The Age of Faith, Volume 4

By: Will Durant

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 61 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

A History of Medieval Civilization (Christian, Islamic, and Judaic) from Constantine to Dante, AD 325 - 1300

The fourth volume in Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, The Age of Faith surveys the medieval achievements and modern significance of Christian, Islamic, and Judaic life and culture. Like the other volumes in the Story of Civilization series, this is a self-contained work, which at the same time fits into a comprehensive history of mankind. It includes the dramatic stories of St. Augustine, Hypatia, Justinian, Mohammed, Harun al-Rashid, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, Maimonides, St. Francis, St. Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, and many others, all in the perspective of integrated history. The greatest love stories in literature - of Héloise and Abélard, of Dante and Beatrice - are here retold with enthralling scholarship.

©2011 Will Durant (P)2014 Blackstone Audiobooks

Medieval History is Fun and Relevant!

This book is my favorite book I've listened to all year. Most books I listen to are because I want to find our place in the universe and how we got where we are. This book does that better than any book I've listened to this year.

The author ties the pieces of the history covered together as a coherent whole. The period of time covered is from about 330 AD (Constantin's son) to about 1315 (Dante), and makes the listener understand how the events led to the making of Modern Europe and explains how we get where we are thus adding to my understanding about our place in the universe.

Most books that mention the Islamic Civilizations from 650 AD to 1300 just give comic book like characterizations. This book does not. He tells the story by first telling the story of the early Christian Church in ways which the reader can understand. I had earlier read an audible book called "Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years". I couldn't follow it, too many 'isms' unless you're an expert. Durant is expert at stepping the reader through. One thing I always like to focus on is the development of the Trinity and how it is ultimately resolved. This book shed light on that for me, for example.

I learned even more about Christianity and what they believe in and why by listening to the sections on Islam and Judaism. The author explains by comparing and contrasting between the religions (including paganism), and explaining clearly while looking within a religion.

The author has a couple of narratives that he uses to tie the book together. Perfect order leads to no liberty, tolerance of others beliefs can not exist under absolute certainty, and the part can not understand the whole.

The second half of the book covers from Charlemagne to the Italian Renaissance, which compares and contrast the progress in Western Civilization with the Islamic Civilization. The author does step away from his formula that he used in his first two Volumes. He uses a chronological approach and looks at subsets of natural entities within Europe and is less thematic than he was in his first two volumes. This allows him to be redundant and tell the same story in different places allowing the listener to relearn what he probably didn't catch the first time.

He'll spend a long time on Peter Abelard (1140 AD) which leads to a long section on Thomas Aquinas. Both allow the crack of reason into the magistracy of Faith. Once reason is permitted the relationship between man and the church will change. The Islamic civilization (at this time period) allowed theology to trump philosophy. In the end, Christian Western Europe allowed philosophy to coexist and will ultimately lead to the "Age of Reason".

As I was listening to the second half, I realized that the main character who had not been properly introduced was Dante, but he kept being mentioned. During the story, I ended up buying "Dante's Inferno", because the author would always include Dante way before he was to pop up in the story as a main character, and talks about Dante's Comedy in the final hour of the book and why it is a summary of the whole "Age of Faith". (I also bought a cheap Historical Atlas in order to follow the places better).

People, in general, avoid this period of history because it can be complex and is often thought of has not relevant to today. They are wrong, and I would strongly recommend this book.

Illumination on the dark ages

This book is volume 4 in the 11 volume Story of Civilization by Will (and later Ariel) Durant. It covers the approximately 750 years from the fall of Rome through the very beginnings of the Renaissance in the areas encompassing Eastern and Western Europe (including Russia), the Middle East and Northern Africa. It does not cover events in eastern Asia (China, India, Mongolia and other related areas) although it is clear about the influence of those regions on the development of what we now think of as Western Civilization.

The book is very long (the Audible version is more than 61 hours in length) and the breadth of things covered is simply staggering including the early development of Christianity, early Judaic and Islamic civilizations, the Byzantine world, Feudalism, Chivalry, the Crusades, the development of the Catholic Church, the regional structuring of Eastern and Western Europe into what are now the counties of Europe, the influence of Jewish and Islamic culture on Western culture, the rise of Papal power over secular, the Medieval philosophers, the reopening of education to the populace and the rise of what Mr Durant refers to as the Era of Reason. Along the way we are treated to a virtual smorgasbord of information.

Here we learn the origin of many of our common use English words (for example, dollar, grocer, credit, debit, cash, wedding, Latin Quarter and many, many more), we meet the saint and sinners of The Dark Ages, the origins of Medieval banking, the origins of some current city names and a wealth of other information. Along the way we not only are presented with new information but often we find that much that we already knew was wrong. For me, one of the very instructive parts of the book was the description of Feudal Society and here I learned that much that is current common knowledge about the rights and obligations of Barons, Knights, merchants and serfs was, in fact, wrong. Here also we see how and why Feudalism lost its hold on Europe and how the cities and the merchants grabbed and held power, slowing reducing the influence and power of the Feudal Lords, including the monarchs.

