Herbert J. Muller (1) (1905–1980)

Provides a history of what the author considers to be the guiding ideals and philosophy of Western civilizations, from Greece to Rome and Byzantium to Europe in the Middle Ages, including the development of Christianity. When I read it in college, I was most struck by the historical changes in Christian theology, accompanied by changes in the Biblical canon. When theology (or politics!) took an altered course, some books were withdrawn and others included to justify the change, and this show more occurred repeatedly. Contrast this with the Biblical literalists of today who see only one inerrant, unchanging holy book. show less

A useful discussion of how former societies and our own, use the writings of the historians of their societies to express their own set of virtues. Interesting but not lively reading. It does presuppose an acquaintance with the surviving sources.

Finally, a sense of place! The cityscapes of antiquity are nicely fleshed out here, particularly those of the letters of St. Paul. The eastern Mediterranean was a happening place long before the Romans arrived on the scene, and the first mention in Western literature of Asia dates back to the beginning of Western canon: no other than Homer. Pick a paragraph at random and it'll suck you in.

WASP view of history which is silly to read and embarrassing to think this was considered intellectually expansive. The whole point of the world was for the Reformation to happen and thus assert the right of all men to religious freedom. Then the Enlightenment zig zagging until America and its "Holy Experiment" [William Penn] frees itself from European English colonialism. Well intentioned, but very intellectually crude.