Saturday, December 06, 2003

TCS: Tech Central Station - Does Islam Need a Luther or a Pope?

"But there is another and deeper problem with the received analysis. The fact of the matter is that those aspects of Islam that seem to put it unalterably at odds with the modern world are, for the most part, precisely those that it shares in common with Protestantism; and that those features of modern Western civilization most crucial to the maintenance of liberty and scientific reason owe far more to the Catholic Church than they do to Luther and Calvin."

An interesting case study, though i'm not sure how relevant the discussion is to Islam, unfamiliar as I am with Islamic theology. However, it does bring up the old Belloc quotes in spirit: "Science is the enemy of reason". And of course the post-Enligtenment revelation that in fact it's impossible to construct a system of pure logic that makes any sense. Thus, the road from Luther's sola scriptura to the modern "I make my own world and my own rules".

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