The Closing of the Western Mind by Charles Freeman

I just finished a book titled "The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason" by Charles Freeman. I really enjoyed this book. Freeman takes the reader along the path of Christianity from just before Christ to the Renaissance. Freeman follows a series of events with a perspective that is not typically expressed, as it is not how the Church views it's past.

When looking at the title of the book I thought that it was going to be about undermining the Church. Saying that the Church squandered the potential of the human mind. I am happy to say that this was not the case. Freeman did not write this book to bash the Church, but to show that "Greek intellectual tradition was suppressed rather than just faded out" as is the widespread belief.

Here are a few quotes of Freeman, or of others that he used to enforce his points.

"If truth is to be effectively advanced any findings must be open to challenge, and this means that even the greatest thinkers must never be made into figures of authority"

- on the stance of Greeks prior to the foundation of Christianity.

"No authority can dictate in advance what can and can not be believed, or there is no possibility of progress."

Greek philosopher/scientist predicts an eclipse. This was the start of Greek Philosophy, and the idea that the cosmos had an observable order.

"As long as no ruler attempted to force a definition of the Supreme Deity fruitful speculations about 'him' and 'his' nature could continue."

-on why debate about a supreme god could flourish in ancient Greece and Rome.

By the 4th century Paul and the Old Testament were used to justify the destruction of pagan art and architecture.

Constantine's philosophy did NOT involve Jesus. Constantine created a relationship between Christ and war for political reasons. This was not backed by scripture.

"You submit to the judgement of the elders (in all you do and think)"

-Basil on how monks should act in a monastery.

Pagan teachers had their licenses (parrhesia- freedom of speech) to instruct others removed.

St. Augustine was unknowingly using poor Latin translations of a Greek and Hebrew bible. This caused a moss of meaning and could lead to misinterpretation.

"Now we have no more meetings, no more debates, no more gatherings of wise men in the agora, nothing more of all that made our city famous."

-An ancient Roman's account of how his city had changed.

The penalties for transgressing the boundaries in this world and the next were too great for debate. The volume of heresies that caused you to be condemned in this world and the next worried those who would have debated to the point that people made the effort to focus only on what is acceptable and not step off of that line.

"The Arabs sustained the Greek tradition by valuing the intellectual achievements of the past without being overawed by them." - Freedman on how Greek tradition stayed alive in the Arab world, which would later come to help in the time of the Renaissance.

St. Thomas Aquinas restored the relationship between reason and faith.

For a more coherent explanation of Freedman's book and more information I suggest... reading the book. It's really good. It makes you think, but only about the bureaucracy of the Church, it never addresses the authenticity of Christianity, just the authenticity of it's Orthodoxy.