How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization Audiobook By Thomas E. Woods Jr. cover art

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

 Preview
Try for $0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Buy for $18.18

Buy for $18.18

LIMITED TIME OFFER | Get 3 months for $0.99 a month

$14.95/mo thereafter-terms apply.
Ask a college student today what he knows about the Catholic Church and his answer might come down to one word: "corruption". But that one word should be "civilization".

Western civilization has given us modern science, the wealth of free-market economics, the security of law, a sense of human rights and freedom, charity as a virtue, splendid art and music, philosophy grounded in reason, and innumerable other gifts we take for granted. But what is the ultimate source of these gifts? Best-selling author and professor Thomas E. Woods, Jr., provides the answer: the Catholic Church.

No institution has done more to shape Western civilization than the two-thousand-year-old Catholic Church and in ways that many of us have forgotten or never known. Woods' book is essential reading for recovering this lost truth.

©2005 Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks Catholicism Christianity Civilization History Spirituality World Middle Ages World History

Critic reviews

"I recommend Professor Woods's book not only to anyone interested in the history of the Catholic Church, but also to any student of the history and development of Western civilization." (Dr. Paul Legutko, Stanford University)
Historical Revelations • Scholarly Research • Clear Quotation Distinction • Intellectual Contributions • Cultural Impact

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
I loved the fullness and scope of the work. The reader was a strange choice, but by the end of the first chapter, I zoned his idiosyncracies out and just focused on listening and taking notes.

Finding the sources of ideas is important to study of any sort. This book digs to the root of so many disciplines and pillars of what today we call Western Civilization that it seems almost indespensible after reading it.

I own the book in both the hard copy and audio because I wanted the bibliography.

SO much information!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Should be required reading for anyone interested in western history. Modern critics show their ignorance when they repeat old canards about how to hw Church is against science. The author shows that modern science wouldn't exist without the Church

Great history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As a Catholic I learned a lot with this book, and I take a lot of pride, eve moreso after listening. How rich and vast this faith tradition is! Definitely recommended. God be praised!

Enlightening and essential history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Woods convincingly negates the liberal position that the church, and more specifically Catholicism was a net force for cultural regression since the classical era. These style of polemics become complicated in consideration of broader cultural influences over such large periods of history. Wood's contention that Catholicism has been more beneficial than Protestantism, or that Christianity is a more significant than Western society; is negated by huge variances from country to country. I would contend that indigenous cultures among European countries accounts for a large factor of cultural and technological progress.

an interesting polemic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I absolutely recommend this book! Show’s us in a understandable way how come Catholic Church have a historical importance during the development of the civilization. Nice !

Nice reading

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews