Best catholic books according to Reddit

Reddit mentions of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

Sentiment score: 15
Reddit mentions: 38

We found 38 Reddit mentions of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Here are the top ones.

#5 How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization #7
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Found 38 comments on How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization:

u/howardson1 · 54 pointsr/todayilearned

Except some of the greatest advancements in biology, astronomy, and physics were done by Catholic Priests. The creator of the big bang theory was a catholic priest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jesuit_scientists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_Catholic_cleric-scientists

The "middle ages were dark ages where chants were used to cure diseases and everybody was miserable" idea is a Protestant myth created during the anti Catholic hysteria of the 19th Century. It has been debunked by actual historians like Rodney Stark and Thomas Woods.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Victory-Reason-Christianity-Capitalism/dp/0812972333

http://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375813215&sr=1-2&keywords=thomas+woods

u/Jason_Lykan · 22 pointsr/Catholicism

If you want a book debunking the anti-Catholic myths about history of the Church. Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History is one for you. It's written by an agnostic who hates bad history. And also How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas E. Woods, although he is Catholic, it's still informative. And there's The New Concise History of the Crusades (Critical Issues in World and International History) by Thomas Madden, again an agnostic who refutes the baseless claim against the Crusade.

u/THE_DONALD_2016-2024 · 13 pointsr/The_Donald

I wonder if people realize that the world unanimously world over had never considered two individuals of the same sex as a permanent union to be equivalent to male and female relationship, and certainly not as a "mother" and "father." These are just the facts. Even in societies through history where anal sex was practiced between men, it wasn't the way we imagine a gay relationship today. See this comment in /r/history. It's only been a very recent phenomenon relative to human history (and only in "The West") for this to be accepted as equivalent to a as a monogamous married couple, and certainly as equivalent to a mother and father in child-rearing ability, both in biological impossibility to procure offspring and practical ability to be "mother" and "father," which by definition requires individuals of opposite sex.

There are even some African tribes where homosexuality and masturbation do not exist.

It should definitely not be surprising to anyone that Malik is opposed to this. It's highly likely that nearly all people surveyed in recent history would have been, especially those not living in "The West." Christianity itself, which built Western civilization, is opposed to homosexual sex and unions.

u/ratthing · 10 pointsr/Catholic

One of the best summaries of our Church's contribution to all of Western civilization is How the Catholic Church Build Western Civilization

I'm a member of the Society of Catholic Scientists, and hopefully soon we'll publish the results of annual conferences.

u/HopDavid · 8 pointsr/Catholicism

The Catholic Church copied and preserved books, taught literacy, built schools, hospitals, libraries, observatories and universities.

Galileo was taught the 3 R's by Catholic Priests. He attended and worked at a university built by a pope. He did some of his most important work while under house arrest (basically a paid vacation).

Without the Catholic Church there would have been no Galileo.

A good book is Thomas Woods' How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Granted Woods may have some preconceived notions. But then so do the New Atheists who have been dropping so many steaming piles of bad history.

Speaking of Tyson... His cautionary tales against religion are based on invented history. Examples:

Tyson claims the Islamic Golden Age came to a halt when cleric Hamid al Ghazali wrote that math was the work of the devil. Except that Ghazali never wrote that. Nor did Islamic innovation end with Ghazali. For example the father of symbolic algebra was born 300 years after Ghazali's death. More here

Another cautionary tale based on fiction: Tyson claims Newton could have easily done Laplace's perturbation theory in an afternoon but he was paralyzed by his belief in the God of the Gaps. After all it was Newton who invented calculus on a dare. In two months! Before he turned 26!

Well the "dare" Tyson speaks of is Edmund Halley's famous query. Halley asked his question in 1684 when Newton was 41. Just about everything Tyson says about Newton is addled bull shit. See Thony Christie disembowel Tyson's bad history. I also write about Tyson's addled history on Newton here

u/Happy_Pizza_ · 6 pointsr/Catholicism

This is a super rough outline of an argument but I hope that it puts you in the right direction. The Euryphro dilemma (which is a common argument atheists use against Christiantiy) might help you argue against polytheism.

Are the contents of the moral life what they are because the gods says so or because there is a necessary foundation for morality? If it's good because the gods say so, then the good is arbitrary. If there is a necessary foundation for morality, then, to live a moral life, one need not appeal to the gods.

This does not invalidate the Christian God because God is a necessary being. By necessary, we mean that it is a logical contradiction for God not to exist, or in other words, God must exist in all possible world.

