Print

The Book that made your world

How the Bible created the soul of Western civilisation

The view from outside

THE BOOK THAT MADE YOUR WORLD
How the Bible created the soul of Western civilisation
By Vishal Mangalwadi
Thomas Nelson. 352 pages. £14.99
ISBN 978 1 595 553 225

Why did Western civilisation develop in the way that it did? Why did the concept of human dignity and the use of reason arise; not to mention science and technology, languages, literature, liberty, morality and much more? Why did these things appear in a systematic way in the West, and not elsewhere? Why does it matter?

Vishal Mangalwadi is an Indian philosopher; he’s also a Christian. This, his latest book, responds to the above questions with one simple answer: the subtitle of the book is ‘How the Bible created the soul of Western civilisation’. Mangalwadi analyses the philosophical roots of Western civilisation — to show that the Bible lies at their very heart. Being a non-Westerner, he is ideally placed to perform this task. To use an analogy, he is able to look into the goldfish bowl, and observe the water which the goldfish are not even aware of. We are the goldfish, and the water which has kept us alive for centuries is the philosophical fruit of the Bible; but we’re not even aware of it most of the time. We call it ‘common sense’; in fact, it’s anything but. Mangalwadi knows that ‘common sense’ to an Indian person is very different to our ‘common sense’. Our common sense is saturated by Christian assumptions — assumptions which are being rapidly eroded by secularism and other ideologies.

The power of the book

And it is here, I believe, that the power of the book lies. Mangalwadi is not satisfied simply to show the historical Christian roots of the West. This is important — not least to expose the unrecognised Christian assumptions which have been so influential for centuries. But Mangalwadi goes a stage further to show how those assumptions are being replaced by nihilistic, irrational assumptions which are rapidly returning the West to the Dark Ages. In this sense, the book is a timely call to rediscover a Christian worldview (a worldview which affects every part of life and society) before it is too late.

Let’s illustrate with some examples. Mangalwadi argues that the ‘Seeds of Western Civilisation’ are Humanity, Rationality and Technology. Humanity — that is, a sense of human dignity — is the starting point: for if there is no human dignity, if I have no value as a person, why do anything at all? Mangalwadi shows that, until the Bible influenced Western culture, there was no sense of human dignity. People were simply cogs in a cosmic machine, with no individual identity and no possibility of release. The idea of human dignity arose through the Bible’s teaching that each human being was made in the image of God (Genesis 1.26); and that God has demonstrated the particular dignity of human nature through the Incarnation. I’m looking forward to using the latter as an apologetic argument at Christmas: ‘You don’t believe in the Incarnation? No problem — I’ll treat you as I would a monkey — for without the Incarnation, you’re no different...’ And, of course, that is exactly where British culture is heading.

Illogical Greeks

What about rationality? It is often assumed that the Greeks were responsible for the development of logic, and this is true. But Mangalwadi points out that by the time of Christ, the Greeks had lost confidence in logic, turning rather to a scepticism that denied any ultimate truth. It was only the Judaeo-Christian concept of the logos — that the ultimate reality behind the universe is the rational Word of a personal God — which preserved faith in reason. And as this ultimate reality is rejected today, we find again a greater concern with style, experience or mysticism than with reason. Will a civilisation built on reason ultimately forget how to think?

Another great strength of the book is that it is well-organised, with a chapter devoted to each topic. In addition to the topics already mentioned, there are chapters on heroism, revolution, university, service, family, compassion and true wealth.

It’s not bedtime reading, but then, as John Piper points out: ‘If a book is easy and fits nicely into all your language conventions and thought forms, then you probably will not grow much from reading it. It may be entertaining, but not enlarging to your understanding. It’s the hard books that count’.1

It will be useful not only for understanding the past, but also critiquing the present and, vitally, shaping the future. It will be useful for engaging with non-Christians at a personal and societal level. In an age when Christianity is thought to be untrue and irrelevant, it will help us to demonstrate that it is quite the opposite — for it has shaped much that is good in our culture. And, to a postmodern culture which longs for a sense of cultural belonging and a lifestyle that ‘works’, it will help us demonstrate that Christianity has worked for 2,000 years and counting, and is therefore definitely worth a try.

Steve Wilcox,
a vicar ministering on the edge of Hull

1. John Piper, God’s passion for his glory — Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards, p.29