Author:
Stark, Rodney.
Imprint:New York : Random House, c2006.
Descriptionxvi, 281 p. ; 21 cm.
Note:Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2005.
Note:Introduction : reason and progress -- pt. I. Foundations. Blessings of rational theology ; Medieval progress : technical, cultural, and religious ; Tyranny and the "rebirth" of freedom -- pt. II. Fulfillment. Perfecting Italian capitalism ; Capitalism moves North ; "Catholic" anticapitalism : Spanish and French despotism ; Feudalism and capitalism in the new world -- Conclusion : globalization and modernity.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-270) and index.
Note:In The victory of reason, sociologist Stark advances the idea that Christianity and its related institutions are directly responsible for the most significant intellectual, political, scientific, and economic breakthroughs of the past millennium. In Stark's view, what has propelled the West is not the tension between secular and nonsecular society, nor the pitting of science and the humanities against religious belief. Christian theology, Stark asserts, is the very font of reason. While the world's other great belief systems emphasized mystery, obedience, or introspection, Christianity alone embraced logic and reason as the path toward enlightenment, freedom, and progress.--From publisher description
