The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success

This book is a definite mind-opener. The book is about the impact of Christianity on capitalism and thus later western success. After reading this you won't look at things quite the same.The book is really two books merged into one. That technique is easy to broaden the approach to a complex issue like Western Civilization. The downside is you miss some of the background information that makes the cases stronger. I liked the story about capitalism. It runs you through a thousand years of history quite rapidly. You learn about how capitalism grew. A major force in that growth back in the dark ages was the church's system of monasteries. Then how Christian theology emphasizes the individual creates an environment which accelerates the growth of free markets.The other half of the book covers the growth of the church in the world. That growth converts people's hearts which in turn builds western society. The western values we hold dear only arose in Christian societies. Jesus pushed forth the idea of moral equality across all classes. Wealth isn't grounds for special distinction. Ideas like the separation of church and state did not start with Jefferson. It started with Jesus when he tells the crowd to give to Caesar what is his, and give to God what is his. Several Popes issued decrees banning slavery. These ideas create an environment in which capitalism flourishes.I would have liked to see more material on the theology part. Some of the statements about the role of the church needs more explanation. When that is done I am sure the book will succeed.

Rodney Stark's "The Victory of Reason" was at once illuminating and exasperating. It was illuminating because of how it traced the origins of capitalism and industrialization to developments in the very early middle ages (what used to be called simply "the Dark Ages"). And it was exasperating because he made his points about Christianity's beneficent effects by simply bifurcating its effects into good or bad, and attributing the good effects to "true" or "authentic" Christianity, and its bad effects to politics rather than to religion. Thus the malevolent effects of the Inquisition in Spain, Portugal, and the Papal States in Italy were all due to the quest for political power on the part of the ruling elites, not due to evils inherent in Medieval Christianity. Whereas the creativity of the northern Italian Renaissance city states was entirely due to the people's Catholic Chrsistian religion. I am willing to believe Christianity had something to do with the "Triumph of the West" after the 15th Century. But the way the condemnation of Galileo quashed science in Italy, and the way the Inquisition in Spain quashed any move toward modernity there until the 20th Century, makes me sensitive to the ways in which Christianity can be used for either good or evil purposes. These uses of the religion,for either good or ill purposes, do not seem to me to arise from the defining traits of the religion itself. I am, alas, helpless to say what exactly it does come from. Stark did force me to go back and do further reading about the "Fall of Rome" and about the "Dark Ages." He led me to a recent reinterpretation of these transitions by some contemporary historians such as Peter Brown (author of "The World of Late Antiquity"). These historians argue that there was no such thing as a 5th Century "fall" of civilization. There was merely a transformation of civilization from one form of social organization (Imperial Rome) to another (comprised of monasteries and feudalism). It was this latter form of social organization, according to Stark, which then produced caapitalism and modernity. This thesis that there was no real "fall" from civilized life in 5th Century Italy is severly contested by other historians, such as Bryan Ward-Perkins (author of the recent "Fall of Rome.") Ward-Perkins presents lots of archeological evidence that there really was a collapse of civilized life in 5th Century Italy which caused great suffering among those who endured it. I have concluded Ward-Perkins has an overwhelmingly strong evidential case against the continuity theorists like Peter Brown and Stark. Yet the "Dark Ages" were fruitful in many ways. The Franks developed the horse collar, the moldboard plow, crop rotation, the stirrup, and other innovations which put Europe on an upward track toward technological superiority. Why were these illiterate Franks so much more innovative than the Romans? Stark claims their Christianity was the cause, but he fails to say how, exactly, their Christian beliefs produced these effects. One unexpected connection he revealed to me was the link between the cloth industry and the advent of both capitalism and industrialization. The story of the rise of capitalism begins (he says) in the northern Italian city states of the Renaissance, then moved to the Netherlands prior to the wars with Spain. After the Spanish Netherlands were trashed by Catholic armies, the development toward modern cloth weaving technology moved first north to Holland, and then after the Dutch were defeated by the British at sea, these developments were transplanted to England. The mechanization of the cloth industry there was advanced first by the use of water power, and then by the use of steam power. This final transition to steam powered cloth factories is what is typically meant by "the Industrial Revolution." The spinning of thread and the weaving of cloth is the only thing which all these developments share in common. Why was cloth making the engine pushing all these technological developments, rather than, say, iron smelting? Again I do not know, but the entire question has been made salient for me by Stark's book. I would agree that freedom (as articulated, say, by Mill's essay "On Liberty,") is the linchpin of Western superiority over non-Western cultural forms (such as Sunni Islam, for example). I am not clear how this was caused by Christianity, if indeed it was. But plainly whatever that original connection may have been, the link has now been severed. No one would want to call Mill or Kant (or more recently, John Rawls) "Christian" philosophers. So if there ever was a "Christian Victory of Reason," it occurred in the remote past, and is only of antiquarian interest today.