We can demonstrate that a necessary being is responsible for the the world's existence because of arguments like the argument from contingency or the first cause argument. Because God is a necessary being, his properties, such as perfect goodness, are not arbitrary and thus a morality based on God's nature is also not arbitrary. However because polytheistic gods are often not logically necessary or can be shown to possibly exist without contradiction, they are vulnerable to this common atheist argument.

Jesus claims to be this God and ultimately we can demonstrate that through evidence for the resurrection, as well as the lives of the saints or the contributions Christiantiy has made to society.

u/LordByronXLVII · 6 pointsr/TraditionalCatholics

There's a really good book by Thomas E. Woods called How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. I believe his chapter on International Law briefly discusses Columbus. Once I get home this evening I'll check and see.

Edit: It turns out that Dr. Woods only uses Columbus as a way of introducing the topic of international law, and does not talk about Columbus himself.

So as a consolation prize, here's an article and video by Michael Knowles, with Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire, arguing that Christopher Columbus was a good guy.

u/luvintheride · 5 pointsr/AskAChristian

> You need to show that the catholic god belief is actually somehow proven by history .

I was an extreme skeptic, so it took me over 10 years to sort out the history. That included reading dozens of books, and listening to hundreds of hours of debates and podcasts. If you are truly interested and are half as skeptical as me, I would recommend starting with the following :

This is a good overview: Why we're catholic by Trent Horn: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1683570243

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization: https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280 .

That said, there are a million reasons why people choose not to believe, even with all the evidence in the world in front of their face. God made each person with free will, so no one can "give" you a conclusion. You have to weigh the evidence for yourself. As a convert, I would also point out that knowing God is also as much of a matter of the heart. If you have vice in your heart (self-entitlement, lust, envy, gluttony, etc), you won't be able to connect with God. Also, if you are more interested in the trappings of the world ( luxuries, entertainment, hedonism), that will bias you away from recognizing God.

> the gospels for example are rife with markers of myth as opposed to actual history.

The reason why some myths match the Christian story is because all of humanity comes from the same place (the Ark). Those myths actually help confirm that Christianity is true. If everyone really evolved in different areas, then they would have wildly different stories and ways of being. Instead, people from around the world have the very same sense of where we came from and where things are going.

> And I absolutely reject Kalam, the Ontological Argument and whatever else is probably on that list of arguments as they all require assertions to which you haven’t sufficient evidence to make.

I used to reject them too. No offense, but you have to look at them a lot more carefully. That took me years. They all add up and compliment each other. At the very bottom of reality is an eternal infinite mind. By definition, this also makes existence rational because there is a rational mind. Atheism/materialism/naturalism is literally non-sense by it's own definition.

Without God (an eternal all-knowing mind), there can be no such thing as objective truth, facts, or ethics. Otherwise, all knowledge is temporary and subjective.

u/KekistanInfantry · 5 pointsr/AskThe_Donald

Christianity is the founding of all of western civilization. All of our morals come from it. I'm an atheist and I regard it as one of the most important things about our value structure.

Read: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500415987&sr=8-1&keywords=How+the+Catholic+Church+Built+Western+Civilization

Very important book.

Yes.. but if you look at countries such as Africa, India and china their immigration numbers doubled after the 1965 immigration act. Beginning to cause a shift in the demographics of America. Numbers from Europe have about halved while numbers from Africa have increased by 50 times what they were before 1965.

u/serious_tea · 4 pointsr/Catholicism

Two different titles that might be along the lines of what you're looking for:

Catholicism, by Bishop Robert Barron

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, by Thomas Woods

u/Friend_of_Augustine · 4 pointsr/Catholicism

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization is a book that seems to be right up your alley.

As for philosophy and theology in that case, there is one book that comes to mind. However, I would suggest that before one go delving into that, you might wish to establish yourself firmly in Catholic philosophy and theology before going ahead. That said, the book is New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy by Fr. Rober Spitzer seems to be exactly what you're talking about.

u/[deleted] · 4 pointsr/Christianity

>What does the Catholic Church show us about the morality I’m raping children?

It's immoral.

>This might be bad example homie, ya know, seeing as how Catholicism is corrupt to its core.

All things are corrupt except for God and Christ, but only some can be true, beautiful and worthwhile.

>Ever heard or researched Mother Teresa other than the propaganda? She was a horrible person

This is atheist propaganda, Mother Teresa cared deeply for the sickest and poorest people on Earth. Her mission was as Christ-like as it comes.

