A Review of The Book That Made Your World.

By
Vishal Mangalwadi.
Thomas Nelson, 2011. (Available in Australia at Koorong Books)
The broad-brush thesis of this book is this: without the Judeo-Christian worldview, there would be no Western
civilisation as we know it. The Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament have contributed more to the
development of the West than any other single factor.
In over 400 information-rich pages the Indian-born scholar documents how the Bible directly and profoundly
contributed to the rise of the West. And not only has the West benefited immeasurably so too has the rest of the
world. Indeed, he argues that the Bible was the force that created modern India as well.
Of course this thesis is not new. One thinks of the recent
works by Rodney Stark, Jonathan Hill, or Alvin Schmidt.
Also recall the two volumes by D. James Kennedy: What if
Jesus Had Never Been Born? (1994) and What if the Bible
Had Never Been Written? (1998).

Vishal Mangalwadi'sThe Book that Made Your

World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western
Civilization [Hardcover]2011 by Vishal Mangalwadi
(Author)

But here we have a masterful presentation of the data in a finely written and cogently argued volume. As
Mangalwadi reminds us, the Bible first of all transforms individual human beings, who in turn transform entire
nations. In every area of life we see this remarkable record of personal and social transformation.
In whatever area we examine, we see the hand of Scripture all over it. Be it science, or health care, or literature, or
learning, or liberty, the biblical worldview touched and transformed entire societies. Mangalwadi very capably
discusses the big picture as well as the many individual cases.
Consider the area of technology for example. A quote from Marburg historian Ernst Benz sets the stage: Christian
beliefs provided the rationale, and faith the motive energy for western technology. Says Mangalwadi, Benz had
studied and experienced Buddhism in Japan. The antitechnological impulses in Zen led him to explore whether
Europes technological advances were somehow rooted in Christian beliefs and attitudes. His research led him to
the conclusion that the biblical worldview was indeed the key to understanding Western technology.
While Indian sages presented God as a dancer or dreamer, the biblical God was a Creator God, the architect of the
cosmos. And the incarnation of Jesus reminded Christian philosophers that matter had a spiritual purpose in its
creation. Thus Biblical cosmology had a direct bearing on the rise of Western science and technology.
But as Mangalwadi notes, Christian compassion was an equally important factor: Christian spirituality has
emphasized compassion, service, and liberation far more than the need to establish human dominion over
creation. That is indeed a vital element here.
He reminds us that India and Africa did not lack in ingenious minds; but how they were deployed matters greatly.
The Egyptians living along the Nile built the pyramids while barbarians inhabited Western Europe. The problem
was that the engineers who made pyramids to honor the bones of kings and queens did not bother making
wheelbarrows for their slaves.
Speaking of slavery, he reminds us of how early on anti-slavery sentiment arose in Christian communities.
Christians were the main ones responsible for ending slavery in the West. He cites Professor Stark: A virtual
Whos Who of Enlightenment figures fully accepted slavery. . . . It was not philosophers or secular intellectuals
who assembled the moral indictment of slavery, but the very people they held in such contempt: men and women
having intense Christian faith, who opposed slavery because it was sin.
Or consider the rise of the modern university and education. Mangalwadi asks why his university in Allahabad had
a church, but no Hindu temple or Muslim mosque: Because the university was invented and established by
Christians. We are reminded that while there were brilliant Greeks and Romans, they established no permanent
institutions, no libraries, and no scholarly guilds.
All that basically came from Christians. The medieval monasteries were the seed bed of the European universities.
Indeed, many of these monasteries and cathedral schools developed into these great universities. And almost all
education back then was in fact Church education, something which atheist H.G. Wells even had to admit.
And again, it was not just the West which has benefitted from all this. In South Korea the education of women was
mocked and discouraged, until Western Christian missionaries came there and brought about radical change. As a
result, today the largest womens university in the world is located in Seoul.
Even the education of the blind and deaf was a Christian initiative. Says Mangalwadi. The Greeks often used
blind boys as galley slaves and blind girls as prostitutes. Jesus, however, restored their sight. Christian
missionaries the world over followed in the positive example of Christ.

He continues, Darwins secular survival of the fittest philosophy would never pay for developing an education
to humanize the handicapped. Every traditional culture left them to their fate or karma. Some deliberately exposed
handicapped infants to death. The Bible alone presents a compassionate God who has come to this earth to save us
from our sin and its consequences including sickness and death.
Or look at the issue of literature. The truth is, much of the worlds greatest literature is traceable to the JudeoChristian worldview. Whether we are talking about the Book of Job or the sonnets of Shakespeare, the world is
immensely richer because of the Bible. Of course the Greco-Roman era produced great literature, but in terms of
the lasting transformative impact on the world, and the impact on English writers, the Bible is without peer.
The greatness of this literature is due to the greatness of the Judeo-Christian worldview: Indian myths, like
Greco-Roman myths, are about aristocrats the ruling elite and sages. The heroes of Genesis, by contrast, are
ordinary people with feet of clay.
Indeed, nation-building literature is based on and all about ordinary individuals who found greatness, not in
themselves, but by being made in Gods image, and being the special objects of his compassion. Transformation of
character is a defining feature of Scripture, and that in turn leads to the transformation of nations.
Simply consider as but one example how the Bible so soundly impacted Harriet Beecher Stowe, and how her
Uncle Toms Cabin so powerfully impacted Lincoln and the abolitionists in their fight against slavery in America.
The examples are endless.
Indeed, the examples of so many other areas turned upside down by the Bible and those who have been
transformed by it would fill hundreds, nay thousands, of volumes. But Mangalwadi here does a superb job of
demonstrating how in one area after another, the impact of Scripture has been overwhelming, and overwhelmingly
a force for good.
It is commonplace today to trash both Western culture and the biblical worldview which so powerfully and
comprehensively led to it. This remarkable book reminds us of the overwhelming good of both. We are not spared
the many faults of the West, nor how Christians have at times been a negative influence, however.
But on the whole, the very real benefits we enjoy today in the West, and in so many other parts of the world, are
directly the result of the Bible, and the millions of individuals who have been radically transformed by it. Such
transformed individuals have gone on to transform their world.
We so very much need to be reminded of all this, and this book performs this task exceptionally well. Every one of
us needs to get this book, master its contents, and share it with others. We are all in your debt Vishal Mangalwadi.
[1235 words]

