The Closing Of The Western Mind
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Review
“Enjoyable and illuminating. . . . Clearly and plausibly argued . . . full of fascinating detail.” –"The Boston Globe"
“Entertaining. . . . An excellent and readable account of the development of Christian doctrine.” –"The New York Times Book Review"
“There is much here to admire. . . . It is a panoramic view that Freeman handles with grace, erudition and lucidity.” –"The Washington Times"
“A triumph. . . . Engrossing. . . . Successfully realized. . . . Wholly admirable. . . . Freeman is to be congratulated on a broad-brush approach that throws the main issue into sharp focus. . . . [He] has added a new level of understanding.” –"The Times Higher Education Supplement
"“A fascinating account.” –"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"
“Engrossingly readable and very thoughtful. . . . Freeman draws our attention to myriad small but significant phenomena. . . . His fine book is
“Entertaining. . . . An excellent and readable account of the development of Christian doctrine.” –"The New York Times Book Review"
“There is much here to admire. . . . It is a panoramic view that Freeman handles with grace, erudition and lucidity.” –"The Washington Times"
“A triumph. . . . Engrossing. . . . Successfully realized. . . . Wholly admirable. . . . Freeman is to be congratulated on a broad-brush approach that throws the main issue into sharp focus. . . . [He] has added a new level of understanding.” –"The Times Higher Education Supplement
"“A fascinating account.” –"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"
“Engrossingly readable and very thoughtful. . . . Freeman draws our attention to myriad small but significant phenomena. . . . His fine book is
Book Description
A radical and stimulating reappraisal of the impact of Constantine's adoption of Christianity on the later Roman world and on the subsequent development both of Christianity and of Western civilisation.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really liked this book. Written from the perspective of a historian (rather than, say, a theologian), it traces the radical change in outlook of western culture between the fall of the Roman Empire and the replacement of much of its former authority by new church structures. Among the most interesting elements is his treatment of how the Emperors (both Roman and Byzantian) used the church for their own political ends, but were in turn used by the church - a relationship that approached symbiosis, but again not without its traumas and conflicts as well.
The author also does an excellent, and in my view very fair, appraisal of the early church philosophers and movements. He neither idolizes nor vilifies such early bastions of Christianity as Augustine, and even the crisis over the Arian heresies (to modern eyes both tragic and farcial) are treated carefully. Overall the book doesn't paint the prettiest of pictures of the early church, and certainly exposes how many of the dogmas that one would think (if you have a Catholic or Othodox background at least) have been eternal but in fact owe most of their existnace to 3rd or 4th century politics than they do any divine revelation.
Top marks from me, and a very fulfilling read for anyone interested in late classical or early medieval history, as well as *everyone* interested in Christian theology.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a deeply interesting book that is detailed, well researched by very readable. It deals with the often deeply negative (and occaisionally positive) effect that Christianity had upon thought and ideas in the the late Roman Empire (hence the title) and much of Western thought to the present day, The author does this through examining what key figours had to say including Ambrose, Jerome (a serioudsly strange man in my view) and Augustin. Of particular interest is the often hidden/forgotten views of the late paganists and, so-called, heretics. Paganism took a lot longer to die out than early Christian historians would have us believe. Well worth reading for beleivers and non believers alike.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A phenomenal book which deserves to be much more widely read. Freeman gives a masterly account of how rational thought was virtually banished from western culture under the influence of Christianity in the early middle ages, to languish in exile for almost a thousand years.
The book starts with a detailed account of the sophisticated ethical systems developed by ancient classical philosophers and theologians.
Freeman's scholarship then places Jesus of Nazareth in historical context. The circumstances favouring the generation of a popular following are portrayed. The nature of the substantial, if idiosyncratic, contribution made by Paul, in developing early Christianity, is described in detail. Freeman goes on to relate events leading up to Constantine's use of Christianity to unify the Roman Empire, and explains
how the early Church became so entirely enmeshed with the State.
He provides a riveting account of the politics involved in the development of the early Christian creeds, and the arbritary influences on the choices and compromises which shaped them. Doctrinal consensus was as often the product of imperial impatience for unity as of genuine intellectual or spiritual agreement. The historical and political origins of various beliefs associated with Christianity - for example, the cult of the Virgin Mary, the rise of asceticism, the spread of anti-semitism - are also explored. We are helped to understand the political context of the growth of Papal authority, as Freeman describes how the Church gained influence and status in the West as the Emperors' power waned.
