Jonathan Lyons (1)
Author of The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization
About the Author
Jonathan Lyons served as editor and foreign correspondentmostly in the Muslim worldfor Reuters for more than twenty years. He is now affiliated with the Global Terrorism Research Center and is a Ph.D. candidate in the sociology of religion, both at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He show more lives in Washington, D.C. show less
Works by Jonathan Lyons
The Society for Useful Knowledge: How Benjamin Franklin and Friends Brought the Enlightenment to America (2013) 99 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 20th century
- Gender
- male
Members
Reviews
A really interesting and readable book that told me a great deal I didn't know about the intellectual life of both Europe and The Middle East between the fall of Rome and the late European Renaissance. I came away with the really strong impression that had the Church been less powerful or had had a slightly different doctrinal basis that history and science would have been very different. (There is also a strong impression that the Crusades slowed down Europe's intellectual progress and possibly led to the current Middle Eastern mess.)
It would seem that the Arabs not only 'saved' the knowledge of the Greeks but developed it far beyond what we are usually taught here in the West. There were a number of great scholars in the various Islamic states whose work reached Europe via Sicily and Spain. Both were at one time Islamic and remained centers of Arab learning for some time after they became nominally Christian. For a number of centuries the rulers and clergy of the Islamic states were overall a very tolerant group that encouraged learning and philosophical inquiry and lived very peaceably with other 'people of the Book' within their borders.
More reading in this area is indicated. Recommended.… (more)
It would seem that the Arabs not only 'saved' the knowledge of the Greeks but developed it far beyond what we are usually taught here in the West. There were a number of great scholars in the various Islamic states whose work reached Europe via Sicily and Spain. Both were at one time Islamic and remained centers of Arab learning for some time after they became nominally Christian. For a number of centuries the rulers and clergy of the Islamic states were overall a very tolerant group that encouraged learning and philosophical inquiry and lived very peaceably with other 'people of the Book' within their borders.
More reading in this area is indicated. Recommended.… (more)
1 
hailelib | 3 other reviews | Jul 8, 2009 |
hailelib | 3 other reviews | Jul 8, 2009 | Lists
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Statistics
- Works
- 3
- Members
- 460
- Popularity
- #53,419
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 5
- ISBNs
- 32
- Languages
- 5
This part of the world of course was guided by Islam, yet the influence did not seem to curtail the progress of these early innovators in the same way. The reach of their knowledge was vast and advanced world progress starting with something as simple as the numeral system we incorporate to this day.
The story of this rather amazing history is presented in a chronologic way that ties in with western culture and led to the liberation of thought from the religious constraints, no easy task.… (more)