Summary Of God By Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark starts of his novel by talking about how theology is being discredited in Western civilization, to which he thinks is an utter disgrace. Modern day scholars are claiming that religious thinking is irrational and dogmatic. Theology, which can be described as the science of faith, creates a longing for the understanding of God’s being, nature, demands, and intentions. Stark claims that only monotheistic religions such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam can “sustain” theology because polytheistic religions, such as Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, are too inconsequential. He uses the example by explaining that there are no theologians in the East. Subsequently, it was only in the West, as opposed to the Middle East or in Asia,

that alchemy evolved into chemistry, astrology into astronomy.

Stark claims that the rise of capitalism and democracy did not emerge due to the spite of Christianity and its events, but rather because of it. In the event that this sounds confusing, it shouldn't, Stark says. Regardless of the partial disagreements of Enlightenment masterminds, free will and confidence in human reason were essential for Christian thought. It is hard to envision what the world today might have been had Christianity not arrived when it did, but rather it is anything but difficult to envision that the unbeneficial, tedious, and damaging cycles of dictators hungry for influence, government appropriation and confiscation of private riches, abuse of the general population, concealment of individual activity, bondage, and hostility without the scholarly checks of Christianity would have framed a world that was thoughtfully unaltered from the world as it was before the introduction of Jesus Christ. In the beginning, Stark constantly references the big Christian scholars such as Augustine and Aquinas, and how they continuously used reason and logic to promote their opinions in regards to the teachings and doctrines of the Christian church, which undoubtedly had large impacts on the world in which it went about government and business.
One improvement specifically that satisfies Stark is the development far from judgment and doubt of business, exchange, and traders, and toward an energy about their esteem. An ominous ideological atmosphere can stop the development of Capitalism in its tracks, as history rightfully shows. Stark gives the case (among others) of iron creation in eleventh-century China. The 10th century oversaw the advancement of an iron business in parts of northern China; by 1018, roughly 35,000 tons were being produced each year. In any case, before the century ended, the industry was dead and its offices abandoned. What happened is that the royal court reached the conclusion that the new wealthier businesses had a tendency to undermine Confucian esteems and in addition social agreement and stability since it certainly tested the view that average citizens ought to be content with their state and should not look to increase their wealth.

The most powerful sections in "The Victory of Reason" depict the early combinations of free-market business and scientific experimentation on the monastic homes that spread all through Western Europe after the 9th century. It was amid the now called “Dark Ages” that Christian clerics, confusing the stifling grasp of Roman constraint and mixed up Greek optimism, created advancements like the horseshoes, waterwheel, fish cultivating, a completely new form of agriculture, clocks and glasses. " All of these remarkable developments can be traced to the unique Christian conviction that progress was a God-given obligation, entailed in the gift of reason," writes Stark, who has portrayed himself in interviews, shockingly, as not religious in any customary sense.

By the Middle Ages, religious monks, diocesans, and even the Roman chain of command had, for quite some time, been associated with borrowing and loaning in large amounts. In 1229, the Bishop of Limerick, who had neglected to reimburse a loan to an Italian bank, was excommunicated until he could pay back fifty percent interest for the following eight years. Stark says the instance of usury is a valuable case of the part of reason in the Christian faith on the grounds that with a more prominent understanding of and recognition with the phenomenon of interest came a more reasonsable and sensible way to deal with the subject. In spite of the fact that the advancement of the Christian view required some investment, it added up to show that great reason can be given to a lender who has done his job well.

Stark sneaks in one of his most captivating theories later in the book.

He takes note of that not long after the Roman emperor Constantine grasped Christianity in 312, he started giving the church cash and benefits, making it an alluring profession for the privileged societies. The "church of devotion," kept running by committed, inadequately paid and self-denying pastorate, offered ways to the "church of power," which was far more likely block the development of trade. Ironically, it didn’t stop anything, as capitalism is only stopped by regulations and government. Woolen cloth first brought capitalism to Northern Europe. Because of how profitable these cloths were, Italian banks started setting up locations in those areas, they soon came to realize how much potential there was thanks to how disorganized the entire industry and market of all of Northern Europe. They soon expanded to Holland and England, and from sparked a huge industrial growth that allowed England to become the economic and military power that they were known for in the later half of the second

millennium.

Moral developments are no less vital than physical. It is distinguished to constitutional scholars that the American Constitution sprang from the Christian perspective believed by its primary creators. In conjunction with people like John Locke, who thus were influenced by Christian theologists, Adams and Jefferson composed that men were "endowed by their creators" with certain inalienable rights. Moreover, the ideas of constrained government, the requirement for separation of powers, and the requirement for balanced government emerged from Christianity's understanding that man is intrinsically evil and is predisposed toward self-misdirection. Established with Christian convention, the U.S. Constitution is the longest standing constitution on the planet.

I choose to read this book because the title itself had some of my favorite things; Capitalism, Freedom, and Western Civilization.

Those ideas are highly dependent on each other, and it is hard to find one without the other two. Being a Christian myself, I came into this reading knowing I would take the authors side considering he was discussing topics I wholeheartedly agreed with. To prove the thesis, how Christianity led to Capitalism, freedom, and western civilization, could take up a lot more than three hundred pages, but Stark does a decent job. In his conclusion, he brings up an extremely valid point. Stark says that the modern world only arose in areas where Christianity was the dominate religion. Neither Asia, Africa, nor the Middle East grew as much as Christian societies did. In fact, the most prosperous and wealthy nation in the history of the planet, the United States of America, was founded on Judeo-Christian values. The irony is that there are millions of people in the US that are trying to move the country as far away from those values as

possible.
However, there are things that he could have done better. For example, there is a large portion of the book where Stark discusses the growth of Capitalism, without a lot of mention or reference to how Christianity was vital to its development. It was interesting none the less, as it proves how Capitalism and the free market were so much better than the other alternatives at the time. Stark uses the example of the Iron market in China. The “government” at the time didn’t want the common people to get rich, rather only the elite should, so they seized all means of production. (AKA that awful thing known as communism) As we know from reading Greed is Good, knowing what is yours/property rights are essential to forming a productive society. Same thing happened with cannons. The Chinese were the first to create them, but it was the English who were the first to create guns. The reason: the people had control of the material and means of production, and had more of a free market than the Chinese.
The use of reason, according to Stark, is what ties it all together. The monotheistic religions are the only ones that can sustain true theology. Christianity is the only religion of the main three (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) to which its leader constantly question their sacred writings and scriptures, using reason as their foundation. The works of Augustine and Aquinas are a proof of that as well. It’s strange how reason now seems to be a forgotten skill in today’s world.