>the Catholic Church among with many other organized religions shows us the very worst of what humans can do to eachother under the guise of “Gods work”

And the very best. European Christendom is the greatest, most merciful, most just, most graceful civilisation to have ever existed. Christ subverted the evil Roman Empire and instituted a civilisation that put us on the path to the stars. It was not perfect, no man nor man-made institution can ever be, but it was the best.

https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dominion-Making-Western-Tom-Holland/dp/1408706954

>Go ahead, research, ask questions, discover new ways of thinking about the Bible and Doctrine, but never put up a human institution as the basis for morality

The Church is not a human institution. The church was created by God and Christ to be Christ's bride.

u/pierzstyx · 3 pointsr/history

Here is a good one on the influence of the Catholic Church in Medieval Europe. https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280

u/boredoftheworld · 3 pointsr/Catholicism

For your own edification and sheer joy, read Triumph! by H W Crocker. How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Tom Woods is excellent too.

u/MoonChild02 · 3 pointsr/todayilearned

It's How the Scots Invented the Modern World. Similar titles include How the Irish Saved Civilization, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, and Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. None of them are by the same author, but they're all interesting historical books with similar titles (How some great culture did great things that built what we have now), none the less.

I would love to find similar titles about other countries, cultures, and civilizations. They're always so interesting!

u/jonnyvice · 3 pointsr/Catholicism

I think you would enjoy this book greatly: http://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280

Most complaints from non-militant atheists (love these guys, they love deep philosophical conversation) I see are do to the so called dark ages brought about by the Church or religion in general. While members of the Catholic Church have never been perfect, the Church is responsible for some of the most progressive ideas ever to be born of man. The university system, science, it's all really fascinating to read about.

I've never been an atheist but I haven't always looked favorably on the Catholic church either (I wasn't born a Catholic and am still learning about it before making decisions). This book really helped me see what a tremendously positive force the Church has been throughout the ages. From making the western world a joy to live in to systematic helping of unfortunates.

Best of luck in any other books recommended here that you decide to read. In my experience, there's some warm and loving about the Church that I can't move away from now and I hope you find something similar or the same or at the very least feel good about continuing to learn more about a topic that interests you.

u/jed313 · 3 pointsr/pics

It condemns sexual immorality, yes. Which includes all sorts of sex. Why is it people always say this, thus proving their own obsession with sex, while trying to condemn the institution for being “obsessed with sex”?

The Church (if we’re talking Catholic) has no problem with evolution.
You know the father of modern genetics was a monk, right? And a priest came up with the Big Bang? And the entire scientific revolution happened because of patronage from the Church early on (like, Galileo was being paid by the Church, for instance).

Think of the artistic achievements, too (paid for by the Church).

The whole idea of a “dark age” or “anti-science” Church was pretty much invented by Protestants, to discredit the Catholics, or anti-theists, again to discredit rather than advance truth.

Read How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization for a good look at history in one place. Start there, then branch out beyond Hitchens or Dawkins or whoever else you idolize. Try Feser, if you can.

Edit: grammar and spelling

u/auryn0151 · 2 pointsr/changemyview

> I recommend the book To Explain the World by Harvey Weinberg.

I'd also recommend this book by Tom Woods: How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization.

It explains just how much the church kept scientific inquiry going through much of human history, and also scriptural backing for exploring the world scientifically.

u/JustSomeSmallQs · 2 pointsr/Catholicism

>Unlike your anthropomorphic sky creature.

Straw man, straw man, swimming through the ocean, causing a commotion, because it’s so fallacious...We don’t believe in a dude with a beard in the sky. You realize those depictions are just for ease of viewing, right? Otherwise we would literally not be able to depict the moment of creation, which would make for very unentertaining images.

>And some non spatial/temporal-ether (for lack of a better descriptive term) is an entirely possible, even likely explanation of observable facts.

Mmmmmhmmmm. It’s weird that you guys are all “hurr durr magic sky fairy,” and in order to keep any semblance of self-consistent philosophy you have to resort to untestable universes that spontaneously generated out of nothing. You literally read more like a caricature of Christian beliefs than I do. “It just happened! It popped out of space juice!”

Which one of us is high, again?

Also, note that God is also a perfectly consistent explanation. But sure, magic sky multiverses. Whatever.

>Please read ACTUAL theories and research.

