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342 of 380 people found the following review helpful: Why the Middle Ages were a golden age, April 26, 2005 By  Thomas Craughwell (Bethel, CT USA) - See all my reviews    This is one of those eye-opening books that put to rest widely accepted but nonetheless misguided notions about the past. In 225 information-packed pages Tom Woods reveals how, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church single-handedly revived and rebuilt Western civilization. The Benedictine monks, for example, transformed wasteland and swamps into fertile fields, harnessed water power, and bred healthier strains of livestock. The Jesuits became pre-eminent in astronomy and developed a scientific approach to archaeology. The Church fostered village schools and the great universities of Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Cambridge; operated hospitals and orphanages; sheltered and fed the poor; and formulated the idea of basic human rights. Thanks to this book, people who use the term "medieval" as an insult are going to be awfully embarrassed.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)

328 of 373 people found the following review helpful: Everything you know is wrong, May 13, 2005 By  Kevin Beckman (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews    About the Catholic Church that is. Ask the average layperson about the Middle Ages and he'll probably say it was a time of ignorance and superstition, where the Church ruthlessly stamped out dissent. Surprise! Woods shows just the opposite is true: it was the Church that gave us the university system. It was the Church, the monks specifically, that preserved the wisdom of the ancient world and drove technological innovation for centuries. But the Church crippled scientific progress right? Wrong. Woods proves again that just the opposite is true: science as we know it would not have arisen without Christian presuppositions, i.e. God's creations operate according to laws that can be discovered by man. This is in stark contrast to other ancient cultures which believed nature was unpredictable and the gods were capricious. Charity, morality, economics, international law, the idea that all men are created equal, and many other things we take for granted all have foundations in Catholic thought. The title is accurate: the Church built Western civilization. I'm sorry the book is so short at 225 pages. Each chapter could easily become a book in its own right. Woods has a gift - also evident in his other books - for swift narratives, delightful anecdotes, and discovering astonishing facts that were there all along but somehow became great secrets. Woods says that our debt to the Church is one of history's greatest secrets. I hope more people are able to learn this secret. Woods's book is a great start, and the bibliography provides other excellent sources.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)

47 of 53 people found the following review helpful: Disinterring the Good, November 23, 2005 By  George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews          "The evil men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones." This would not be if we remembered St. Paul's admonition that "all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God," and applied Jesus' teaching that "he who is without sin [should] cast the first stone." This book, while not ignoring the bad that has been done in the name of Catholicism, seeks to disinter the good that has gone largely ignored. On balance the Catholic faith has given rise to far, far more good than bad. To see how much good the Church has done in the secular world, and where it has done that good, read the book. After reading the book, you might wish to try "For the Glory of God" and "In the Name of God" by Rodney Stark, and also "Aristotle's Children" by Richard Rubenstein. It is hard to overstate the influence that Catholicism has had in shaping Western Civilization, but Woods comes close to doing it. The works of Stark and Rubenstein will provide some balance. Two interesting contentions that Woods makes: 1. He argues that the Church's censure of Galileo for his heliocentric ideas was in keeping with good scientific principles. I'm not sure he carries his point, but his argument is ingenious and engaging. 2. He argues that the Church's rejection of Aristotelian ideas on religious grounds served to free science from the straight jacket imposed by philosophic Aristotle-worship. Stark makes a similar point in his work. Rubenstein would weigh in on the other side of the argument. FOOTNOTE: After reading this book, I picked up "6 Modern Myths about Christianity & Western Civilization" by Philip J. Sampson and read the chapter on Galileo. "6 Modern Myths" did a far better job of explaining what was really going on with the trial of Galileo, and it had much more to do with pride and politics than it did with theology. Woods either omitted or overlooked some critical facts that help the reader understand the situation.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)