In <a href="http://www.aquinasandmore.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/store.ItemDetails/SKU/20467/index.htm
” target=_blank>How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr. lays bare the responsibility of Holy Mother Church as the actual mother of western civilization. The author seeks to counter the propaganda that the “Dark Ages” were inundated by the Church with corruption, ignorance, and superstition. Instead he recognizes the developmental role of that sacred institution on society, culture, people, nations and states.
Dr. Woods points out both the preservative nature of the Church in Europe as well as its constant creation of institutions of society through historical example and illustration. As Europe today questions the role of religion in government and society, it must not forget the debt owed to the Church in the areas of science, agriculture, international law, legal codification, universities and education, art and architecture, economics, morality, and more.
Close to my heart is a chapter Dr. Woods has dedicated specifically to the role of the monks and nuns who follow the Rule of St. Benedict. It is fair to say that most know of the role that monks played in saving and preserving Greek and Latin literature. Less widely known is their responsibility for improvements to land and agriculture and their involvement in education which eventually led to the foundation of universities.
Dr. Woods has provided a great service not only to the Church, but also to students of western civilization, reminding people that the Church was heavily involved in creating civilization out of a Europe devastated by the barbarian invasions. Woods carefully documents his refutation of the detractors of the Church by providing an extensive bibliography and references for his work.
Woods’s informative book is highly recommended for those studying Western Civilization, for Catholics who want to know more about what the Church has done for civilization, and it is especially recommended to those who are tired of the Church being denigrated and dismissed as irrelevant. The book is a great pleasure to read!
Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr. holds an A.B. from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Columbia. His other books are; The Church and the Market (2005), The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History (2004), and The Church Confronts Modernity (2004). He also has edited The Political Writings of Rufus Choate (2003) and a new edition of Orestes Brownson’s The American Republic (2003).
Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., writes from St. Gregory’s University, Shawnee, Oklahoma.
