The Closing of the Western Mind
The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
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Narrated by:
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Nigel Patterson
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By:
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Charles Freeman
About this listen
A radical and powerful reappraisal of the impact of Constantine's adoption of Christianity on the later Roman world, and on the subsequent development both of Christianity and of Western civilization.
When the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant, and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine. Only a thousand years later, with the advent of the Renaissance and the emergence of modern science, did Europe begin to free itself from the effects of Constantine's decision, yet the effects of his establishment of Christianity as a state religion remain with us, in many respects, today. Brilliantly wide-ranging and ambitious, this is a major work of history.
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In this popular introduction to church history, now in its third edition, Mark Noll isolates key events that provide a framework for understanding the history of Christianity. The book presents Christianity as a worldwide phenomenon rather than just a Western experience. Students in academic settings and church adult education contexts will benefit from this one-semester survey of Christian history.
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Excellent, Brief Snippet’s
- By ejb on 01-06-23
By: Mark A. Noll
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A History of Judaism
- By: Martin Goodman
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and it has preserved its distinctive identity despite the extraordinarily diverse forms and beliefs it has embodied over the course of more than three millennia. A History of Judaism provides the first truly comprehensive look in one volume at how this great religion came to be, how it has evolved from one age to the next, and how its various strains, sects, and traditions have related to each other.
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Not easy to follow.
- By Max on 03-12-19
By: Martin Goodman
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How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
- Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity
- By: Dr. Thomas C. Oden PhD
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
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Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?
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Worth reading even if not perfect
- By Adam Shields on 02-26-20
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Atheist Delusions
- The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies
- By: David Bentley Hart
- Narrated by: Ralph Morocco
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
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In this provocative book one of the most brilliant scholars of religion today dismantles distorted religious "histories" offered up by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and other contemporary critics of religion and advocates of atheism. David Bentley Hart provides a bold correction of the New Atheists’s misrepresentations of the Christian past, countering their polemics with a brilliant account of Christianity and its message of human charity as the most revolutionary movement in all of Western history.
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A Conversion Experience.
- By Ted on 12-01-14
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The Triumph of Christianity
- How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
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Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Stark traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world's largest religion.
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Balanced and unapologetic, excellent read
- By JARAM, CT on 08-04-20
By: Rodney Stark
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Aristotle's Children
- How Christian, Muslims and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom
- By: Richard E. Rubenstein
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
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Best-selling author Richard E. Rubenstein brings the past to life in this engrossing story of social, religious, and scientific revolution during one of the darkest periods in European history. When a group of Dark Ages scholars rediscovered the works of Aristotle, the great thinker's ideas ignited a firestorm of enlightened thought. This is the endlessly fascinating account of the pivotal period in history when the modern era took root.
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Interesting story of the rediscovery of Aristotle
- By John on 12-16-04
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A History of Christianity
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 28 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in 1976, Paul Johnson's exceptional study of Christianity has been loved and widely hailed for its intensive research, writing, and magnitude. Weaving a great range of material, the scholar and author Johnson creates an ambitious panoramic overview of the evolution of the Western world since the founding of a little-known "Jesus sect".
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Read Brant Pitre's the case for Jesus instead.
- By Catherine BFT on 05-08-17
By: Paul Johnson
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The Irony of Modern Catholic History
- How the Church Rediscovered Itself and Challenged the Modern World to Reform
- By: George Weigel
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Throughout much of the 19th century, both secular and Catholic leaders assumed that the Church and the modern world were locked in a battle to the death. The triumph of modernity would not only finish the Church as a consequential player in world history; it would also lead to the death of religious conviction. But today, the Catholic Church is far more vital and consequential than it was 150 years ago.
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Well written and considered book, bad narrator
- By Brad on 12-13-19
By: George Weigel
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The Evolution of God
- By: Robert Wright
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In this sweeping narrative, which takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy.
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Very heavy reading
- By Stephen on 08-07-09
By: Robert Wright
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The Book That Made Your World
- How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization
- By: Vishal Mangalwadi
- Narrated by: Peter Lawrence
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
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Whether you're an avid student of the Bible or a skeptic of its relevance, The Book That Made Your World will transform your perception of its influence on virtually every facet of Western civilization. Vishal Mangalwadi reveals the personal motivation that fueled his own study of the Bible. Learn how the Bible transformed the social, political, and religious institutions that have sustained Western culture for the past millennium, and discover how secular corruption endangers the stability and longevity of Western civilization.
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loved this look on the Western World
- By DM on 11-03-20
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What listeners say about The Closing of the Western Mind
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- Viewmeister
- 03-26-24
Indictment
A succession of rulers, religious and otherwise, did a real number on the human ability to think rationally without a lot of non rational nothings clouding the Western mind.
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- shoe addict
- 01-31-23
Fantastic.
This should be required reading. As they say, the truth will set you free and this book will help set you free from slavery of organized religion.
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- james m.
- 07-30-22
great research pays off
I enjoyed this book so much I have listened to it twice, narrator was excellent which certainly helped move the book along.
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- Norman
- 01-29-23
the political construction of Christianity
brilliantly explicate history of the early Church and its Platonic roots, well read and engaging
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- Tony J Funaro
- 07-28-22
Convolution of the events
Too many names regarding the scholars of the church. Outdoor have been written more to the story line, church and politics in the 4th century. Without the unnecessary distractions…
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- Jeffrey D
- 04-30-21
Not proven
Not to be too snobbish, but I think the listener should be told that Charles Freeman is a free-lancer without a university position, and with a couple of master's degrees.
I am interested in the topic. But this book barely touches it. It is trivially true that faith and reason are in tension. But the author needs to deal with the extent to which the classical Greeks were authoritarian and intolerant too -- remember, Socrates was put to death. And E.R. Dodds has written brilliantly on the slide of classical Greece into magic and irrationality. This slide preceded Christianity, and may have abetted it.
The Romans were not exactly known for their math and science even before Christianity, although it is true that there were some philosophers and rhetoricians in Rome. I am not as sure that rhetoric is on the side of reason as much as Freeman thinks it is.
Freeman oddly distinguishes Jesus himself as standing for freedom of choice, while later Christianity is intolerant, doctrinaire, and irrational. He never supports that view of Jesus, except for a reference to Dostoyevsky's Grand Inquisitor. Jesus, as far as recent scholarship can tell (see Bart Ehrman's books), was an apocalyptic prophet, not much interested in human freedom of choice, except insofar as what one does might or might not help before the coming wrath of God. He also was, if the gospels can be trusted, a wonder-worker and magician -- indeed, he rose from the dead.
He also finds that the deleterious effects of the blend of Christianity and state power in the later Roman Empire began to end with such figures as Thomas Aquinas. Scholasticism? There is reason in the scholastics, but not a lot of math, science, and empiricism.
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