Truman's decision to drop the
The assessments of western civilization and culture has in one way or another affected virtually every aspect of life on the globe. The changes and ideas of this way of thinking have gradually evolved over the past six centuries and are still incredibly visible, dominant, and crucial in the twentieth century. A large portion of the changes created and reinforced by this movement have been beneficial, while still some seem to have left more of a negative effect on the world. Overall, the changes brought about by western civilization in the past six hundred years have resulted in significant advancements and giant steps taken forward in the direct of a better world, in particular, a world where spirituality continues to thrive. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a very well respected twentieth century Russian philosopher, once said this about the progress of western civilization: "On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility. We have placed too much in politics and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession
The next major post-Renaissance era was the Scientific Revolution. Spielvogel defines it this way: "Behind the emergence of modern science was a new direction of the will towards the world, its marvels, and mysterious workings, a new longing and determination to understand those workings and to operate with them."7 Scientists and philosophers achieved an incredible amount of progress in the areas of astronomy, medicine, and social science. It was here with the birth of scientific reasoning that a split began to form between traditional Christianity and the sciences. Blaise Pascal, a Christian scientist and mathematician from this era, struggled to secure the bond between religion and science. He once said: "The heart has its reasons of which the reason knows nothing."8 Pascal believed in a human race that was inferior in knowledge and understanding to its Creator. To Pascal's disappointment, the rational way of thinking continued to expand, and western civilization entered an era known as the Enlightenment. : our spiritual life."1 There certainly is some truth in Solzhenitsyn's statement and approach to western civilization. Many aspects of our society reflect a direct crisis in morality. Everywhere we turn our heads and look we see: babies being aborted, premarital sex being promoted, drug use ski-rocketing, and extreme violence being used as a form of entertainment. From the perspective of many others, our society tends be incredibly self-centered and materialistic. This, of course, is also a logical assumption seeing as how money is so sought after, and how possessions seem to be directly tied in with a person's status. Some people go through their entire lives striving to obtain the most high paying and sought after jobs, the fanciest homes, and the most prestigious vehicles; it never crosses their selfish minds that these possessions mean nothing in the end when it is all said and done. The things that really count and that a person is remembered by are relationships. In particular, Solzhenitsyn stresses the lack of spirituality in western civilization. Depending on how you look at it, this argument can also be justified. When determining the status of western civilization it is very important that we realize the different perspectives that must be examined. It is far too easy to become completely negative with the status quo. We must come to grips with the understanding that western civilization, by essence, is made up of Christian, Pagan, and other religious world views. It is also necessary to recognize that, just as there is trouble in church and society today, so the pre-Renaissance era also had its share of corruption. In fact, if you explore the troubles and corruption of the church prior to the Renaissance, it becomes quite apparent that their morality and spiritual lives were in as rough, if not rougher, shape than ours today. The spiritual life of the people in the centuries prior to the Renaissance was incredibly artificial. In general, this was not their fault, but the fault of tradition and the church itself. Christianity was something that was crammed dow
Some common words found in the essay are:
Complete Entity, Martin Luther, Protestant Reformation, Christian Pagan, De Beus, Enlightenment Enlightenment, , Julius II, Nowadays Bibles, Revolution Spielvogel, western civilization, christian faith, prior renaissance, twentieth century, progress western civilization, catholic church, sixteenth century, past six, spiritual lives, justice god, brought western civilization, book western civilization, corruption church,
Approximate Word count = 2089
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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