The Uniqueness of Western Civilization PDF Download

Author: Ricardo Duchesne
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004192484
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 540

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Book Description
After challenging the multicultural effort to “provincialize” the history of Western civilization, this book argues that the roots of the West’s exceptional creativity should be traced back to the uniquely aristocratic warlike culture of Indo-European speakers.

Author: Naomi Oreskes
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231537956
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 105

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Book Description
The year is 2393, and the world is almost unrecognizable. Clear warnings of climate catastrophe went ignored for decades, leading to soaring temperatures, rising sea levels, widespread drought and—finally—the disaster now known as the Great Collapse of 2093, when the disintegration of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet led to mass migration and a complete reshuffling of the global order. Writing from the Second People's Republic of China on the 300th anniversary of the Great Collapse, a senior scholar presents a gripping and deeply disturbing account of how the children of the Enlightenment—the political and economic elites of the so-called advanced industrial societies—failed to act, and so brought about the collapse of Western civilization. In this haunting, provocative work of science-based fiction, Naomi Oreskes and Eric M. Conway imagine a world devastated by climate change. Dramatizing the science in ways traditional nonfiction cannot, the book reasserts the importance of scientists and the work they do and reveals the self-serving interests of the so called "carbon combustion complex" that have turned the practice of science into political fodder. Based on sound scholarship and yet unafraid to speak boldly, this book provides a welcome moment of clarity amid the cacophony of climate change literature.

Author: Vishal Mangalwadi
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1595554009
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
Understand where we came from. Whether you're an avid student of the Bible or a skeptic of its relevance, The Book That Made Your World will transform your perception of its influence on virtually every facet of Western civilization. Indian philosopher Vishal Mangalwadi reveals the personal motivation that fueled his own study of the Bible and systematically illustrates how its precepts became the framework for societal structure throughout the last millennium. From politics and science, to academia and technology, the Bible's sacred copy became the key that unlocked the Western mind. Through Mangalwadi's wide-ranging and fascinating investigation, you'll discover: What triggered the West's passion for scientific, medical, and technological advancement How the biblical notion of human dignity informs the West's social structure and how it intersects with other worldviews How the Bible created a fertile ground for women to find social and economic empowerment How the Bible has uniquely equipped the West to cultivate compassion, human rights, prosperity, and strong families The role of the Bible in the transformation of education How the modern literary notion of a hero has been shaped by the Bible's archetypal protagonist Journey with Mangalwadi as he examines the origins of a civilization's greatness and the misguided beliefs that threaten to unravel its progress. Learn how the Bible transformed the social, political, and religious institutions that have sustained Western culture for the past millennium, and discover how secular corruption endangers the stability and longevity of Western civilization. Endorsements: “This is an extremely significant piece of work with huge global implications. Vishal brings a timely message.” (Ravi Zacharias, author, Walking from East to West and Beyond Opinion) “In polite society, the mere mention of the Bible often introduces a certain measure of anxiety. A serious discussion on the Bible can bring outright contempt. Therefore, it is most refreshing to encounter this engaging and informed assessment of the Bible’s profound impact on the modern world. Where Bloom laments the closing of the American mind, Mangalwadi brings a refreshing optimism.” (Stanley Mattson, founder and president, C. S. Lewis Foundation) “Vishal Mangalwadi recounts history in very broad strokes, always using his cross-cultural perspectives for highlighting the many benefits of biblical principles in shaping civilization.” (George Marsden, professor, University of Notre Dame; author, Fundamentalism and American Culture)

Author: Samuel Gregg
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1621579069
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
"Gregg's book is the closet thing I've encountered in a long time to a one-volume user's manual for operating Western Civilization." —The Stream "Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization offers a concise intellectual history of the West through the prism of the relationship between faith and reason." —Free Beacon The genius of Western civilization is its unique synthesis of reason and faith. But today that synthesis is under attack—from the East by radical Islam (faith without reason) and from within the West itself by aggressive secularism (reason without faith). The stakes are incalculably high. The naïve and increasingly common assumption that reason and faith are incompatible is simply at odds with the facts of history. The revelation in the Hebrew Scriptures of a reasonable Creator imbued Judaism and Christianity with a conviction that the world is intelligible, leading to the flowering of reason and the invention of science in the West. It was no accident that the Enlightenment took place in the culture formed by the Jewish and Christian faiths. We can all see that faith without reason is benighted at best, fanatical and violent at worst. But too many forget that reason, stripped of faith, is subject to its own pathologies. A supposedly autonomous reason easily sinks into fanaticism, stifling dissent as bigoted and irrational and devouring the humane civilization fostered by the integration of reason and faith. The blood-soaked history of the twentieth century attests to the totalitarian forces unleashed by corrupted reason. But Samuel Gregg does more than lament the intellectual and spiritual ruin caused by the divorce of reason and faith. He shows that each of these foundational principles corrects the other’s excesses and enhances our comprehension of the truth in a continuous renewal of civilization. By recovering this balance, we can avoid a suicidal winner-take-all conflict between reason and faith and a future that will respect neither.

Author: Paul Henry Lang
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393040746
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 1158

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Book Description
A comprehensive history of occidental music focuses on the function of music as an expression of the spirit and artistic life of each age.

