6 Modern Myths About Christianity & Western Civilization [Paperback]

Philip J. Sampson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2001

When did you last encounter a myth? Maybe watching a movie, touring a museum or browsing the sci-fi section of your local bookstore? To contemporary men and women, myths seem mere relics of a premodern era--legendary stories of capricious gods, heroic deeds and lost cities. The physical and social anxieties that gave rise to myths have been dealt with more productively in our century by science, government and art. Right? "Not at all," says Philip Sampson. In 6 Modern Myths he shows that all societies, even sophisticated and skeptical societies like ours, nurture myths that distort both science and history to further cultural goals. Such myths are important guides to a society's understanding of itself. How often have you heard the story, for example, of plucky Galileo, armed merely with a telescope and reason, doing battle with a superstitious church only to be condemned as a heretic and harshly imprisoned? Even though most of the "facts" commonly assumed to be true about this story are just not so, the romanticized myth of Galileo boldly marches forward. Sampson dispels this myth and five others--that the rise of Christianity led to ecological crisis, that missionaries have oppressed native peoples, that Darwin's evolutionary ideas were embraced by scientists but vilified by religious leaders, that the church was responsible for persecution of witches, and that Christianity teaches the repression of bodily pleasures--all woven nearly inextricably into the fabric of Christianity and Western civilization. To tease apart historical fact from cultural fiction Sampson tells different stories, rich in historical detail, fascinating characters and surprising twists. 6 Modern Myths offers you a historical tapestry that unsettles conventional wisdom and provides an enlightening look at the complexities of truth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Philip Sampson's altogether helpful book gently deflates many of the important myths of modern Western culture. Sampson first patiently unfolds these myths--like the heroism of Galileo versus the benighted tyranny of the Catholic Church or the mindless colonialism of Christian missionaries versus the noble savagery of indigenous peoples. Then he shows that the myths rest not on facts or reasoning but on persistently repeated stories. For the sharpening of thinking, especially among those who suspect that Christianity has never been as repressive as often claimed, this is illuminating reading at its best." (Mark Noll, professor of history, Wheaton College )

About the Author

Sampson is a mediator, family court advisor and research fellow. He holds a Ph.D. in social sciences from the University of Southampton in England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 197 pages
• Publisher: IVP Books (January 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 083082281X
• ISBN-13: 978-0830822812
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Cogent Rebuttal of Modern Anti-Christian Myths, August 1, 2005

By 

Stephen Triesch (Shoreline/Seattle USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 6 Modern Myths About Christianity & Western Civilization (Paperback)

Social scientist Philip Sampson takes on six anti-Christian myths that are incessantly propagated through the news media, popular culture, the public schools, and academia. By "myth" Sampson means a story line in which a basic core of historical facts is altered - by addition, distortion, or subtraction - to create a picture in which Christianity is seen as a monolithic and destructive entity fundamentally hostile to humanistic values.

As timely as today's headlines, these modern "myths" include: (1) the story of Galileo versus the Catholic Church; (2) the ongoing Christian fight against Darwinism; (3) the pernicious influence of Christian missionaries on native societies; (4) Christian denigration of the body and sexuality; (5) Christian disregard for the environment; and (5) Christian persecution of witches. Sampson shows how in each case a generally accepted story has been created which seriously misrepresents the historical facts.

For example, in the chapter on Darwin, Sampson shows how the accepted story line of "Darwin and reason versus the church and superstition" overlooks the widespread scientific opposition to Darwin's ideas, both then and now, and the relative lack of empirical support for Darwinism. Moreover, Christians were not uniformly hostile to Darwin, nor were their objections necessarily based on Biblical fundamentalism.

Sampson also offers some interesting background on the famous Scopes "Monkey Trial," providing a much needed corrective for how that trial is often presented in the popular press. Even more to the point, Sampson shows how social policies derived from Darwinist assumptions - imperialism, eugenics, unfettered capitalism - were often OPPOSED by Christians.

And that is perhaps Sampson's major point: many of the attitudes for which Christianity is blamed are actually products of Enlightenment rationalism or Greek philosophy. Thus, the Indians were conquered not so much because Christianity demanded it but because modern, progressive, enlightened civilization demanded it; and if the environment is degraded, it is because since the Enlightenment we no longer see this as God's world, but man's, to do with as we please.

Sampson does not hide Christianity's historical sins. Rather, he puts them in perspective and shows how they often intertwined with other factors that are now overlooked. As a defense of a nuanced view of both actual history and intellectual history, Sampson provides an excellent antidote to the simplistic and bigoted myths which so often pass for fact.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Myth Busting Book, February 15, 2001

By 

Wayne C. Lusvardi (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 6 Modern Myths About Christianity & Western Civilization (Paperback)

Phillip J. Sampson, Phd. in social sciences, has written a very readable book on six anti-religious myths that permeate modern society about Galileo's condemnation by the Christian church, about Darwin's evolutionary theory, about Christian religion legitmating the ruination of the environment, about missionaries oppressing indigenous peoples, religious repression of the human body, and persecution of witches. For example, Sampson shows that 70 years prior to Galileo, Copernicus had the same idea that the earth revolved around the sun. Copernicus was supported by the church, as was Galileo, and both were honored by Catholic popes. Galileo suffered a short detention and mild, but honorable, reproof from Pope Urban VIII for calling the Pope a "simpleton." Likewise Darwinism is shown to reflect "survival of the fittest" capitalism more than science. And the notion that Judeo Christian religions legitmated the exploitation of the environment is shown to be a Greek, not a religious idea. Sampson convincingly shows that such stories do not fit the historical facts and are modernistic narratives meant to repress competing religious narratives and alternative worldviews. Unfortunately Sampson doesn't fully tell us why he believes such myths persist and how they are legitimated. This is a book for those who do not want to get their history or stories from movies or television.

