Glance Back
Back to the business at hand, you have till Saturday to get your two cents in on the “Who Was The Greatest Influence On Western Civ” poll at the Oxford Medievalist. Scroll down on left column for poll. Here’s the medievalist on the horse race to date (note reference to the comedian who wants to know why the Prophet Gore is being dissed, and reference to you, Crittenden readers, and what erudite literary brainiacs you are, with your preference for heathen philosophers and libertine scribblers):
At the time of this writing, we’ve got 105 votes. The favorite, thus far, has been St Paul who, until a link from Jules Crittenden resulted in an explosion of traffic from Aristotelians, had been the clear front-runner. After mounting this remarkable comeback, Aristotle and St Paul are locked in a tie at 26%, far above the next highest vote-getter, St Augustine of Hippo, who has garnered 10% of the vote. Rounding out the top five are history’s most famous general and arguably it’s most infamous politician, Gaius Julius Caesar, and the leader of the Israelites, Moses, each with 9% of the vote.
I am not surprised that St Paul and Aristotle are the highest vote getters, but I am indeed shocked that Shakespeare hasn’t fared better than he has, stuck at 5%. His performance was pitiful before Crittenden sent some readers my way - his readers are apparently more literary than mine are! It seems Shakespeare won’t muster enough support to crack the top five by this weekend; in any event, I plan to offer a spirited defense of The Bard.
Some people have asked me about my choice of including both Sts Paul and Augustine in the poll. My answer: Paul created Christianity, whilst Augustine is its cornerstone. Feel free to debate this assertion in the comment section. Naturally, many have asked me why the most obvious choice - Jesus Christ - was omitted from the list. Quite simply, I didn’t want Him hogging up all the votes!
Other surprises:
Isaac Newton and Winston Churchill each have 6% of the vote. In my opinion, Winston Churchill is the weakest of the ten choices. Remember, the questions who had the greatest influence on Western Civilization. An argument can be made that without Churchill, Britain loses the battle of Britain, Germany wins world War II and Western Civilization is finished as it had been known. I’m curious if any of the six people who voted for Churchill did so for that reason. BTW, the battle of Britain is one of the most important events in history, in my opinion. But not enough to put Churchill in the same class as Paul, Augustine, Aristotle or Caesar. A stronger argument is that Churchill is the greatest influence on the 20th century - debate that, too, of you’d like.
Euclid and Leonardo da Vinci are tied for the basement. I really thought Euclid would get more votes. Leonardo da Vinci was, admittedly, a last minute addition to the poll, but I thought he’d do better than he has.
Thanks for voting in the poll. If you voted, please feel free to advance an argument for your candidate in the comments section. Also, don’t hesitate to tell me that I’m an idiot and that I should have included so-and-so. For instance, I actually had a visitor (probably not a regular, I’m guessing) email me that he believed I should have - no joke - considered Al Gore on the list for the attention he’s called to the “imminent threat” that is global warming. After all, there will be no civilization left after global warming’s done with us…
Me. I like Julius Caesar. The Judeo-Christianity thing is big, but Caesar set the conditions for its spread, along with the spread of Latin and Greek language, culture and politics and critical fusion with Northern Barbarian culture, language and politics to give us what we have today. He’s the chokepoint for all of that.
Which brings us to another question. What becomes the pivotal moment in history? Crossing the Rubicon? Road to Damascus? Apple on the head?
Also, who else would you like to see. Alexander the Great? George Bush? Hey, if the Prophet Gore’s gotta be in there …
UPDATE: Christianity is now identified by the Materialist as a “Pre-Crittenden view,” an interesting thought, while poll-wise the post-Crittenden view is Aristotelian, except that Crittenden himself is a Caesarist. All I have to say is that if it wasn’t for Caesar, Aristotle would just be some windy old Greek, Paul might still be a Jew and us Northern Barbarians would probably still be worshipping our many gods among the sacred trees.
Here’s the thing. You can load your cart up with whatever you like. If it doesn’t have wheels, it isn’t going anywhere. Hence the prominence of the wheel among human inventions.
