Summary Of How The West Won By Rodney Stark

In his book, Carnage and Culture, Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian and professor at California State University, reasons that the west and its armies have been the most lethal and effective force in the world because of the inseparability between armies and their cultures. He illustrates the cultural superiority of the west by explaining the tenets of western society (freedom, citizenship, right to property, capitalism, and individualism) and applies them to nine landmark battles in which the west take part. Hanson uses “the term ‘Western’ to refer to the culture of classical antiquity that arose in Greece and Rome; survived the collapse of the Roman Empire; spread to western and northern Europe; then during the great periods of exploration and colonization of the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries expanded to the

Religions take a hold on societies in different ways. Christianity started as a revitalization movement against the Roman hierarchy, and was comprised of mostly woman and the poor. The Roman Empire took up most of the Mediterranean and North Africa. With the death of Jesus, around 33 CE, came a new, unique, religion that was a spin off of Judaism but they believed that Jesus was the foretold Messiah. Although they were persecuted, Christianity took hold in the ancient world because it offered salvation, was fair to all, and preached love and peace.

Imagine a movement starting with just 12 ordinary people that has grown to influence billions across the globe, shaping art, culture, and history for over two millennia. That's the story of Christianity. Christianity originated in the 1st century AD, with its roots in Judea, part of the Roman Empire. It began as a Jewish sect founded on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who followers believed was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. After Jesus' crucifixion and reported resurrection, his followers spread his teachings.

As a religious/philosophical system, Christianity is one of the most prominent on Earth today. From 30A.D. to 1000A.D., Christianity had undergone some of its most vigorous changes while maintaining its core qualities through the Apostolic/Ante-Nicene Period, the First Seven Ecumenical Councils, and the Middle Ages.

First, Mr. Stark is a Social Science Professor at Baylor University, who is well versed to tell the story of Western Civilization. Mr. Rodney Stark the Author of How The West Won, is committed to truth, with a willingness to go out on a limb for truthful historical data that may be “barbaric” to today’s society, but in fact, he wrote about a part of the true history. His story telling from a historical point of view is fantastically told. Some of the many things he writes about: the western civilization did shape the rest of the world, uniquely, through the early times of Mesopotamia, through Greek culture, Roman Empire and on to modern eras. Additionally, how the ancient Greek culture survived

The New Western Historians such as Patricia Nelson, William Cronon, Donald Worster, Walter Webb and Walter Nugent have different views of the West. They believe the West is not a process and not a place that civilization took a place. The West is the place that like other regions such as the South, the Midwest we can set no boundaries. As Patricia Nelson mentioned, “recognized the history of the West is a study of a place undergoing conquest and never fully escaping its consequences” (Patricia Nelson, p. 8). The West as a place instead of process explains the migratory. Immigration could never have been explained by calling the West as a process or the frontier. Patricia Limerick sees the West as another chapter in Europe’s enlargement

What is history? We look at these past civilizations, making assumptions and criticisms about their ways of life as if we know exactly what they were thinking. In reality, we have no idea how they justified the actions that we judge. Soon we will be the past and we will be looked upon from future civilizations that attempt to understand our cultures. This thought can be quite overwhelming when one thinks how we will be viewed. In Chuck Klosterman’s novel “But what if we’re Wrong,” he delves into the idea of what past cultures would think of our views towards them as well as future generations analyses of us. We tend to make vague assumptions of their actions rarely considering their thoughts during the time. Many of their actions were based on the time they lived in and the resources available to them, not always having a choice towards joining different culture norms. Before we judge these past civilizations we must first consider what people in the future will think of our current society.

Perhaps it is in this controversial statement that the weakness of the enforced multiculturalistic history suggested comes to light. A single unified nation or people will always have more influence, more power, and more ambition; in a world driven by these means that may well be all that matters. Loewen argues that history ought be rewritten to suit factual information rather than be trimmed to the victor’s standard, but this would do nothing except encourage passiveness and submissive behavior. America, the whole nation, has gone through many struggles with others, but also within our own borders. Our struggles have led to us becoming the world's largest military power enhanced by our national rights to strive to be the very best.

