Discover how the Bible became the West’s source of human rights, justice, heroism, optimism, compassion, capitalism, family, and morality.
In the 1960s many from the West went to the East in search of spiritual wisdom. The Book That Made Your World reverses the journey. Vishal Mangalwadi, an Indian philosopher, takes readers on a historical journey through the last millennium, exploring why and how the Bible reformed Europe and made the West a uniquely thinking civilization: technical and tolerant, scientific and free, just and prosperous. Readers will learn:
- Why an American president puts his hand on the Bible to take the oath of a secular office
- What forced British monarchs from Henry VIII to James I to submit to the Bible’s authority
- Why Bible translators Wycliffe, Luther, and Tyndale became history’s greatest revolutionaries
- How the Bible globalized western education
A learned man who was raised in Indian culture, telling the world how the Bible has made it what it is today. It's an extremely powerful and uplifting book to read. He gives the facts, he shares personal stories, and he makes it an enjoyable read.
One of my favorite quotes is, "Postmodern people see little point in reading books that do not contribute directly to their career or pleasure." Which I believe makes for a sad state of affairs in this world. You need to learn about the world you are living in and where it came from in order to know where it's going.
Reading the challenges that the Bible has gone through in order to get into the hand of every person on this planet is amazing (and still on going). The effect the Bible has had on people explains so much about the world around us. As the Bible has been translated and placed into the hands of the common man, we have realized that we can think for ourselves and that there is something better for us out there if only we Ask, Seek, and Knock.
I cannot explain as completely and eloquently as Mr Mangalwadi has. So go out and get yourself a copy and read for yourself how the Bible has changed the world. And then go and grab a copy of the Bible and see how it can change you.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255
We love book reviews. Tammie does one about every other month. I (Aless) am envious because I just never seem to have time to read! Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteI always carry a book (or two) around with me. Violet insists on reading books every time we sit down. We read the girls bedtime stories every night and then I usually read myself to sleep because the hubby has fallen asleep by the girls.
ReplyDeleteRadtke,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. People do need to learn about the world they live in...and ask some hard questions along the way. Your favorite quote is an interesting example of how that works. How do you suppose the author learned that "[p]ostmodern people see little point in reading books that do not contribute directly to their career or pleasure"? What really forms the basis and evidence for that statement? Is there some survey data out there that profiles a person's worldview, the books they read, and their secret motivations for reading the books they do? I'm aware of ample surveys that measure individual behavior based on stated religious affiliation. I'm not aware of surveys that use philosophical classifications foreign to the average Joe Sixpack.
From Bellow, Capote, Faulkner, and Gaiman, to Vonnegut and Wolfe, postmodern authors have sold hundreds of millions books covering a cornucopia of topics. Who's buying and reading all those books? Evangelicals who are postmoderns in disguise? Speaking of, I don't recall seeing very many books in all the church bookstores I've visited that actually covered subjects dealing with the study of "the world." A substantial percent of Christian books seem to be of a devotional or self-help nature...you know, "books that contribute directly to their...pleasure." But perhaps you're different. I'd be interested in other recommended books you've read recently that help you understand the world. In particular, history books written by historians, books about how society really functions as written by sociologists, or science books as written by scientists. After all, would you be content getting your theology from a NYT reporter or politician?
Certain books do reveal a lot about a person's worldview. This book has many wild allegations in it like your favorite quote. That made me wonder if Mangalwadi's worldview isn't based on presumption and prejudice. Is his gospel truth or is it designed to "tickle itching ears?" I wonder if that's also what attracts his readers? When you read the table of contents and you saw a section entitled "The West is the Best" what was your instinctive reaction? Did you ask yourself, "Hmm, I wonder if that's true?" Or did you do a silent little fist pump in the air and think triumphantly to yourself "Yes! I always knew it!"
Just because another Christian says something is true doesn't makes it true.
I actually didn't read the table of contents. And I don't know if the "West is the Best". I know that I am thankful to be here and to be able to study whatever it is that catches my attention and to believe in whatever religion I choose to believe in.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed his book because it got me thinking about where everything around us came from. How books affect people differently. How being raised in different parts of the world will give you different thought processes.
I do happen to read a large selection of topics. My daughters have a passion for learning and discovering. So we do dig into science and history and any other book that they can get their hands on at the library.
I have learned through my Bible Studies that the best way Christians can change the world is by changing themselves and the effect they have on the world. I know that just because someone calls themself a Christian that it doesn't mean that they are one and that they tell the truth. I have met plenty of those in my day.
And the buying of books struck me as an interesting comment. In my Bible study yesterday, the speaker told us that only 5% of people will buy and read a book this year. Not quite sure on that statistic either. Haven't put much into public statistics because you do never know where they got their information from.
I just collect sentences that speak to me and make me think.