Every now and then a book can change you in a very fundamental way. This book has changed the way I look at Christianity.The Victory of Reason is a history book, not a book on religion. It posits that Christian theology has led to four big accomplishments of mankind: 1 - a belief that human progress was possible, 2 - that personal freedom was essential to happiness, 3 - technical and organizational innovation and 4 - the development of capitalism. Mr. Stark succeeds in showing how reason made all four possible - reason derived from Christian theology.As someone educated in science, I have for many years looked on Christianity as something that had to be overcome or ignored. The dogma could so easily be disproved by modern science. It stood in the way of accepting evolution and cosmology. The very idea that Christianity could be behind the victory of reason was counter intuitive. Since I was raised as a Methodist, my early education led me to believe that the Protestant Ethic was responsible for much of life's success and that Rome and the Pope were trying to block scientific progress.The success of Western Civilization was obvious, but what could that be attributed too? Surely not just the superiority of Europeans. This idea was falling out of favor as I was leaving high school and entering the university in 1954. No, it must be related to the scientific progress that came from overcoming religious dogma.Perhaps. But then why did this occur in Europe and North America and not in China, India or the Middle East? Couldn't they have overcome religious dogma too? It just couldn't be related to religion. After all, didn't Rome fall because of Christianity as Gibbon suggested? How can you run a civilization based on turning the other cheek and glorification of the meek, the poor and the humble? Not to mention the nonsense of virgin birth and a heaven in the clouds with a large white male in charge. So there was no good explanation of how success came to us and not to others.The idea that a religion can change in fundamental ways over time is not something that is obvious. Religions depend on faith and it is very dangerous to even allow questioning or debate. So it is a surprise for me to find out that Christianity has undergone such changes. This is unique among all religions, I guess. It alone allows reason and logic to be used whereas others embrace "mystery and intuition." In early Christianity revelation was in vogue, the past was emphasized and predestination embraced. Today reason, the future and free will are. Rodney Stark shows how Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and others transformed Christianity. How capitalism is good in spite of the "eye of the needle" quote. And how personal freedom and technical progress derived from or at least were allowed by Christianity.The book is not without flaws. When he denigrates the dark ages at the beginning of chapter two, he errs. If you read the small book "The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization" by Bryan Ward-Perkins you find out that archeology shows that not only government, but pottery, utensils, tools, clothing, houses and food also went into a 500 year dark age. Stark's examples of progress and reason are almost entirely from 1100 AD on. His claim that science and technology was enhanced by Christianity is also over the top. But his point is valid - only in Christian Europe did the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution and the Scientific Method occur.To me, any history book can be judged by what you learn that is new. This book is full of examples. Did you know that the Italian city-states brought banks and multi-national firms to northern Europe and England for the first time in the 13th century? Why did Spain fall from prominence so quickly? It too was very Christian. This answer and many more await the reader of "The Victory of Reason."

La obra intelectual de Stark es excelente. Pero en esta edición de reprint de Amazon, no de la editorial original, el papel es de pésima calidad y la impresión también es muy mala. Resulta muy difícil leer el libro.

I bought this book through a suggestion by helen p shrauder while a answering a question on crusadeer kingdoms. Ok the way of writ3is not great just like giving a lengthy boring statements. The subject matter is neither deep nor shallow ,and doesn't explains whats the influence of christianity just explains the way churches operated .Nothing new!!!!

Libro molto interessante perché permette una visione più accurata e precisa dello sviluppo dell'economia e delle conoscenze in Europa, grazie anche alla visione/flessibilità della dottrina cristiana, che NON è un peso, una "cappa" come spesso si crede, ma che, al contrario, vede lo sviluppo del pensiero e delle azioni dell'uomo come un lento cammino evolutivo verso anche una maggior conoscenza e consapevolezza della perfezione del Creato. Puntuali e precisi gli esempi della stagnazione del pensiero Greco e di quello Romano; fatti ed esempi di come l'uomo si evolve anche economicamente, usando l'intelligenza e ampliando le proprie conoscenze e consapevolezze."Fatti non foste per vivere come bruti, ma per seguir virtù e conoscenza"

Conocía ya esta obra que ahora he regalado a un amigo español, del mismo Autor - Rodney Stark - aconsejo vivamente la lectura también de otras obras todas fundamentadas en riquísimos estudios de datos y de las fuentes con bibliografías de relieve; rompen muchos moldes y van contra falsas ideas preconcebidas. de lectura agradable.

I have read Starks earlier one on the rise of Christianity and found it to be one of the best books on the subject by a non christian author. So when I came across this book I wanted to know what a sociologist has to say about this. Stark's non sectarian reasearch and easy readable style makes it an interesting book to own.