science and the humanities against religious belief. Christian theology, Stark asserts, is the very font of reason: While the world’s other great belief systems emphasized mystery, obedience, or introspection, Christianity alone embraced logic and reason as the path toward enlightenment, freedom, and progress. That is what made all the difference.
In explaining the West’s dominance, Stark convincingly debunks long-accepted “truths.” For instance, by contending that capitalism thrived centuries before there was a Protestant work ethic–or even Protestants–he counters the notion that the Protestant work ethic was responsible for kicking capitalism into overdrive. In the fifth century, Stark notes, Saint Augustine celebrated theological and material progress and the institution of “exuberant invention.” By contrast, long before Augustine, Aristotle had condemned commercial trade as “inconsistent with human virtue”–which helps further underscore that Augustine’s times were not the Dark Ages but the incubator for the West’s future glories.
This is a sweeping, multifaceted survey that takes readers from the Old World to the New, from the past to the present, overturning along the way not only centuries of prejudiced scholarship but the antireligious bias of our own time. The Victory of Reason proves that what we most admire about our world–scientific progress, democratic rule, free commerce–is largely due to Christianity, through which we are all inheritors of this grand tradition.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Starks Details Christianity's Contributions to Western Civilization, 2009-01-05
Why has Western civilization been so successful over the last thousand years? By that I mean, why have all the significant economic, scientific, political, technological, and intellectual breakthroughs of the past millennium been associated with Western civilization? Some would say that it was the West's military might that has been used to conquer and exploit weaker countries. However, that answer does not address the root of the question, for one could then ask why the militaries of European and, later, American, societies were so vastly superior to other nations. I suppose I would then be told that it was due to those countries superior technology that they used to their advantage (i.e. gun powder, cannons, steam-powered transportation, etc.). Yet that answer is still found lacking, for the question remains, why did those countries enjoy such superior technology? When we finally get to the heart of the matter, Rodney Stark believes that Christianity laid the groundwork for Europe's success by trumpeting reason over mystery and superstition.
Rodney Stark earned his Ph. D. at the University of California, Berkeley, and is now a Social Sciences professor at Baylor University. In his latest book, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, Stark maintains that Europe rose to a position of power because of Christianity, not in spite of it.
Throughout the book, Stark cites source after source that paints history in a slightly different hue than it is commonly given today. He shows that the "Dark Ages" are a myth and that the Middle Ages were, in reality, a time of economic and scientific innovation that for most Europeans brought a vast improvement in their quality of life over what they had experienced under the Roman Empire. He then goes on to show how these innovations were made possible by the foundation that Christianity provided. Stark further explains how this foundation provided for the evolution of commerce and government over the centuries to give us the systems we use today.
Furthermore, Stark does a great job of bringing to life a period in history that is largely misunderstood and glossed over in modern day academic circles. In numerous college history courses, I have never heard the Middle Ages explained as well as Stark does in this book. While some college professors of mine have mistakenly referred to this period in history as the Dark Ages, Stark puts that ridiculous notion to rest; rather, he explains how the foundation for Western civilization was laid during this time amid an avalanche of technological innovations ranging from horse shoes, which revolutionized transportation, to compound interest rates.
One thing that can't be missed while reading The Victory of Reason is that Stark is careful to cite and provide historical evidence for all of his claims. It has been a long time since a Christian author has produced such a well-researched book on the historical heritage of Christianity. Instead of relying on other historians' works, he looks back at the actual documents and papers produced from the time period to draw his conclusions. The result is a stunning look at history from the Middle Ages to the present time.
He also does a good job at keeping an honest, objective perspective throughout, as he lets the research have the final say, even when it might not seemingly support his theory. For instance, he does not credit the "Protestant work ethic" for the creation of capitalism and modern democracy. Rather, he shows that models for these economic and political systems existed centuries before the Reformation in Catholic city-states. In this day and age where everybody seemingly has an agenda to push, it is refreshing to see this approach taken for such an important work.
It should be noted that if you do not consider yourself a history buff, then this might not be the book for you. This is not light reading and often Stark gives whole pages of economic statistics at a time to prove a point. This could very well prove to be tedious to readers not that interested in history.
While I agree with the main thrust of the book, I am not sure I like all of the implications of his conclusions. His idea that Calvinism was a hindrance to a thriving Dutch economy and not the driving force behind it in the seventeenth century makes me a bit uncomfortable. Make no mistake, I do not disagree with his findings, I just wish that his findings were different than they are. Objective history will often do that though, leaving most people uncomfortable with at least some of its discoveries. We are so used to putting a spin on information to support our beliefs that it can almost be jolting to see information presented in such a fair and objective manner.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Too much deviation from the central premise of the book, 2008-11-18
I have often wondered why, from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century, European technology and social progress advanced at such an exponential rate so as to virtually dominate the entire world and radically alter life for the common man all over the globe.