"I just collect sentences that speak to me and make me think."
ReplyDeleteMangalwadi referred to the Enlightenment as the "Endarkenment." It was another one of his many derisive comments towards any who don't have the same understanding of Western Civilization and history as he, an Indian rural social reformer w/ no formal training in the subject whatsoever. Yet advocates of the 17th-19th century Enlightenment would never have been happy simply "collecting sentences." They were interested in Truth -- i.e., was a proclamation factually true as evidenced by self-grounded reason? "I just collect sentences that speak to me...." actually sounds like something a post-modern would say who doesn't care about Truth.
Would you trust a Bible commentary written by a chemical engineer as reliable? Or an op-ed of GOP politics as exposited by the DFL party chair? Then why would you trust an non-historian Christian apologist to give a "fair and balanced" exposition of the complex origins of Western Civilization?
It seemed to me throughout the book that Mangalwadi had a clear ideological incentive to minimize the contributions of all non-Christians and overstate the contributions of Christians. Do you think some of his provocative statements (like "[p]ostmodern people see little point in reading books...") might have been designed to "tickle itching ears"...and thus sell more books? In other words, does this book really explain "where everything came from" or does it simply cultivate misinformation and bigotry.
Maybe it's all a "worldview" thing. Maybe a worldview that that divides the world into "sheep" and "goats" and then has overweening dogmatic certainty that "we" are the "sheep" and everyone else must be "goats" and "unclean", maybe that kind of worldview can't help but delight in sweeping generalizations, dismissive attitudes and overall bigotry about "them" out there who are not part of our group.
Could it be that Mangalwadi's formulaic "return to the Bible to save Western Civ" is not the solution but part of the problem? After all, fervent Bible-believing churchmen once burned people alive for reputedly flying brooms. 300 years later the Bible's influence has diminished and now people fly airplanes. That is one of many inconvenient truths Mangalwadi refuses to confront.
You do make some valid points about knowing who it is that is writing the material that you are reading. I did learn from Jim Rohn though, you need to read the good with the bad so that you know what is all out there.
ReplyDeleteI find some of Mangalwadi's statements way out there and wonder where he came up with that thought. But the other ones make me want to learn more and do more research. They make me wonder about the true effect of the Bible on the world.
We all know what the Bible has been through in it's life. We all know that people of power have used it against the average people of the world. But we also know that it has educated and empowered the people of the world as well.
I just found my note I made about the comment his wife made on one of their trips to the US. They were passed by a few ambulance and police cars while driving down the highway. She was moved to tears by how we all care for each other. Or, at least, that was her take on what was happening. I thought it was a great awakening to how people in India may see us. A friend of mine just came back from a trip over there and it was amazing hearing how she saw them and they treated her.
There is always a "them" and "us" mentality in everything. So I won't hold that against him or anyone else. That is just how people think.
I don't think it's right how people have used the Bible against each other through history and I don't think they should do it again. I do believe that we can use the Bible to bring us together though. I know studying it has brought me together with some amazing people.
I've heard Vishal tell that same story about his wife and the ambulance many times (since I've personally known him for many years.) How would a person determine if ambulances came from Bible-believing saints inspired to humanitarian activity or rather from a number of other possible influences? That would be a complex question for most any credible historian. Not for Vishal. If it's good and it's in the West, it must come from the Bible.
ReplyDeleteThe Beccaria brothers were 18th century humanist social reformers that fought against standard church sanctioned torture. Voltaire, an agnostic, fought against both Catholics and Protestants on behalf of Catholics and Protestants seeking religious freedom on the "other side's" turf. Frederick Douglass, a freethinker and abolitionist, railed against the slavery of his Christian master. Clara Barton, a Unitarian, started the Red Cross. And so it goes. There seems to be a "cloud of witnesses" out there that stands outside the church-approved "cloud of witnesses."
You seem like an inquisitive enough person. I find it commendable that you want to read broadly. If you wish to read the good and the bad, that begs the question, how does someone know that what they are reading is good or bad? That is a question with which philosophers and the faithful have wrestled over past millennium.
Cogita tute (Think for yourself)
I do think for myself which is why I don't always read books that others in my circle of influence would find acceptable to be known to have read.
ReplyDeleteI read to spark my curiosity, to spark my need to learn and study.
It's interesting to know that Vishal thinks so highly of the West and that would twist his perspective on everything.
As I go through each book that I choose to read, I make sure to maintain my beliefs. And if anything I read seems to far out of the real of my known reality, I make sure to research it to make sure that it is real.
I have enjoyed this book because it reminds me that we are all a community of the world. If a book can touch these many lives over it's life, what effect has this next book I'm reading done. Or what could a book I choose to write do?
This book has reminded me that my choices effect more than my family, my town, my northern Wisconsin...they may effect the entire world some day.