While I personally found parts of the book hard to get through I found other parts simply fascinating and often found myself listening to this book with the same interest and zeal as I might listen to a best selling thriller. Some stories, like that of Abelard and Heloise, simply break the heart. Others, like that of Dante, are inspiring and often humorous and the most important thing I learned from this book is that things were often not as I thought them to be. This book, written more than 60 years ago, was like a breath of fresh air clearing out the cobwebs of misinformation I had stored in my mind.

The book is narrated by Stefan Rudnicki and I was at first disappointed that it was not narrated by Grover Gardner, as the previous volume was. However Mr Rudnicki did a wonderful job and, because parts of the book are in Latin, German and Italian (with translations into English), I found myself appreciative that Mr Rudnicki was able to speak the languages in question so well. His voice and pronunciation seemed to perfectly fit the material.

In summary this volume is simply wonderful and, although you may find parts boring, as I did, you will likely find parts enthralling and very, very informative. If you have an interest in the period which we sometimes refer to as the Dark Ages (and which Mr Durant makes clear was really a bridge into the Renaissance) you should not go wrong with this book.

Unparalleled Genius, Artist and Sage.

You should start from the beginning. It's worth it and then some. Every one of these books is a true masterpiece. The synthesis of material in this particular volume is breathtaking. Durant truly grasps every subject about which he writes. The breadth and depth of every book so far has amazed me.
I can find no one who compares with Durant's work in the History of Civilization. It will shift your perspective and open your world view. It might even make you a little more compassionate toward the human race.
These books have ruined me for any other author!!

Please Audible- give us the rest!!! I've listened to the first 3 over and over, waiting for each one! This book was such an exciting surprise when I saw it was available.
Please give us the rest!!

And thank you for making this volume available.

Epic

Everyone should be exposed to this time period of history through this work in seeing the transformation of people groups from savages to civilized, to organized states, of states that rise and fall, and the slow but steady growth of Europe under Christianity. The blossoming of Islam and the subsequent stumbling and fall of it's luminaries sweeps before you.
What I loved is Durant's weaving - he'll tell one epic, then another of the same time period and bring back the same characters so the reader can see how they fit in a different context.
Stefan Rudnicki's narration is awesome for this work, a steady, constant, almost invisible narration allowing the story to shine through.
Loved every part of it and I'm much richer for the listen, especially for the new understanding of our culture and how it developed, albeit slowly in fits and starts.

Dated, Biased, but Prett Good

This audiobook is produced for a book that's over 60 years old, so while it might have been the best the author could do based on their research and biases, it's still pretty thorough. If you want more details about specific religions, however, you might consider picking more contemporary materials.

Amazing

When I first read this book, I imagined Will Durant writing with a genial smile. Now I can hear the smile with Stefan Rudnicki's excellent reading. Who wouldn't enjoy such phrases as when Durant observes that the King of Spain "allies with the infidels to counter the infidelity of his allies." These pop out every page seemingly.

It seems impossible to cover such a span of time, much less do it well. But this book delivers. And although it is over 50 years old, scholarship has not moved on too much. What makes this period interesting? Practically everything unique about western civilization emerges in this period. Nations, languages, law, commerce, universities, and more. Not enough? You have the rise and slow retrograde motion of Islamic civilization. You have the crusades, cathedrals, Constantinople, and again I could go on. It ends with Dante and the first glimmerings of the renaissance. It is a great read.

Please audible keep up the good work with this series. Give us more!

The historical roots of religious conflict.

This is a good introduction to the sources of diversity in human belief systems. A wider understanding of the differences may lead to improved opportunities in modern society.

The “Country of the Mind,” from Julian to Dante

The fourth volume in Will and Ariel Durant’s epic Story of Civilization, The Age of Faith (1950), begins with Julian the Apostate (332-63) and ends with Dante (1265-1321). The tome (a 60+ hour audiobook) is divided into five books, The Byzantine Zenith, Islamic Civilization, Judaic Civilization, The Dark Ages, and The Climax of Christianity. There are seven chapters on Islamic history and three on Jewish, while twenty-eight chapters concern Christian history. Nonetheless, the Durants often stress the vast and deep influence from Islamic and Jewish cultures on Christian cultures in everything from language, religion, poetry, and music to agriculture, architecture, science, and medicine, demonstrating that “The continuity of science and philosophy from Egypt, India, and Babylonia through Greece and Byzantium to Eastern and Spanish Islam, and thence to northern Europe and America, is one of the brightest threads in the skein of history.” They are humanist citizens of the globally connected “Country of the Mind,” optimistically believing that “Civilization … is the co-operative product of many peoples, ranks, and faiths; and no one who studies its history can be a bigot of race or creed.”