Freeman then examines Augustine's work on the development of Christian doctrine. Constructing a coherent account of Christian theology proved too difficult for even this great intellectual, whose writings became progressively more intense, and eventually less balanced. Increasingly, the favoured approach became to rely on 'faith' rather than reason to establish doctrinal orthodoxy. The classical discipline of rational thought was thereafter steadily abandoned. Ultimately, evidence-based reasoning - science - was considered sinful. Hence came, in Freeman's terms 'The Closing of the Western Mind' and 'The Fall of Reason'.
It would be several hundred years before, under the influence of Thomas Aquinas, common sense and rational thought were rehabilitated into theology - and the Western Mind, belatedly, began to slowly 'reopen'.
For a stupendous overview of the West's intellectual heritage, from Ancient Greece through to the Renaissance - and the damage done to it by the early Christian Church -this book is a must read blockbuster.
The book starts with a detailed account of the sophisticated ethical systems developed by ancient classical philosophers and theologians.
Freeman's scholarship then places Jesus of Nazareth in historical context. The circumstances favouring the generation of a popular following are portrayed. The nature of the substantial, if idiosyncratic, contribution made by Paul, in developing early Christianity, is described in detail. Freeman goes on to relate events leading up to Constantine's use of Christianity to unify the Roman Empire, and explains
how the early Church became so entirely enmeshed with the State.
He provides a riveting account of the politics involved in the development of the early Christian creeds, and the arbritary influences on the choices and compromises which shaped them. Doctrinal consensus was as often the product of imperial impatience for unity as of genuine intellectual or spiritual agreement. The historical and political origins of various beliefs associated with Christianity - for example, the cult of the Virgin Mary, the rise of asceticism, the spread of anti-semitism - are also explored. We are helped to understand the political context of the growth of Papal authority, as Freeman describes how the Church gained influence and status in the West as the Emperors' power waned.
Freeman then examines Augustine's work on the development of Christian doctrine. Constructing a coherent account of Christian theology proved too difficult for even this great intellectual, whose writings became progressively more intense, and eventually less balanced. Increasingly, the favoured approach became to rely on 'faith' rather than reason to establish doctrinal orthodoxy. The classical discipline of rational thought was thereafter steadily abandoned. Ultimately, evidence-based reasoning - science - was considered sinful. Hence came, in Freeman's terms 'The Closing of the Western Mind' and 'The Fall of Reason'.
It would be several hundred years before, under the influence of Thomas Aquinas, common sense and rational thought were rehabilitated into theology - and the Western Mind, belatedly, began to slowly 'reopen'.
For a stupendous overview of the West's intellectual heritage, from Ancient Greece through to the Renaissance - and the damage done to it by the early Christian Church -this book is a must read blockbuster.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The dethroning of empiricism over eleven centuries
The book traces the history of how the pursuit of empirical reason, which was one of the most fruitful characteristics of the Greek world, was, between the time of St Paul and the... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Ralph Blumenau
Excellent scholarly background to Nietzsche's Antichrist!
Ever since I read Nietzsche's The Antichrist as a philosophy student I have been fascinated by the subject of early Christianity and how/why it was able to dominate the formally... Read more
Published 8 months ago by JG
The Closing of the Western Mind: By Charles Freeman
Charles Freeman has written a very interesting book about the movement away from philosophical speculation to a theological dominance based entirely upon the notion of faith. Read more
Published 9 months ago by ShiDaDao Ph.D
Excellent book
This is a very readable history of the early christian church. What is really interesting is the account of how the politics of the declining Roman Empire allowed the small... Read more
Published 13 months ago by C. G. RICHARDS
Good Show!
Very useful introduction to an emotionally sensitive period which lacks firm primary sources. Chapter on apostle, Paul, very interesting indeed. Good sense abounds throughout. Read more
Published 17 months ago by The Big Kahuna
Well worth reading.
I have read this book several times, and given it away to people whoI though would appreciate it, but I just had to by another copy as I find it summarises in a very cogent way the... Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2010 by M. Jones
A Warning From The Past
In the current climate, Charles Freeman is to be greatly applauded for providing what is possibly one of the most shocking and thought-provoking books around today. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2006 by J. Mark Moore
Cry, my reason
In a remarkable feat of intellectual archaeology Ch. Freeman traces the development of reasoning in Greece, its expansion to the Levant and Rome, and its encounter with emerging... Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2003 by Aldo Matteucci
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