The rise of Christianity and Islam happened during a turbulent time in history, when major civilizations like the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire were in decline due to political infighting, disease, and outside barbarians constantly applying pressure. Christianity was adopted in the heart of the Roman Empire, as a way to continue the influence of Rome, while not being able to control all of Europe militarily. (Rise of Christianity, 2012) Therefore, early Christianity, as adopted by Rome, was about maintaining influence in the continent through the use of priests and monarchs under a feudalist system of control. The main benefit of Christianity came from its use of Latin and the Bible, a common language across the old Roman Empire, as well as a new technology in books that enabled priests to record extremely deep and convincing stories in an easily index able format. The Roman pagan religion used tablets for its mode of communication, tablets which could not hold very much information at all, and that lost legitimacy compared to the life of Jesus and the depth of the biblical writing style. Christianity rose during an age of danger in Europe, and the feudal system with knights and castles was simply the most beneficial system of governance that humanity had. (Stark, 1996)

Fea’s title for his sixth chapter of Why Study History, is “History for a Civil Society”, where he points out that in order to have a more unified society in the present, we should learn from history’s trials and triumphs. Looking at every disagreement in our country, it is based on a cultural difference. For example, gun rights are important to some because they grew up in a household that believed guns represent power, protection, and safety. However, for someone who may have grown up in an area where guns were used violently against them, they will have a very different belief about guns. Fea stands firmly on the belief that “when taught correctly, history will impart the virtues of necessary to end the culture wars, transform our ways

The single most important aspect of European empires, beginning just prior to the fall of Rome, is the spread of Christianity to all areas of the continent in as little as a few hundred years. Many theologians state that Christianities spread is the indirect influence of God and the adoration of people to one true faith. Though it is true that Christianity has brought about people that even atheists could call saints, it is unquestionable that Christianity was so monumental because it united larger groups of people and its spread is contributed to adherence to local customs and its lack of new ideas in comparison to other religions of the day.

Christianity was born and flourished in an empire where the common language was Latin and Greek. Two important people like Paul and Constantine further influenced and were a major part of the development of Christianity. The history of the Jews leading up to the time of Jesus had a major impact on the development of Christianity. “When Christianity was clearly identified as a distant religion, the new religion was considered by its members to be the fulfillment of Judaism rather than a new religion.” “Since Jesus was a Jew and preached to the Jews, Christianity was closely linked to Judaism.” The development of Christianity was due to several historical, political, and social circumstances.

In the Roman Civilization where the prevalent worship of roman gods were impersonal and did not provide a moral base or a message of hope, in the fourth century Christianity was formed, born as a movement within Judaism Christianity emphasized the personal relationship between God and people slowly spread through the Roman Empire until ultimately dominating the western culture. Three of the several factors that aided to the growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire were; the central beliefs and value of Christianity, prominent figures, and Christianity appeal to women.

In Samuel P. Huntington’s article “The West: Unique, Not Universal,” he addresses his audience with a very controversial question: Is Western Culture universal or unique? Huntington elaborately opens up this question with research and examples to explain and persuade readers that the West will never be a universal culture for all, but rather a unique culture that will be accepted by those who appreciate it. For decades now, historians and scholars have debated with one another to determine who is right and wrong. However, from a handful of articles from different scholars, Samuel Huntington’s statement that the West is unique rather than universal is supported and even further elaborated on by these particular sources. A common understanding between all the sources, that must be noted, is that a civilization’s culture is not comprised of material goods but rather their culmination of their religion(s), values, language(s) and traditions. While although there are scholars out their that negate the West is unique, a large amount of scholars still argue and strengthen Huntington’s argument that the West has unique and exclusive characteristics that make them distinctive and rare.

The rise of Christianity is closely linked with the Roman Empire. Over the three centuries after Jesus was crucified, many factors led to the rapid spread of the Christian faith in Rome such as Roman roads, having one common language, and Rome’s large population.