Auditorium Class: The Christian Revolution Readings (Page 3)
How Important were the Monks to Western Civilization?
What We Owe the Monks by Woods (click to read) Iona’s Tough Dove (click to read)
The Meaning & Value of the Person: a Historical Perspective
For me, one of the most profound contributions to the world is the discovery through Christ that humans are persons of extreme value. What is quickly taken for granted in the broad range of western discussion is a ceaseless societal mantra on human rights and individual value. Where did the beatific chant of indiscriminate human value come from and why should it persist? As a Christian, I have good answers to both questions, based ultimately on humanity as created in…
The Rise of Science and the Risen Lord
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization in Science by Woods (click on to read) Stark on Science & Christianity (click on to read) A God of Math and Order (click on to read) Christian Face of Scientific Revolution by Lindberg (click on to read)
Readings for Early Christian Times
The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (click to view) Salt of the Empire by mike aquilina (click on to read) Roman Cruelty, Christian Purity by Aquilina (click on to read) Rise of Early Christianity by Stark (click on to read) Epidemics, Networks, And the Rise of Christianity (Pages 159 – 166; from a scholarly article in professional peer reviewed journal laying ground of Stark’s groundbreaking work in sociology applied to history of Christianity.) The Early Church_ How Christians elevated…
Books of Interest for the Class
We have class readings for every level of interest or time available. For basic and general entry, for everyone in class, there are the short articles that give good thumbnail sketches of a subject or review a significant book of interest. For those with more time or interest, there are two recommended books. First and most basic is by Alvin J. Schmidt entitled, How Christianity Changed the World (Zondervan Press, 2004). The second book strengthens and sharpens the point of…
Class One: Intro on Christ’s Transformation of History
Please find here a fine review of the book Christianity on Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry. The book itself is in the Williamson County Library, and still available for purchase with booksellers. Christianity on Trial_ Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry (click to read) What follows is a quote from theologian David Bentley Hart whose book, Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (Yale, 2009) provides a strong case for the naming of our class. Hart speaks of “how enormous…