Faith and Reason

This post is a synopsis of some of the ideas presented by Rodney Stark, professor of Sociology at Baylor University, in an article run in the National Post on Friday, January 27, 2006. An expanded version of the article first appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education and is based on a book by Stark: "The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success", Random House, publisher.

The article interested me in light of claims by a few prominent scientists, notably Richard Dawkins, that faith and reason in general, and faith and science in particular, are in conflict.

Here is my synopsis of some of the relevant points:

1. Christianity alone, amongst the world religions, "embraced reason and logic as the primary guides to religious truth," as opposed to a general emphasis on mystery and intuition.

2. The Church Father's taught that "reason was the supreme gift from God and the means to progressively increase understanding of Scripture and revelation."

3. This led to the creation, by the Church, of the medieval university which stimulated "the pursuit of science and the evolution of democratic theory."

4. "The success of the West, including the rise of science, rested entirely on religious foundations, and the people who brought it about were devout Christians."

5. Max Weber, 20th Century German sociologist, concluded that "only Protestantism provided a moral vision that led people to restrain their material consumption while vigorously seeking wealth."

6. Belgian scholar Henri Pirenne demonstrated that all of the essential features of capitalism are to be found from the 12th Century on.

7. Only where reason and freedom arose together was significant progress made. "Before any medieval European state actually attempted to rule by an elected council, Christian theologians had long been theorizing about the nature of equality and individual rights."

8. "From the earliest days, the major theologians taught that faith in reason was intrinsic to faith in God." (Tertullian, a second Century theologian, for example)

9. It was during the "so-called" Dark Ages "that European technology and science overtook and surpassed the rest of the world...by the 10th Century Europe already was far ahead" with respect to farming, water and wind power, and military advances.

10. "...by the seventh Century, Christianity had become the only major world religion to formulate specific theological opposition to slavery, and by no later than the 11th Century, the Church had expelled the dreadful institution from Europe."

"The common denominator in all these great historical developments was the Christian commitment to reason. That was why the West won."