Christianity and Success

Reasonable Religion
How Christianity Loomed Behind the Success of the West

WACO, Texas, JAN. 14, 2006 (Zenit.org <http://www.zenit.org > ).- The  conventional wisdom that Western success depended on overcoming  religious barriers to progress is "utter nonsense," says the author of a  new book. Rodney Stark defends this thesis in "The Victory of Reason:  How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success"  (Random House).  

Stark, a professor of social sciences at Baylor University, maintains  that, in contrast to other beliefs that emphasize mystery and intuition,  Christian theology privileges reason. This factor -- not geography, a  more productive agricultural system, or the Protestant Reformation -- is  behind the rise of the West, he argues.  

The author observes that this view contrasts with the position of many  20th-century Western intellectuals. They maintained that the West surged  ahead of other cultures precisely to the degree that it overcame  religious barriers to progress. What credit they do give to religion was  limited to acknowledging Protestantism's contribution, as if the  previous 15 centuries of Christianity were of little import, says Stark.  

 In a chapter on the union between reason and theology in Christianity,  Stark lays out why he disagrees with these intellectuals. The rise of  the West, he contends, was based on four primary victories of reason:  

-- Faith in progress within Christian theology;  

-- The transmission of this faith in progress into technical and  organization innovations, many of them fostered by monasteries;  

-- Reason informed political theory and practice, allowing personal  freedom;  

-- Reason was applied to commerce, resulting in the development of  capitalism.  

A gift of God  

From the first centuries of Christianity the Fathers of the Church  taught that reason was a gift from God and the means for increasing  understanding of Scripture and Revelation. Eastern religions, by  contrast, lacked the figure of a conscious, all-powerful God who could  be the object of theological reflection.  

Judaism and Islam did have the concept of a God sufficient to sustain  theology. But within these religions the tendency was toward a  constructionist approach that conceived scripture as something to be  understood and applied, not as the basis for further inquiry.  

Christianity sees God as a rational being and the universe as created by  him. Thus, a rational structure awaits human comprehension. And rising  to the challenge have been theologians in the Catholic Church, who over  the centuries engaged in careful reasoning that led to the development  of Christian doctrine. Leading thinkers such as Augustine and Thomas  Aquinas, Stark explains, celebrated the use of reason as a means to gain  insight into divine intentions.  

So when the scientific revolution of the 16th century came along, it was  not a sudden eruption of secular thinking. Rather, it stemmed from  centuries of systematic progress by medieval Scholastic thinkers, and it  was sustained by the 12th-century Christian invention, the universities.  

 Medieval progress  

Stark dedicates a chapter to exploding the idea of the "Dark Ages." Long  before the Renaissance and the Enlightenment came about, European  science and technology had long surpassed the rest of the world. The  idea that medieval times were a period of stagnation "is a hoax  originated by antireligious, and bitterly anti-Catholic,  eighteenth-century intellectuals," writes Stark.  

It was in these centuries that water and wind power were extensively  developed, allowing for enormous advances in the manufacture of goods.  And notable advances in agricultural technology increased yields that  enabled the feeding of towns and cities.  

Far from opposing such technical advances, Christianity welcomed and  promoted them. By contrast, both the Ottoman Empire and China opposed  the construction of mechanical clocks, for example.  

Nor did economic activity have to wait for Protestantism in order to  flourish, Stark contends. The monastic orders created a sort of  proto-capitalism. Spurred by increases in productivity due to  technological advances, the monasteries led the trend away from a  subsistence economy, toward a system of specialization and trade. In  turn, this facilitated the rise of a cash economy, as opposed to barter,  and the creation of credit and moneylending.  

Monasteries also developed a work ethic and an appreciation for the  value of economic endeavor -- long before the advent of Protestantism.  

Moreover, Christian (i.e., Catholic) theologians refined ideas in  relation to the charging of interest and the just prices of goods --  elements essential to the development of capitalism. Stark also devotes  ample space to outlining the development of capitalism in the Italian  city-states, which spurred flourishing economies centuries before the  Reformation.  

Freedom and equality  

While the conditions for developing capitalism have existed in a number  of countries, sometimes the essential element of freedom was missing,  thus impeding economic progress. Freedom, Stark argues, is a victory of  reason and one supported by Christian theologians who had long theorized  about the nature of equality and individual rights. In fact, the work of  later secular political theorists, such as John Locke, often rested on  ideas developed by Church scholars.  

Christianity in general teaches the value of the individual and  emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility in moral decisions.  Linked to this is the concept of free will. This was a radical change  from the past, evident, for example, in literature. Stark suggests  comparing the Greek tragedies, where the characters are captives of  fate, with Shakespeare, where the protagonists are clearly responsible  for their actions.  

Stark further argues that the birth of democracy in Western Europe owes  its origins, not to a recovered Greek philosophy, but to Christian  ideals. The classical world provided examples of democracy, but these  were not rooted in assumptions of the equality of all citizens. The  ideals taught in the New Testament, however, laid the basis for  affirming the fundamental equality of all persons.  

Property rights, another vital precondition for capitalism, also owe  their origins to Christianity. Both the Bible and major theologians  defend private property. Aquinas argued that owning property is inherent  in human nature.  

Christian teaching also greatly contributed to the concept of the  separation of church and state, and to the limitation of a sovereign's  powers over citizens. These two factors enabled the West to avoid the  dead-end of a political system that leads to the arbitrary and unlimited  use of political authority, which hinders the development of a modern  economy.  

Reason and faith  

Stark does not lay claim to any great originality in his ideas. He  points out that eminent historians such as Henri Pirenne and Fernand  Braudel long ago established that historical facts contradict the notion  that the Protestant work ethic was the force behind capitalism.  

Then, in 1925, noted philosopher and mathematician Alfred North  Whitehead declared that science arose in Europe because of the faith in  the possibility of science, in turn derived from medieval theology. Yet  these truths have been obscured by popular myths, says Stark.  

In concluding, Stark asks if Christianity is irrelevant to modernity,  now that science and capitalism are so firmly established. But, he  hastens to inquire, If Christianity were irrelevant how can we explain  its rapid expansion in many countries?  

Stark observes that in Africa Christian groups are booming, and in many  parts of the world Protestant churches are converting large numbers of  people, or perhaps more accurately, Christianizing many who previously  had not practiced their nominal religion. Christianity has also grown in  China, despite government opposition.  

"For many non-Europeans, becoming a Christian is intrinsic to becoming  modern," Stark affirms. Reason and faith, it seems, are not destined to  be opposed, a truth that awaits rediscovery by many in the West.  ZE06011401