Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization—A Review
by Adam Wakeling, Quillette:
A review of Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization by Samuel Gregg, Gateway Editions (June 2019) 256 pages.
The role of Christianity in Western history presents an interesting puzzle. Those who argue that Christianity has nothing to do with the success of the modern West need to explain why the scientific method, constitutional government, market economics, and the modern concept of human rights arose in Christian Europe rather than somewhere else. On the other hand, those who argue that Christianity is critical or integral to the success of the modern West need to explain why these developments did not occur until 12 centuries after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. For most of its history, Christianity didn’t seem to be making much of a contribution to freedom, peace, and prosperity.
One interpretation which has gained currency is the “Athens and Jerusalem” argument, according to which, Western civilisation is based in a unique combination of Greek reason and Judeo-Christian faith. This argument was recently rehearsed, for example, by Ben Shapiro in The Right Side of History (reviewed for Quillette by Jared Marcel Pollen last year). In Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization, Samuel Gregg makes a similar but more specific case—Christianity is based in reason and threats to Western civilisation come from what he calls “pathologies of faith and reason.” In this short and engaging work, Gregg argues that Christianity spent its 12 notionally dark centuries perfecting this delicate balance.
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