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 PrintableVersion For the glory of GodHow monotheism led to reformations, science, witch-hunts and the end of slaveryHistory justifies Christian faithFOR THE GLORY OF GOD Influential atheists such as Richard Dawkins like to indict belief in God as the ‘root of all evil’. Stark, an American Professor of Sociology, has written a far more thoughtful, evidence-based, intellectually challenging, yet extremely readable analysis of the impact of the belief that there is one God. He takes four major historical episodes and uses sociological methods to trace the influence and practical outworking of monotheistic belief. While both Judaism and Islam receive some consideration, most of the book is really about the effects of Christianity on human society. His underlying argument is that social science has gone badly astray by assuming that theological beliefs are irrelevant, or can be reduced to mere ritual. Ideas matter. ReformHis first thesis is that monotheism breeds reformation movements. If you believe in one true God, then truth is not relative — laxity and moral decline are issues that must be addressed. He shows that attempts at reformation within the Church go much further back than Protestants tend to assume. Before Wycliffe and Hus, monasticism, the founding of the universities, and even the Crusades were all reactions to the impiety of the Church. Why did some ‘fail’ and others ‘succeed’? There is much to ponder here, but Stark’s sociological analysis can surely be integrated within a prevailing belief in the providence of God, not least in his evaluation of the astonishing impact of Martin Luther. ScienceThe second area he covers is the development of science. This is familiar ground to those who have read Hooykaas’s study of a generation ago (Religion and the Rise of Modern Science, Erdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1972), but Stark again makes a case for going back further than the Protestant Reformation, and also points to the strong impact of Catholic scientists in the 16th and 17th centuries. His analysis of the shameless rewriting of scientific history by ‘Enlightment’ intellectuals and their minimising of Newton’s beliefs in particular is very illuminating, as is his discussion of the ‘arrogant occultism’ of Darwinism. Much is also made today of the supposed Islamic contribution to science in the 12th century. In Stark’s view, this was minor and transient and could never have developed further: Islam’s god does not provide a basis for law-like behaviour in the created order. SlaveryThe importance of Christian belief in the ending of slavery is fairly well known. But Stark’s thorough analysis of the stages of the struggle once again goes deeper than many accounts. The Protestant heroes Clarkson and Wilberforce came at the end of a long history of opposition to slavery and the slave trade, although their particular gifts were vital to the abolition movement in Great Britain. Marxist historians have tried to demonstrate that the abolitionists won ultimately for economic reasons. Stark provides a compelling case against this view, and re-emphasises the importance of the moral argument. He also offers a simple but persuasive rationale for the reluctance of Islamic nations to bring a halt to slavery. Witch-huntsLest Christians become triumphalist, we also have to consider the matter of European witch-hunts. This history is a sad one, and the statistics and descriptions make sobering reading. The legendary Spanish Inquisition was actually rather mild in comparison to the extraordinary events in Protestant Europe. The situation in England was less acute than in many areas (which is perhaps why its historical impact has been relatively slight here), but on the Continent (and even in Scotland), witch-hunts and subsequent executions reached epidemic proportions. Stark’s explanation is threefold: the existence of a real belief in the efficacy of magic and an unhealthy preoccupation with the devil in many communities; intense religious conflicts; and the breakdown of strong central government. (Interestingly, the second and third factors were also often associated with reform movements.) Modern theories as to why witch-hunting ceased like to place the emphasis on rationalistic ‘Enlightment’ thinking. Not so, says Stark — partly it was the reversal of some of the causative factors, but in the end it was that Christian opposition to the practice gained the upper hand. Stark gives no clues as to his own beliefs, except to deny that he is a Roman Catholic. But his conclusion should encourage Christians who regularly see their faith accused of all sorts of iniquity, and is worth citing in full: ‘It was not the “wisdom of the East” that gave rise to science, nor did Zen meditation turn people’s hearts against slavery. By the same token, science was not the work of Western secularists or even deists; it was entirely the work of devout believers in an active, conscious, creator God. And it was faith in the goodness of this same God and in the mission of Jesus that led other devout Christians to end slavery, first in medieval Europe and then again in the New World. ‘In these ways, at least, Western civilisation really was God-given.’ This book is an authoritative and convincing antidote to current attacks on Christianity’s historical impact, and deserves to be better known. Colin Reeves, © Evangelicals Now - March 2007 |
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