Did you read the research behind the book you linked? I too read pop science. I’m reading an ancient Brian Greene book called Fabric of the Cosmos right now. I would encourage you to look up the critical reviews for the book you linked, as well. Here’s one I found (admittedly on Wikipedia), that I thought was interesting:

>Commenting on the philosophical debate sparked by the book, the physicist Sean M. Carroll asked, "Do advances in modern physics and cosmology help us address these underlying questions, of why there is something called the universe at all, and why there are things called 'the laws of physics,' and why those laws seem to take the form of quantum mechanics, and why some particular wave function and Hamiltonian? In a word: no. I don't see how they could."

Weird.

>Sorry I won't read your bronze age myths anymore than I have.

Okay? We’ll see who’s right when we die, I guess.

>Equivocate if you wish.

Thank you for your generosity.

>Religion gave us sacrificial goats.

Science gave us Hiroshima and the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, but I’m not railing at science, am I?

>Science (an actual, demonstrable understanding of reality) gave us engines, planes, computers...

Catholicism gave us the university system, Western civilization, the Big Bang Theory, tons of advances in modern medicine, a modern legal system, and, what do you know, according to this, modern science. Weird, huh?

>Probability is temporal, so even the most unlikely things are bound to happen in a multiverse, btw...

Who are you to decide how probability does or does not apply in a multiverse that you don’t even know exists?

>if you'll leave me to take advantage of the life I actually know I'll get.

Yes, please, continue leading your meaningful life trolling Catholic forums.

u/Anen-o-me · 2 pointsr/CapitalismVSocialism

> Catholicism has done society a lot of harm.

And even more good.

https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9htVDONoFBg

Not a Catholic myself but the monks contributions to keeping society going during the middle ages are nothing short of legendary. Europe likely wouldn't exist anything like present day, the entire modern world might not even exist.

u/amdgph · 2 pointsr/Catholicism

Alright here are some of the best resources I know as a Catholic. Hope they help!

Edward Feser's blog as well as his The Last Superstition and 5 Proofs of the Existence of God

Stephen Barr's Modern Physics and Ancient Faith

Francis Collin's The Language of God

Anthony Flew's There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind

Thomas Wood's How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

Brant Pitre's The Case For Jesus

Tim O Neill on the Church and science, the Inquisition and the Galileo affair

Jenny Hawkins on Jesus and God, early Christianity and form criticism

Al Moritz on the Fine Tuning Argument

>There is a reason someone should believe in the supernatural and mystical aspects of Christianity. This is a large issue for me. Solely based on supernatural and mystical ideas, from an outsider perspective, Christianity is no different than animism or Buddhism. I can't have faith alone.

Well when you look at the world's religions, Christianity has a clear and impressive advantage in the miracles/mystical department. Historically, in Christianity, there have been numerous cases of Eucharistic miracles, Marian apparitions, miraculous healings and the spiritual gifts and religious experiences of countless Christian saints -- men and women of great virtue whose admirable character only add to the credibility of their testimony. Examples of these include Paul, Benedict of Nursia, Francis of Assisi, Dominic, Hildegard of Bingen, Anthony of Padua, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Vincent Ferrer, Joan of Arc, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Catherine Emmerich, John Vianney, Anna Maria Taigi, Genma Galangi, Faustina Kowalska and Padre Pio. We also have a pair of impressive relics, the shroud of Turin and the sudarium of Orvieto. I'll also throw in Catholic exorcisms.

And these Eucharistic miracles, Marian apparitions and religious/mystical experiences continue to happen today.

What do Buddhism and animism have in comparison?

>Anything that discusses and argues against some common tropes from atheists such as Mother Teresa being a vile, sadistic person.

Honestly, I'm quite stunned at the portrait atheists have painted of her. At worst, she wasn't perfect and made mistakes. She cannot be a vile monster like Hitchens claims she was, that's ridiculous. Here are some articles that defend Mother Teresa -- here, here, here and here.

Check out any of Mother Teresa's personal writings (e.g. No Greater Love, A Simple Path, Come Be Thy Light) to see what she believed in, what she valued and how she saw the world. Check out books written by people who actually knew her such as that of Malcolm Muggeridge, an agnostic BBC reporter who ended up converting to Catholicism because of Teresa and ended up becoming a lifelong friend of hers. Or that of her priest, friend and confessor, Leo Maasburg, who was able to recall 50 inspiring stories of Mother Teresa. Or that of Conroy, a person who actually worked with her. Or any biography of hers. Find out what she was like according to the people around her. Then afterwards, determine for yourself if she resembles Hitchen's "monster" or the Catholic Church's "saint".

u/meszkinis · 2 pointsr/JordanPeterson

>Loads. Christians tried to destroy classical culture,

Again. Got any proof? On the contrary- countless monks worked in scriptoriums to preserve the knowledge.

