The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization

by Vishal Mangalwadi

“Leading thinkers” within the academy have succeeded in persuading many that “truth,” as such, is largely a function of social convention.

For if there is no truth to be discovered—if all truth is merely a function of social constructs— then reason itself has no genuine authority, and in its place, academic fashion and marketing determine what a culture believes.

I imagine what could be or ought to be and try to change what is. That’s creativity. I am part of nature, but I am not merely and exclusively a part of nature. By using my imagination, I can transcend nature. I can change nature to become like my imagination. I can invent matches, candles, and electric bulbs. Is that what the Bible implies when it calls God “Creator” and says that I am made in his image?

Love this quote on creation.

It is breathing reflection (soul) into physical action (matter). That, according to the Bible, is the essence of man. Adam became a living soul when God breathed his Spirit into a material body.21

“Far from seeking, like Homer, merely to make us forget our own reality for a few hours, it [the Bible] seeks to overcome our reality: we are to fit our own life into its world, feel ourselves to be elements in its structure of universal history.”8

The scientific pursuit started with the assumption that people were created as stewards of creation, not that fate or gods bound human beings.

spirituality with stewardship. In fact, the word economy comes from the Greek word oikonome—which means “to manage a household with care and thrift.”

that ultimately it is ideas, not might, that rule the world. Ideas create cultures. Ideas build industries, services, and jobs, ultimately materializing into civilizations.

sends the message that now the university exists only to teach skills.

Our unique gift of language enables us to create culture.