42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable and fascinating!, July 2, 2001

By 

Archimedes Tritium - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 6 Modern Myths About Christianity & Western Civilization (Paperback)

No need to hesitate. Buy this beautifully researched, insightful book.

The author looks at 6 primary beliefs that define the modern world, tracing their development as fictions cultivated by 18-20th century Enlightenment humanists who distorted their opponents beliefs and history, even fabricating quote attributions in the process. The goal was to replace Christian understanding of God, reality and man with naturalist beliefs, derived from Greek paganism, thus move authority from God to man (specifically, them).

Because of the author's gentle style, some readers new to the debate over humanism vs. religion & science may find it valuable to first read "Atheism and the Erosion of Freedom" (Morey), to understand the underlying assumptions driving the Humanist project.

"Inventing the Flat Earth" (Russell) is another outstanding book that focuses on a single issue: the fabrication of the idea (in the 1820's) that medieval people thought the world flat, so as to discredit the church and construct a Dark Age to be be corrected by Enlightened moderns.

Included in "6 Myths":

#1) Remember plucky Galileo, who stood against the might of the church armed only with the flame of reason and a telescope? Tortured by the Inquisition and condemned as a heretic for showing humans lived on an insignificant speck orbiting a common star nowhere special in the Universe, a realization that devastated a now-undermined church? Well, nothing in the above humanist story is true.

Copernicus proposed the Earth revolved around the Sun decades before Galileo. It was widely discusssed, but evidence was lacking. The Roman Catholic Church provisionally accepted the view of Aristotle, that everything revolved around the Earth, pending other information. Geocentrism was a Greek idea, not a Biblical one.

While people debated heliocentrism, a matter of no significance in the Bible, (the main opponents of heliocentrism were other astronomers with pride vested in understanding of concentric spheres, NOT clergy), Galileo got in trouble for implying the Pope, who had gone out of his way to befriend Galileo, (even penning an ode to him in 1620), was a simpleton. Further, Galileo asserted that the Bible was written for the common man and did not need a church to interpret. This was strikingly similar to arguments of the earlier John Calvin and the Protestant Reformation, to which the Roman Catholic Church WAS acutely sensitive, contributing to Galileo's arrest.

The choicest morsel here is one that always baffled me: the notion that heliocentrism somehow devastated the church by removing Man from the center of creation. This shows total ignorance of Biblical Christianity which ACTUALLY says all things were made NOT for humans, but for the Son of God. Their value arises from God's delight in them.

When the Enlightenment lapsed back into Greek idiom, it confused mankind being given "dominion" (leadership responsibility) with the Greek understanding: "domination". The idea that nature's reason for existence is its usefulness to mankind is a Greek one, coming from Aristotle, not the Bible. It was extended by the Romans, who treated the natural environment as a conquered province. At times the confusion did seep into the church, via writings influenced by Hellenism, such as Aquinas, but was expelled during the Reformation.

At the time of Galileo, the Earth being at the center of the universe was NOT AN HONOR. It was the outer celestial spheres that were pure and divine. The Universe became more corrupt as you moved to the center, which is why Dante put Hell in the center of the Earth. The Earth was held to be corrupt due to mankind's Fall and sinful nature.

When Galileo asserted the Earth was ACTUALLY a heavenly body, far from demoting it, he elevated it (and mankind) in importance. And he wrote so. Which is what endeared him to the humanistic (ego/pride-centered) "Enlightenment" intellects.

Chapter #2) Darwin: completed the Copernican revolution for humanists, by seeming to remove God and Original Sin. Materialistic, undirected evolution meant human thought, ego/pride and power were the actual pivots around which the universe revolved, not God. The book documents an array of historical fabrications used to caricature the church's position on evolution. Humanists need to reinforce their view of themselves as rational and tolerant (because they are not), needing an enemy to attack so as to avoid self-examination (see my review of "Why People Believe Weird Things"(Shermer)). This is one reason there seem to be countless books railing against the danger of believing in pseudo-science like dowsing, but one is hard pressed to find anything pro-dowsing. Shadow-boxing?).

#3) The Environment. Shows how, contrary to the humanist myth that Bible-based human "dominion" caused environmental degradation, it is actually Greek and Roman thought, revived by the Enlightenment project (while suppressing Christianity through caricature and demonization), that gives the go ahead. To a Christian, a tree is part of Creation, designed by God. The Puritans were strong, original environmentalists, opposing animal cruelty even as their detractors lied to cartoon their motives as the opposite. It is in Christian societies where modern environmental awareness was founded and developed.

#4) The Missionaries -- shows how terms like "savage" and "barbarian" and "civilization" are foreign to Biblical understanding, but are prominent in "Enlightened" thought. Actual Christianity sees all humans as being made in the image of God thus having intrinsic worth. Accordingly, it is in Christian societies where slavery was legally banned and the idea of "human rights" has root.

#5) Human body -- punctures the idea the Christianity means sexual repression, and shows why humanists needed to invent the caricature.

#6) Witchcraft -- documents the real history, grossly exagerrated by humanists. 20 people died in Salem. But hundreds of millions have been killed and enslaved this century trying to create secular Utopias, be they communist, socialist, or fascist.

This skeletal summary doesn't do the book justice. Get the book. Read carefully.