Author: Thomas F. X. Noble
Publisher: Cengage Learning
ISBN: 9781133602712
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 976

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Book Description
Europe's place in the world throughout the narrative and in the primary source feature, The Global Record. The seventh edition has been carefully revised and edited for greater accessibility, and features a streamlined design that incorporates pedagogical features such as focus questions, key terms, and section summaries to better support students of western civilization. The reconceived narrative and restructured organization, featuring smaller, more cohesive learning units, lend to greater ease of use for both students and instructors. History CourseMate, a set of media-rich study tools with interactive eBook that gives students access to quizzes, flashcards, primary sources, videos and more, are available for this new edition. (CourseMate may be bundled with the text or purchased separately.) Available in the following split options: WESTERN CIVILIZATION: BEYOND BOUNDARIES, Seventh Edition Complete, Volume I: To 1715, Volume II: Since 1560, Volume A: To 1500, Volume B: 1300-1815, and Volume C: Since 1789. Available with InfoTrac Student Collections http://gocengage.com/infotrac. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Author: Margaret L. King
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780139786518
Category : Civilization, Western
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book explains why western civilization is worth knowing about by presenting a consistently topical approach stressing social and cultural themes over the political narrative, incorporating significant discussion of peoples and civilizations outside the boundaries of the West. It focuses on social/economic history" including gender roles, family and children, elite groups, urban/rural contrasts, cities and associations, commerce and manufacture and technological innovation. Written by a single author, it offers rich visual images, textual excerpts, timelines, charts and maps, all closely related to the narrative. Stone, Bronze and Word, Armies and Empires, The Greek Polis, The School of Hellas, Our Sea, Pax Romana. Pagans, Jews and Christians, After Antiquity, Workers, Warriors and Kings, The Spiritual Sword, In the Name of Profit, City Life, Rebirth in Italy, Of One Church, Many, Absolute Power, Europe Reaches Out, The Age of Reason, Court, Town and Country, Inalienable Rights, Revolt and Reorganization in Europe, Machines in the Garden, Lives of the Other Half, The Western Imperium, Storm, Stress and Doubt, The Mighty Are Fallen, The Triumph of Uncertainty, The Failures of Totalitarianism. The End of Imperialism and Western Civilization today. Historians or anyone interested in a social, topical approach to Western Civilization with a global perspective.

Author: Silvia Federici
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
What do we mean by Western Civilization? When did the expression originate and why? At a time when there is a widespread perception that Western Civilization is undergoing a historic crisis, and when postmodernism, feminist theory, afrocentrism, deconstruction, and other current philosophical schools define themselves as alternatives to, or critiques of, Western Civilization, this book seeks to trace the development of the concept of Western Civilization and to examine the reasons for its endurance. It also suggests ways in which proponents of Western Civilization can co-opt ideas from opponents. Written from a multidisciplinary viewpoint, the essays in this volume trace the development of the concept of Western Civilization and seek to explode many standing beliefs—primarily those which concern the very existence of a Western tradition. Bound to be controversial, the book will be of interest to scholars and activists in the fields of cultural history, anthropology, and the history of ideas, as well as general readers interested in the enduring discussion of the notion of Western Civilization.

Author: Rémi Brague
Publisher: Burns & Oates
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Western culture, which influenced the whole world, came from Europe. But its roots are not there. They are in Athens and Jerusalem. European culture takes its bearing from references that are not in Europe: Europe is eccentric. What makes the West unique? What is the driving force behind its culture? Remi Brague takes up these questions in Eccentric Culture. This is not another dictionary of European culture, nor a measure of the contributions of a particular individual, religion, or national tradition. The author's interest is especially, with regard to the transmission of that culture, to articulate the dynamic tension that has propelled Europe and more generally the West toward civilization. It is this mainspring of European culture, this founding principle, that Brague calls "Roman". Yet the author's intent is not to write a history of Europe, and less yet to defend the historical reality of the Roman Empire. Brague rather isolates and generalizes one aspect of that history or, one might say, cultural myth, of ancient Rome. The Roman attitude senses its own incompleteness and recognizes the call to borrow from what went before it. Historically, it has led the West to borrow from the great traditions of Jerusalem and Athens: primarily the Jewish and Christian tradition, on the one hand, and the classical Greek tradition on the other. Nowhere does the author find this Roman character so strongly present as in the Christian and particularly Catholic attitude toward the incarnation. At once an appreciation of the richness and diversity of the sources and their fruit, Eccentric Culture points as well to the fragility of their nourishing principle. As such, Brague finds in it notonly a means of understanding the past, but of projecting a future in (re)proposing to the West, and to Europe in particular, a model relationship of what is proper to it. An international bestseller (translated from the original French edition of Europe, La Voie Romaine), this work has been or is presently being translated into thirteen languages.

Author: Keith M. Baker
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226069500
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
The University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization (nine volumes) makes available to students and teachers a unique selection of primary documents, many in new translations. These readings, prepared for the highly praised Western civilization sequence at the University of Chicago, were chosen by an outstanding group of scholars whose experience teaching that course spans almost four decades. Each volume includes rarely anthologized selections as well as standard, more familiar texts; a bibliography of recommended parallel readings; and introductions providing background for the selections. Beginning with Periclean Athens and concluding with twentieth-century Europe, these source materials enable teachers and students to explore a variety of critical approaches to important events and themes in Western history. Individual volumes provide essential background reading for courses covering specific eras and periods. The complete nine-volume series is ideal for general courses in history and Western civilization sequences.