The Durants are much more interested in religion, art, architecture, music, writing, calligraphy, history, philosophy, medicine, textiles, ceramics, metal and wood working, and culture generally, than in the war strategies, generals, armies, and battles. In a sentence or two they glide by turning points of history battles like Tours (where the Franks destroyed the Umayyad army in 732 and stopped the spread of Islam in Europe) or Manzikert (where the Seljuks destroyed the Byzantine army and opened up Anatolia to the Turks in 1071) only to spend pages detailing the construction and decoration of beautiful and sublime mosques and cathedrals or quoting sensual love poetry or inspiring letters or sublime hymns or secular songs or explaining efficient irrigation systems or the crafting of illuminated books or the making of stained glass windows or the encyclopedic and exuberant nature of Gothic cathedral sculpture, etc. This is no military history of the Age of Faith! Perhaps that’s because, as they say, “The ardor that destroys is seldom mated with the patience that builds.” That is, the Durants serve culture rather than celebrate (or even deplore) war.

As they go, the Durants put their belief that “He who would know the history of words would know the history of the world” into practice by revealing many interesting etymologies, like “sterling” deriving from “Easterling” (Hanseatic League members being perceived to be trustworthy) and curfew from French “cover fire” (due to William the Conqueror’s law to reduce fires in English cities).

The Durants are not free from condescension to women, referring at one point to "a command sorely uncongenial to the gentle sex" to speak only when absolutely necessary in nunneries. And their homophobia (or that of their 1950 era) shows up here and there, as when they say that Jews had “wholesome” sexual morals because they were “less given to pederasty,” or that one of the things brought back to the west from contact with Islamic civilization was “sexual perversion.” Their demotic bias manifests sometimes as well, as when they refer to Paradise Lost as “dull.”

The Durants have a refreshingly humble opinion of their own profession, more than once denigrating “the historian” in asides, as when, describing a free hospital in an Islamic city, they say, “The sleepless were provided with soft music, professional storytellers, and, perhaps, books of history.” Indeed, at times the book is fatiguing because of its many excerpted letters, poems, tales, songs, and the like, often given both in their original languages and in their English translations.

But mostly the Durants’ book is an illuminating pleasure to read, because of their open-minded, curious, critical, humane, objective, sensitive, modest, and ambitious vision of human nature, civilization, and history. And because of their writing style: rolling sentences with comma-separated clauses and witty, pithy, ironic comments. They love their material and enjoy telling it, coloring everything with their twinkling eyed, sardonic, too tolerant to be cynical take on things. Like Edward Gibbon, they are informative and entertaining and write in an elegant and strong style (though Gibbon cannot be matched by twentieth-century writers.)

From the first sentence of the book (“In the year 335 the Emperor Constantine, feeling the nearness of death, called his sons and nephews to his side, and divided among them, with the folly of fondness, the government of the immense Empire that he had won”), there are many memorable lines. Here are ten:

1. Left sole Emperor, he returned to Constantinople, and governed the reunified realm with dour integrity and devoted incompetence, too suspicious to be happy, too cruel to be loved, too vain to be great.
2. Congregations like to be scolded, but not to be reformed.
3. Statesmen who organize successful wars, just or unjust, are exalted by both contemporaries and posterities.
4. Sadi was a philosopher, but he forfeited the name by writing intelligibly.
5. Beliefs make history, especially when they are wrong; it is for errors that men have most nobly died.
6. It is the tragedy of things spiritual that they languish if unorganized, and are contaminated by the material needs of their organization.
7. Intolerance is the natural concomitant of strong faith; tolerance grows only when faith loses certainty; certainty is murderous.
8. Virtue makes no news, and bores both readers and historians.
9. There are few things in the world so unpopular as truth.
10. Modernity is a cloak put upon medievalism.

With his rich bass voice and clear enunciation, Stefan Rudniki gives a fine reading of most of the text, but he tends to deliver poetry, songs, and impassioned letters in a too uniform declamatory mode.

Hits it ALL

A very well rounded history of the Middle Ages. The writing style is extremely engaging and feels more like a good story. A must read for anyone studying this period.

Another stellar installment

So very worth the time for the perspective only history can give and none gives us better perspective on history than Mr. Durant.

Wow ... but "wow"

Any additional comments?

A tour de force. This book covers a fascinating period of history. It does so in a tone and style that kept me gripped. I know this is a strange way to describe the eras of faith, but the rich subject matter combined with the excellence of reading kept me hooked throughout. 61 hours was not enough!

This 12 volume sequence of books by Will Durant is rich in content and extremely well put together. I categorise audio books into those I can listen to whilst working (computer programming) and those that must be reserved for non-invasive listening. These volumes definitely sit in the latter category, and are to be savoured. I found them particularly good when doing housework, commuting or merely lazing.

A book I will definitely re-listen at some point. Marvellous!

Excellent

Excellent, can't wait to read the next book.
Like all the other books by Will Durant mind opening.

Mediaeval History

This is an attempt to instil some sort of order to an era of confusion. It does this well for Europe. I did find it lacking in the history of other parts of the world particularly India and China. Even Middle Eastern history was fairly minimal. The last few hours also tends to lose its way a bit but overall persist and you will be rewarded.