Topics: history
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:34 am on Thursday, June 21, 2007
12 Responses to “Glance Back”
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June 21st, 2007 at 12:15 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden turns us on to a poll being conducted by Oxford Medievalist on the topic of “Who was the greatest influence on Western Civilization?” - the poll itself is in the sidebar, with these results so far: The favorite, thus far, has been St Paul who, until a link from Jules Crittenden resulted in an explosion of traffic from Aristotelians, had been the clear front-runner. After mounting this remarkable comeback, Aristotle and St Paul are locked in a tie at 26%, far above the next highest vote-getter, St Augustine of Hippo, who has garnered 10% of the vote. Rounding out the top five are history’s most famous general and arguably it’s most infamous politician, Gaius Julius Caesar, and the leader of the Israelites, Moses, each with 9% of the vote. [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 12:20 pm
[...] 21st, 2007 by mvdg Jules Crittenden roots for Julius Caesar. Sadly for Jules St Paul and Aristotle are tied for first [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm
[...] Crittenden roots for Julius Caesar. Sadly for Jules St Paul and Aristotle are tied for first [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Actually, I voted for Julius Caesar. After reading all those Colleen McCullough books and watching HBO’s Rome, how could I not?
June 21st, 2007 at 4:45 pm
well one good thing about Julius: he shoved the Roman Empire (and us) from a lunar to a solar year (he learned that whilst in Egypt.) Making time and tax gathering much more logical.
Other than that: Charlemagne. His forays round and about “Europe” have defined the difference between “Roman” Europe and “Orthodox” Europe, hence our alphabet, etc.
AND Henry II, in whose time the GREAT BRITISH SYSTEM of COMMON LAW was established!!! As opposed to the Euro Roman Legal system. Thus, an opening for Empiricism and all that is great and good in our world.
June 21st, 2007 at 6:58 pm
It was almost a toss up between J.Caesar & Aristotle — until I started to think about thinking about it. Caesar opened a lot of doors, of course, but Artistotle really defined how we see, approach and think about the world. He ultimately won the battle of ideas, despite the odd millenium or so of stout Christian resistance to all things Greek. He won it in absentia, which even Caesar couldn’t do.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:43 pm
It’s hard to see how Christians resisted Greek thought, seeing as how from the time of Christ’s own teachings Greek thought was infused into Christianity, especially the wisdom literature. Let alone the fact that much of the Bible (both Testaments) were written in Greek.
Where is Richard Lionheart in the list? Hammurabi? King Arthur? Christopher Columbus? Homer? Constantine the Great? Luther?
Anyway, I have to choose Moses from the list, because he set the Jews free from slavery and gave them God’s laws thus establishing a just rule of law, which led to them being given all of Judea, which led over time to Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, which led directly to the marvelous, lawful civilization of Europe and every freedom and wonder it has to offer.
June 21st, 2007 at 11:02 pm
[...] h/t: Jules Crittendon [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 11:12 pm
My first choice isn’t on the list.
Hero of Alexandria — who (apparently) first demonstrated that steam could be harnessed. Ultimately, this notion is what enabled the industrial revolution in the west. Prior to the industrial revolution, western culture had little to distinguish it from anyone else and life was short and hard everywhere.
June 21st, 2007 at 11:15 pm
It is a civilization’s fundamental ideas that determine all the rest, even to the point of thinking about taking over the world. The core of western civilization is Aristotelian philosophy–especially his logic and his love of man and man’s life. Even modern Christianity, for all the reformation, depended on Aristotelian logic via St. Thomas to free it from the Platonism of Augustine. As we jettison Aristotelianism, and indulge ourselves in the latest mutation of Platonic otherworldliness, we see the core values of our civilization decline (and fall?).
Long live Reason.
June 21st, 2007 at 11:28 pm
I have to go with the pre-Crittenden view. The overwhelming driver of Western Civilization was Christianity, and the man who made universal Christianity was Paul. I mean no blasphemy by that. If you argue that Jesus made Paul I will not disagree.
June 22nd, 2007 at 4:03 am
wolfpangloss:
My book may be translated into French, but that doesn’t make it a French book or make me a French author.