Ask a Catholic

[Metis]

I'm glad you have read it.

What did you think the book got right? The universities? The hospitals? The judicial system? Anything?

One other question: Are you REALLY a mason...or was that just humor?

Me? Oh Good grief no I wouldn't be accepted as Freemason anyway since you have to be a monotheist, preferably Christian or Deist to be considered. Really, why would I want to prance around the town hall in a goofy looking apron?

As for the others...The Catholic Church did set up hospitals, it did set up schools of learning...But here's the problem.

Roman State Religions set up plenty of hospitals, shrines of Acelpius or Sullis can be found all across the former Roman Empire of which all functioned as hospitals.

Roman's set up schools of their own. They didn't use the word but they were for the higher learning of their citizens.

The Judicial system? The western judicial system is based upon the Codex Justinianus, which is an Eastern Roman work (and therefore originates from Greek Orthodoxy, more specifically the caeseropapist era not Catholicism).

The Catholic Church did build many things, but nothing individual states wouldn't have done by themselves had they had control of the wealth and power they fed to the Church.

[Randy Carson]

I'm glad you have read it.

What did you think the book got right? The universities? The hospitals? The judicial system? Anything?

One other question: Are you REALLY a mason...or was that just humor?

Me? Oh Good grief no I wouldn't be elidgeable to be a Freemason anyway, you have to be a monotheist, preferably Christian or Deist to be considered.

As for the others...The Catholic Church did set up hospitals, it did set up schools of learning...But here's the problem.

Roman State Religions set up plenty of hospitals, shrines of Acelpius or Sullis can be found all across the former Roman Empire of which all functioned as hospitals.

Roman's set up schools of their own. They didn't use the word but they were for the higher learning of their citizens.

The Judicial system? The western judicial system is based upon the Codex Justinianus, which is an Eastern Roman work (and therefore originates from Greek Orthodoxy, more specifically the caeseropapist era not Catholicism).

The Catholic Church did build many things, but nothing individual states wouldn't have done by themselves had they had control of the wealth and power they fed to the Church.

A nice conclusion..."Oh, someone would have done it...eventually."

The fact is, the Catholic Church DID build all those things.

[Metis]

Me? Oh Good grief no I wouldn't be elidgeable to be a Freemason anyway, you have to be a monotheist, preferably Christian or Deist to be considered.

As for the others...The Catholic Church did set up hospitals, it did set up schools of learning...But here's the problem.

Roman State Religions set up plenty of hospitals, shrines of Acelpius or Sullis can be found all across the former Roman Empire of which all functioned as hospitals.

Roman's set up schools of their own. They didn't use the word but they were for the higher learning of their citizens.

The Judicial system? The western judicial system is based upon the Codex Justinianus, which is an Eastern Roman work (and therefore originates from Greek Orthodoxy, more specifically the caeseropapist era not Catholicism).

The Catholic Church did build many things, but nothing individual states wouldn't have done by themselves had they had control of the wealth and power they fed to the Church.

A nice conclusion..."Oh, someone would have done it...eventually."

The fact is, the Catholic Church DID build all those things.

Only after it demolished the "pagan" ones the natives had set up. It wasn't like Mexico Randy, the Catholic Church didn't just hop off the boat and walk into the stone age; the work of creating a shared culture had already been done by the Romans. Many of the natives already had public baths, libraries, amphitheaters...Until the dark ages where they were forcibly taken away by both the barbarian invasions and the sensibilities of the Catholic Church.

[Randy Carson]

A nice conclusion..."Oh, someone would have done it...eventually."

The fact is, the Catholic Church DID build all those things.

Only after it demolished the "pagan" ones the natives had set up. It wasn't like Mexico Randy, the Catholic Church didn't just hop off the boat and walk into the stone age; the work of creating a shared culture had already been done by the Romans. Many of the natives already had public baths, libraries, amphitheaters...Until the dark ages where they were forcibly taken away by both the barbarian invasions and the sensibilities of the Catholic Church.

dupe

[Longhorn]

Hey Randy.....you remember me right? c:

[Cyberman]

Randy: you spelled "derp" wrong.

[abaris]

A nice conclusion..."Oh, someone would have done it...eventually."

The fact is, the Catholic Church DID build all those things.

And obviously there's a mixup between the earlier Cathedral schools and real universities that began to spread between the 11th and 13th century in Europe and basically taught what was called "the arts" in the Middle Ages: Medicine, Law, Theology and Arts.

Also I don't get why the development of the judicial system should be connected to the Catholic church. Anglosaxon case law for example is pretty much a descendant of Roman case law, which was very developed and also based on precedents.

It's out of dispute that the Catholic church and it's monasteries at least preserved some of the knowledge of old. Basically they were the only organization where literacy was widespread. But herein also lies the problem, since they only preserved what had value to them and didn't contradict their dogmas. All through the Middle Ages, the Roman surgeon Galen was still considered the utmost authority when it came to medical knowledge. New research was practically impossible, since the church prohibited autopsies out of dogmatic reasons. It's only with the advent of the Renaissance that researchers, Leonardo Da Vinci among them, started to break the church's commandment and began to study the anatomy of the human body. But they were risking life and limb in doing so.

Another issue that's often conveniently forgotten is the influence the crusades had on gaining new knowledge. Many of the muslim kingdoms were much more advanced than Europe when it came to medicine, hygiene and literacy. It's what Europeans learned by getting in touch with them, which really moved European knowledge forward.

[Metis]

Only after it demolished the "pagan" ones the natives had set up. It wasn't like Mexico Randy, the Catholic Church didn't just hop off the boat and walk into the stone age; the work of creating a shared culture had already been done by the Romans. Many of the natives already had public baths, libraries, amphitheaters...Until the dark ages where they were forcibly taken away by both the barbarian invasions and the sensibilities of the Catholic Church.

dupe

Is it? Please elaborate.

[Randy Carson]

Hey Randy.....you remember me right? c:

I do. My apologies...I wanted to show some love to the other threads, but your questions are actually my #1 priority. If my evening goes well, I will be able to devote some time to your post. If not, I have tomorrow off, and I'll have all day.

[Randy Carson]

Randy: you spelled "derp" wrong.

dupe

Is it? Please elaborate.

Sorry, I thought I had posted a duplicate response.

How do I delete a post completely? The edit feature does not seem to have a delete post option.