Share:

Facebook41
Twitter2
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Email

About this entry

Youre currently reading A Review of The Book That Made Your World. By Vishal Mangalwadi., an entry on
CultureWatch

Published:
28.9.11 / 4pm
Filed under:
Apologetics, Book Reviews, Christianity, History, Worldviews
Related posts:
Related searches:

10 Comments
Jump to comment form | comments rss [?] |
trackback uri [?]
1. Stan Fishley 28.9.11 / 5pm
Bill, many thanks for this review.
Stan Fishley
2.
3. Carl Strehlow 28.9.11 / 8pm
Hi Bill, looking forward to buying it. I have bought a few books as a result of your reviews.
Carl Strehlow
4.
5. Ian Clarkson 30.9.11 / 1pm
Much scholarship affirms this thesis. Readers of your blog may be interested in for example, Samuel
Huntingtons The Third Wave, L Siedentops Democracy in Europe, Chpt.10, Europe Christianity and
Islam, Graham Maddox Religion and Democracy (Maddox is Prof of history at New England University)
Prof Emeritus Edwin Judge (Macquarie Univ) has written on several of the unique Christian ideas which
have developed into the great tributaries of thought behind Western civilisation.
It is important that this material is included in school history and society and environment curricula.
Ian Clarkson
6.
7. Andrew Matthews 6.10.11 / 9am
I wholly endorse Bills recommendation. This is the best book Ive read in years. Affirming and essential
for those who, like me, have been educated in modern anti western civilization universities.
Andrew Matthews
8.
9. Jenny 6.10.11 / 9am
Vishal is on a tour of Australia from 8 16 October 2011 to do a series of lectures on this new book.
The Truth Transformation tour is being co-ordinated by Warwick Marsh see
www.christianvalues.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36&Itemid=67
Ask Warwick for a list of dates and venues
10.
Vishal now lives in the USA and is concerned about the decline of the West.
Vishals website is: www.revelationmovement.com/
Watch him talk about the book on You Tube www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nHV3j8InRQ

11.
Vishal has a new article on Online Opinion about the law and grace (and the Bible) and Andrew Bolts
case: www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=12706&page=0
12.
Jenny Stokes
13.
14. Rolf 11.10.11 / 4am
THANKS! Lovely with a (long) substantiated review, followed Mangalwadi from my Swedish horizon for
about ten years, a fine Christian activist with a large inner life (not just the surface, therefore) see that
Mr. Mangalwadi is Down Under this week .
Truth and Transformation Tour: 8 16 October 2011
15.
Help me to pray that he will also visit Sweden, sometime
Rolf stlund, Sweden
16.
17. Jim Wilson 29.10.11 / 8am
Thanks, Bill. I believe the new proposed National Curriculum for History strongly emphasises Aboriginal
dreaming, but makes no mention of the influence of Christianity or the Bible as part of our heritage. What
is more it proposes to change BC and AD to the meaningless BCE and CE in order to rid the text of any
reference to the central place of Jesus Christ in history. Can we do something about this?
Jim Wilson
18.
19. Miss Anne-Marie Modra 14.11.11 / 10am
Music. The reason why the Christian West historically produced symphonies and other countries such as
in Asia or Africa did not is first of all due to the development of the stave we use today by Christian monks
over a thousand years ago and secondly the later consolidation of equal temperament by the Lutheran
Bach.
20.
Christian monks developed the stave (eleven lines) to notate chant, starting with one line and dots around it
as merely a reminder how the chant went, leading to the familiar twelve lines and clefs of today.
21.
Being able to write music down in the Christian West eventually allows the production of a musical score
of enormous complexity for example the production of a symphonic score then played by a symphony
orchestra. We also benefit from beautiful symphonic film scores especially backing wonderful nature
programs.
22.

The stave also means the democratisation of music so everybody in the world now has access to play
music that has been written down in whatever century.
23.
So school students can join an orchestra and play Sibelius Finlandia immediately from the printed score
thanks to the stave and therefore thanks to those liturgy (Scripture) chanting Christian monks of so many
centuries ago. What a wonderful corollary of praising God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through the
centuries.
24.
Miss Anne-Marie Modra
25.
26. Trevor Faggotter 2.12.11 / 10pm
Thanks Bill for the review. I am currently reading, and re-reading this book. It is a breath of fresh air. It is a
unique perspective.
27.
On a day like this one, (ALP conference) in Australia, it is a book that should be read widely. I heard
Vishal in Adelaide, and he stirs people to hope afresh, and live in faith, creatively and looking to see good
things happen in nations. Timely. Cheers.
28.
Trevor Faggotter
29.
30. Rajesh Shetty 23.2.14 / 2am
Truly Bible have blessed nations of the world. Vishal is such one blessing which is out come of bible .
31.
We are blessed!
32.