Was this march of progress the inevitable result of population growth and cross-cultural interaction? Or would it never have happened if certain key battles had not been won, or key explorers and inventors had not lived?
Stark postulates a fairly new explanation to this age old question: that it was the unique characteristics of the Christian faith, which, according to Stark, encourage rational debate. The argument may have some merit, unfortunately stark is not convincing.
The rise of Christian universities in Europe in the Middle Ages should have been the central part of this book, but Stark barely mentions them. Stark fails to explain the differences (if any) between the Christian and Islamic universities of the Middle Ages. The paragraph on Bishop Nicolas Cusa was interesting, but it was just one paragraph, and to back up his argument Stark should have looked for evidence of many other free-thinking Christian philosophers of the Middle Ages. Stark's statement that "..many major technical innovations probably were made by monks and were eagerly adopted by the great monastic estates." (pg. 48) was followed by NO evidence and NO references.
Instead Stark concentrates on the momentous task of trying to disprove the idea that the "Dark Ages" were not a period of violence and decline in Europe. To prove this, Stark goes through a whole set of technologies that were not even developed in the Dark Ages (water mills, wind mills, iron nailed horse shoes, and the chimney were all developed in the late middle ages, over a thousand years after the rise of Christianity, and not in the Dark ages at all.) I could only find evidence of two technologies cited by stark that were developed during the Dark Ages, both of which were developed in non-Christian lands (stirrups in China and the heavy wheeled plow in non-Christian Slavic lands).
Stark claims that "If Rome still ruled, Europe would still be mired in a brutal command economy" (pg. 75) and that Romans were not interested in maximization of profits. If that were so, how did the Romans manage to dominate, and eventually conquer all the other ancient Mediterranean superpowers? A strong economy is the backbone of a strong military. Furthermore Rome was a Christian empire when it was destroyed by NON-Christian invaders, so how does proving ancient Rome was backward compared to the Dark Ages help Stark's argument?
I will give credit to Stark for the premise that Christianity may have helped the decline of slavery in Medieval Europe, but for the most part, this interesting idea needs much more focused evidence to be convincing.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Top notch, 2008-10-27
This book will give almost everyone something to think about. It explodes several myths that have become part the air that we in the early twenty-first century breathe. Most jarring and probably most important to the modern reader is the myth that the "dark ages" were a time of oppressive poverty in both economic and intellectual terms. Not true. The author gives many examples of technological and business advances that occurred during this period including the rise of capitalism in virtually its modern form. He chronicles the rising living standards of almost the entire population.
In addition he endeavors to give a reasonably rigorous definition of capitalism, something that is almost never done even by its most ardent defenders.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
The Christian Foundation for Western Success, 2008-06-03
Rodney Stark's "The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success" is an eye-opening and thought-provoking discussion of why the Christian Western world has been so much more successful over the past 2000 years than the rest of the world. Stark bases his argument on the rational theology of Christianity: the application of reason and logic to religious faith and the belief that the Christian faith was progressive.
Stark argues that the Christian faith uniquely set the conditions for many of the breakthroughs and advances that have shaped the modern capitalist world - from banking to freedom to property rights. These advances were not possible under the Islamic faith or Eastern beliefs.
Stark's history is revisionist at times. He repudiates the modern perception that Greek science and thought or Roman technological innovations were better than the "Dark Ages," and he denies the banking accomplishments of the early Islamic world or the technological advances of the Asian world. And while he isn't the first to link the success of the West to Christianity, he does so in a unique and convincing manner.
This is a very intriguing book, if a bit dry at times. Stark's arguments are wide-ranging and persuasive, although he does leave the reader wanting a fuller explanation of some of his revisionist arguments. Anyone with any interest in history or theology should read this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
The Victory of Reason, 2008-05-29
I found this book well written and the points well substatiated with research. It is clear that Mr. Stark identifies some themes in Western culture including the importance of the individual, the importance of personal safety for your being and possessions, that personal freedom is a key to economic development and the creation of wealth is not just random but rather a response to stimulus. I have read many books but he is able to capture a system view and explain the factors present that make certain outcomes more or less likely. I would place this book as one of the most important books I have read and I would ethusiastically encourage the book be included in "must read" category.
Craig Wilson
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