The Western Civilization

Western Civilization’s biggest motivation is relentless pursuit of progress, change, and rebuilding. This is reflected in the Italian Renaissance (15th century); the Enlightenment (18th century); the English Revolution (17th century), French Revolution (18th century), and American Revolution (18th century); the Industrial Revolution (18th and 19th centuries); the Scientific and Technological Revolution (20th century); and the Information and Virtualization Waves (21st century). Eventually it has led to the rise of the developed nations of Europe, America, Australia, and New Zealand, where the level of education, industrialization, service, governance, and living is among the highest in the world.

By declaring that God was one, autonomous, superior, and motivated for social justice, the Hebrews provoked a religious revolution that disconnected them from the world-views of the neighboring Mesopotamian and Egyptian peoples. The new view of divinity led to an awareness of the value of the individual.

Greeks perceived law as an achievement of the rational mind rather than as a proclamation imposed by divinities. In the process, they also developed the idea of political freedom and the possibility of democratic and other political institutions. Their philosophers argued that nature is not controlled by blind chance. There are some general rules of nature which can be comprehended by human minds. This led to the search for truth, the collection of data, and the generation of theoretical explanations. Thus, a distinction between medicine and magic was recognized. The quest for truth was also associated for the admiration of beauty, exemplified in architecture, sculptures, pottery, and clothes. Still today, these Greek achievements constitute a basis for Western civilization.

During the early Middle Ages (500 to 1050CE), Western Civilization evolved with Christianity at the center, Rome as the spiritual capital, and Latin as the language of spiritual life; nonetheless, the German tradition was included into the rising new civilization, as well.

On 25 December 800, Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne the “Emperor of the West” in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In this way Charlemagne and Leo attempted to revive the glories of the Roman Empire and found what would later came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire, which survived from 1254 to 1806. This empire reflected the desire to merge the formerly barbaric Germans with Christian and Roman elements into a rising new civilization, Western Civilization. A distinct Western (read European) civilization took root, but it was centuries away from its maturation.

The Mongol conquest of the 13th century weakened the ties that the Russians had with the West and forced them to face the East for two centuries.

The Jews belong to Western-Jewish civilization even though they are not Christians.

Beginning in 1948, all Jews became entitled to refuge in the state of Israel.

The ascent of Christianity was marked by many significant events. Four were particularly important: Crusades, The Inquisition, Schism, Reformation.

The major differences that remain between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Churches are as follows:

• The Roman Catholic Church is ruled by semi-divine Popes and clergy composed of the hierarchy of cardinals, bishops, priests, and deacons. It is one integrated world-wide organization with its capital in the Vatican City (Rome, Italy). 
• The Protestant Churches, by contrast, have many different, theology-oriented branches (Evangelical, Methodist, Reformed, Lutheran,Pentecostal,Baptist,Mormon,Anglican,Presbyterian, Unitarian, and numerous others),most of which are independent and many, but not all, ruled by flat management structures. 
• The theological difference between these two churches is in the complexity of liturgy. The Protestant churches generally follow a simpler liturgy than does the Catholic Church.

The American Revolution (1775-83) transformed a colonized society into a fully functioning independent nation. Many among the colonists had decided to determine their own destiny, and that, coupled with British parliamentary intransigence, led to the war for independence. By the end, a vast new republic, the United States of America, had appeared on the world stage.

The French Revolution of 1789, arguably the most significant event in thousands of years, was a powerful impetus to evaluation of hereditary monarchical governments. Soon this revolution shook the entire continent of Europe. Its main idea was expressed in its motto: liberté, égalité, fraternité, or “liberty, equality, fraternity.”

In 1996, participants at an American Council on International Intercultural Education conference adopted a framework for global education. The conferees created a list of developmental stages that “represent a continuum germane throughout all levels of education”:

A. Recognition of global systems and their connectedness, including personal awareness and openness to other cultures, values, and attitudes at home and abroad.

B. Intercultural skills and direct experiences.

C. General knowledge of history and world events -- politics, economics, geography.

D. Detailed area studies specialization -- expertise in another language, culture, or country.

According to Academic Ranking of World Universities, of the 20 top universities in the world, 19 belong to Western civilization and one to the Japanese civilization.

The Cold War began in 1945 between the West, which promoted democracy and capitalism, and the East, which practiced state communism and central planning.

France, West Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, Holland, and Italy became the core countries of the coming Western European unity as they were the members of the European Coal and Steel Community established in 1951.

Greek culture brought a shift from aristocratic governance to democracy in the Western culture.

The legacy of Latin American culture is best reflected in dance. This culture has contributed a dance, the tango, which is performed with great involvement and dynamism and is widely adapted to the world.

High Culture refers to good taste, the aspirational levels in music, paintings, and theatre.

The term “Industrial Revolution” symbolized the shift from an agrarian, handicraft, labor-intensive economy to one dominated by machine-driven manufacturing, specialization of tasks (at the shop-floor and in the office where bureaucracy was born), a free flow of capital, and the concentration of people in the cities of the emerging Industrial Society.