How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
Modernity developed only in the West—in Europe and North America. Nowhere else did science and democracy arise; nowhere else was slavery outlawed. Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap. Why was that?
How the West Won demonstrates the primacy of uniquely Western ideas—among them the belief in free will, the commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, the notion that the universe functions according to rational rules that can be discovered, and the emphasis on human freedom and secure property rights.
Taking readers on a thrilling journey from ancient Greece to the present, Stark challenges much of the received wisdom about Western history. How the West Won shows, for example:
• Why the fall of Rome was the single most beneficial event in the rise of Western civilization
• Why the “Dark Ages” never happened
• Why the Crusades had nothing to do with grabbing loot or attacking the Muslim world unprovoked
• Why there was no “Scientific Revolution” in the seventeenth century
• Why scholars’ recent efforts to dismiss the importance of battles are ridiculous: had the Greeks lost at the Battle of Marathon, we probably would never have heard of Plato or Aristotle
Stark also debunks absurd fabrications that have flourished in the past few decades: that the Greeks stole their culture from Africa; that the West’s “discoveries” were copied from the Chinese and Muslims; that Europe became rich by plundering the non-Western world. At the same time, he reveals the woeful inadequacy of recent attempts to attribute the rise of the West to purely material causes—favorable climates, abundant natural resources, guns and steel.
Get the keys to engage in conversation about one’s beliefs by using the tools of storytelling and illustrations in this book. Instead of bombarding people with a one sided lecture, the authors give examples of how to discuss and defend the questions Christians are often asked, such as:
From the introduction: Fire is a multivalent metaphor. It destroys and refines; its light illuminates while its smoke conceals. . . . In taking fire upon the earth as the guiding metaphor for the story of Christianity in world history, this book attempts to do justice to the images multifaceted implications. Friends, enemies, and neutral observers have judged the story of Christianity to be one of amazing creativity and terrible destruction, of fearless accomplishments and grim failures. . . . Whatever else there is to be said, Christianity has left its mark on the world as surely as any fire. And the story and the mark form the subject of this book.
This book is invaluable for the study of the growth and development of the Christian Church in the first five centuries A.D. It gives a perspective on the first 500 years of the church that enriches what is learned from other church histories dealing with this period. It confirms the early selection of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament by the church. It explains the development of three distinctive ranks in the clergy: bishop, presbyter, and deacon. The evolution of the primacy of bishops in all of the major cities is clearly explained. It depicts the influence of the growing monastic movement from the second century onward, which embraced the idea of spiritual superiority of celibacy over marriage and the practice of arduous disciplines which had great influence on the church in succeeding centuries. T
