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The truth is that science arose only because the doctrine of the rational creator of a rational universe made scientific inquiry plausible. Similarly, the idea of progress was inherent in Jewish conceptions of history and was central to Christian thought from very early days.
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Rodney Stark |
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faith in progress was fundamental to western Christianity. As for Orthodox Christianity in the Byzantine East, it prohibited both clocks and pipe organs from its churches.51
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Rodney Stark |
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Even more important, Islam holds that the universe is inherently irrational--that there is no cause and effect--because everything happens as the direct result of Allah's will at that particular time. Anything is possible. Attempts at science, then, are not only foolish but also blasphemous, in that they imply limits to Allah's power and authority.53 Therefore, Muslim scholars study law (what does Allah require?), not science.
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Rodney Stark |
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The reason so many innovations and inventions were abandoned or even outlawed in China had to do with Confucian opposition to change on grounds that the past was greatly superior.
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Rodney Stark |
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The Mormon definition of life makes the earthly sojourn basically an educative process. Knowledge is necessary to mastery, and the way to deification is through mastery, for not only does education aid man in fulfilling present tasks, it advances him in his eternal progress.
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Rodney Stark |
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Echoing his teacher, but using many more words, St Thomas Aquinas began his analysis of just prices by posing the question 'Whether a man may lawfully sell a thing for more than it is worth'.53 He answered by first quoting Augustine that it is natural and lawful, for 'you wish to buy cheap, and sell dear'. Next, Aquinas excluded fraud from legitimate transactions. Finally, he recognized that worth is not really an objective value - 'the jus..
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Rodney Stark |
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Property is insecure. In this one phrase the whole history of Asia is contained.
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Rodney Stark |