Customer Reviews
Ecclesial Highlights - By: Kurt Messick, 08 May 2007 
The book 'How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization' was a book I enjoyed reading. It presents an often overlooked idea, the importance of one of the longer-lasting & widely influential institutions in the Western world. It reminded me very much of Thomas Cahill's book, 'How the Irish Saved Civilization', both in content & in tone. Indeed, one of Woods' early chapters deals with some of the same information - the Irish of Cahill's text were primarily the monastic communities, & Woods develops this theme more generallly (and more briefly) in his chapter.
Author Thomas Woods, Jr. states that one of his intentions is to remedy the generallly pervasive attitude toward the Roman Catholic Church these days in historical studies which is either negative or lacking in reference altogether. There are history books (quite often those used by the public school system) that try to downplay the role of the church in Western history or eliminate it altogether. In part this is due to church/state issues & fears on the part of textbook buyers; in part it is also anti-Catholic bias in society that pops up in different ways.
I do have a few quibbles with the book. In trying to combat the negativity of much of the tone of the history of the Catholic Church, Woods goes a bit too far in the other direction at times. This is a balancing book, but it is not a balanced book - it is the argument in favour, & as such, overlooks at times the very real responsibility the church had in certain historical situations. Woods minimises where other histories tend to overplay, & neither stance is the best to take in interpretations. However, this is not a fatal flaw in Woods' narrative, it is the case that history built upon facts, & Woods doesn't play fast & loose with the facts.
Woods primary intention does work fairly well - to give credit where credit is due, & much credit is due to the church for its influence in government, art, culture, education, & even in areas such as science (where the church is often most heavily criticised). Law in both the domestic & international sense owes much to the church, as does the idea of community charity, education, & civic engagement. Perhaps the most surprising chapter to me was the one on the church & economics, which introduced the idea of currency exchange & inflation being described in the literature of the Scholastics.
There is a good index, a good collection of notes, & the style is written in a manner that is both accessible to the general reader yet interesting to those looking for something with substance. Overalll, this is a reasonable response to the general negative tone in other texts. The importance of the church in Western history should not be denied, & Woods' book helps bring that to life.
Well written but one-sided - By: JA Foxton, 04 Mar 2007 
This is a well written book which covers the contribution which the Catholic Church has made in various spheres. There are chapters covering the influence on universities, science, international law & Western law generallly, art, architecture, economics & morality. There is also a chapter on Catholic charity which includes material on hospitals.
In considering whether to read this book, look carefully at the title because it is an accurate portrayal of what the book contains. You could almost say, `How the Catholic Church built (the good bits of) Western Civilization.' It is an exercise in taking credit but not in taking responsibility.
The author also re-evaluates the Galileo affair. Here Galileo is seen casuallly making trips to Rome & having gifts & praise showered upon him. My understanding was that he was summoned to Rome & ordered to appear before the Holy Office in 1632. There is a world of difference between these two interpretations & I, for one, would be interested to know the truth of the matter. If we defer to the author for the time being, it still requires a lot of explanation as to why Galileo was then sentenced to imprisonment which was ultimately commuted to house arrest. The author points out that Galileo was confronted because he was teaching the heliocentric view as the literal truth rather than as a hypothesis. This may be so but the question which it immediately raises is, `Under what circumstances is it acceptable to imprison someone for getting confused between literal truth & a hypothesis?' This hardly strikes me as an atmosphere conducive to free scientific inquiry.
In 1992 there was, I believe, a Vatican admission that the Galileo affair had been handled badly. At the very least, I feel that the author could have devoted a couple of paragraphs to outlining the substance of this admission. Something was obviously wrong in the way the Church handled this matter but this book gives no clues as to what this was.
Early in the book we are told that `the Inquisition was not nearly as harsh as previously portrayed' & we are referred by a footnote to Henry Kamen's `The Spanish Inquistion : A Historical Revision.' It strikes me that there is a place for historical revision to bring us closer to the truth but this must be based on an acceptance of what that truth is & not used as a tool to deny it. It seems to me that some Catholic apologists are working towards a level of denial which is almost as ludicrous as that which is exhibited by those who wish to deny that the holocaust happened.
Not surprisingly the chapter on Western morality covers the `sacred nature of human life.' What is possibly more surprising is the way in which Thomas E. Woods concludes this chapter. We are told the essential message of the Church. This is that you can aspire to be like one of the great men from Christian history or you can be `a self-absorbed nobody fixated on gratifying your appetites.' It is worth reflecting on how potentiallly offensive this could be to both people of other faiths & also to non-believers.
On finishing the book it did occur to me that an institution as prominent as the Catholic Church could hardly have failed to have had a defining influence on Western civilization. However, this influence is for both good & ill. This book only deals with the former & quietly ignores the latter.
I have awarded the book three stars. For the quality of writing it undoubtedly deserves more. For the lack of candour about the failings of the Church it deserves fewer.
Absolutely brilliant, put things into the right perspective - By: Edric, 03 Mar 2006 
Venom, hatred, distrust, antipathy, & jealousy have been the halllmarks of much of liberal & anti-clerical criticism to the Roman Catholic Church from the part of those that have truly distorted history in a most impressionable manner.
This book, albeit I pretend more detail for my personal knowledge, is an absolute historical eye-opener on the contribution of the supposedly ignorant, deficient, & oppressive Roman Catholic Church to Europe & Western Civilization.
Buy it, & judge for yourself. You'd be surprised how much rubbish you've been manipulated with in relation to the Holy Church.