>Muslims translated Aristotle and we got it from them.

It's true that the monks also took arabic translations of classic texts and translated them to latin and some of the ancient works reached us via muslims.

>Christians were murdning and tortuirng people for anthing resembeling science

Care to provide some proof perhaps?

>We got the basis for maths and science from them. You can see the geometric designes in their old archecture.

You mean there was no math or geometry in ancient Greece or Rome? If you're talking about our current numerical system then I'm sorry to inform you- it is actually Indian, no Arab.

>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/28/the-darkening-age-the-christian-destruction-of-the-classical-world-by-catherine-nixey

And who is this Catherine Nixey that I should care to waste my time reading her book? Sorry, but I'd rather trust a real historiam historian Thomas Woods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Woods ( https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280 )

​

All that being said: The OP is talking specifically about Scientific Method (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method), not math, geometry or philosophy. And the scientific method was only developed in 17th century - a few hundred years after an Islamic Golden Age.

u/digifork · 2 pointsr/Catholicism

Another one that immediately comes to mind is how the Church was persecuted by the Romans, then somehow became the official state religion, and when the Romans try to take over the Church, the Church stood on the principle of separation of Church and State and actually prevailed. Later on, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, when the Huns invaded Italy, the Pope rode out to meet Attila the Hun. After that meeting, the Huns decided to turn around and not sack Rome.

There is another quote from soon to be St. John Henry Newman:

> To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant

Those who look at Church history realize the Catholic Church is the Church Christ founded and that we owe our assent to that Church.

So learning Church history will help. I recommend any book by Thomas F. Madden or Steve Weidenkopf. There is also a book by Trent Horn called Why We're Catholic which touches on this.

You can also check out the book How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization for a lot of information about how the Church has been a constant force for the good of mankind. You can also read Lumen Gentium.

But the best evidence of this comes from the witness of people who have followed Church teaching. When people submit to the teaching of the Church, do their lives get better or worse? How do their lives change the deeper they get into the faith? Read the lives of the Saints and look at the example of what happens to schismatics.

At the root of all this is not simply obeying the Church, it is a relationship with Christ. If the Church is truly the Mystical Body of Christ, then submitting to Christ presupposes submitting to His Church. Does following Church teaching help or hurt our relationship with Christ? For those who claim it hurts their relationship, the real question they should be asking is how well do they know Christ?

u/michelle_marie · 1 pointr/worldnews

Oh, I'm not allowed, am I?

I'm Catholic, actually (there is a difference), and I respectfully disagree with your premise that monotheistic religions are a step backwards. In fact, Christianity is the basis of all the flourishing that the West has enjoyed over the past 2000 years, including your mention of civil liberties.

I'll just leave this here because this book goes into the stunning detail and research that cannot be encompassed by a reddit quip: http://www.amazon.ca/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280

u/avengingturnip · 1 pointr/Catholicism

Thomas Woods devoted a chapter to the issue in this book. Edward Grant has written multiple books about that subject alone.

u/remembertosmilebot · 1 pointr/Christianity

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u/uniformdiscord · 1 pointr/Catholicism

This is a short and sweet book that highlights the Church's activities and contributions to Western Civilization during the Medieval ages. Really fantastic book, can't recommend enough!

https://www.smile.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Built-Western-Civilization/dp/1596983280

u/crowjar · 1 pointr/Catholicism

Well, it would depend on what you feel your soul is looking for right now.

You say you're agnostic, there are books for people who want to get a sense of the existence of God, like Jacob's Ladder: Ten Steps to Truth. Peter Kreeft, the author of the book, has a handy section on his website going over various perspectives on the verification of God's existence.

There are books for people who want to get to know Catholic faith a little better before committing, like Waking Up Catholic: A Guide to Catholic Beliefs for Converts, Reverts, and Anyone Becoming Catholic.

There are books for people who want to get to know the Catholic faith more in depth, and have some hurdles to overcome, particularly from the protestant objections, like Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism, from an anti-Catholic Presbyterian minister whose battle against the faith pulled him into it.

There are people who come to the Church by reading on the lives of saints, others by reading on the history of the church and how it built western civilization, and others just by reading the news. It's not just a purely intelectual exercise, this is a spiritual quest and as such you have to give your soul what it yearns for.