Sunday, October 12, 2008. 10:10 AM
The Spiritual Lessons of History
The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith
The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host
Thomas Cahill, author of the Hinges of History book series, joins Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III for a conversation about a different way to appreciate the story of the Western world.
In Cahill’s view, despite collegiate emphasis on ancient Greece, Western civilization begins with the origins of Judaism. “The Jews give us our value system,” he says. “It is the Greeks who give us our filing system,” meaning terminology and subjects such as psychology and philosophy.
Cahill looks to Hebrew scripture to find this kernel of Western civilization. Until Abraham, he asserts, ancient civilizations followed an endless cycle of seasons, and of birth, copulation, and death. If the writings of ancient peoples are read side by side, “The Jews came up with things that nobody had ever thought of before,” Cahill summarizes.
“God tells Abraham to go out into the unknown,” he expands. “At that moment, time becomes real.... Now, for the first time, the future becomes real.... It’s a completely new way of thinking. And Abraham becomes a person of destiny.”
The dean and Cahill discuss other “odd characters on the edge,” as Lloyd describes them, who make more history than the leaders of many civilizations: St. Patrick, St. Francis of Assisi, Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, John Paul II, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others. “These were all people ... who didn’t come out of the elite,” Lloyd analyzes. “They were grounded in a faith and a people and a place that gave them a place to stand and a perspective from which to engage the larger currents of the time.”
St. Patrick, for example set out to bring the Gospel to Ireland. In pursuing this goal he taught the Irish to read and write, “which they got a great kick out of,” Cahill says. One of his earlier books, How the Irish Saved Civilization, explores this unexpected benefit of Patrick’s efforts.
Cahill has also recently finished a manuscript about the death penalty. A Saint on Death Row, scheduled for publication in March 2009, tells of Dominique Green, a death row inmate who was executed in 2004. Green was put to death even though Cahill and others believe that he robbed but did not kill Andrew Lastrapes, Jr. Members of the victim’s family strove to have Green’s sentence commuted.
Thomas Cahill is a best-selling author, scholar, and former religious books editor whose “Hinges of History” series on the roots of Western civilization has won millions of readers. Among his best-known works are How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gifts of the Jews, Desire of the Everlasting Hills, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, and Mysteries of the Middle Ages.
- Learn more about Thomas Cahill.
- Visit Mr. Cahill’s official website.
- Explore the reading guides to Mr. Cahill’s “Hinges of History” series.
- Read essays by Mr. Cahill, including “How to Read the Bible”.
- Read an author Q&A about Mr. Cahill’s latest book, Mysteries of the Middle Ages, and his relationship to Catholicism.
- Watch a 2007 Bill Moyers Journal interview with Mr. Cahill about his "Hinges of History" series and his present work writing about the death penalty.
- Listen to an NPR “Talk of the Nation” conversation with Mr. Cahill about why the Greeks matter.
- Read the transcript of a Newshour with Jim Lehrer interview with Mr. Cahill about The Gifts of the Jews.
- Order Mr. Cahill’s books.
About Thomas Cahill
Thomas Cahill is a best-selling author, scholar, and former religious books editor whose “Hinges of History” series on the roots of Western civilization has won millions of readers. Among his best-known works are How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gifts of the Jews, Desire of the Everlasting Hills, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, and Mysteries of the Middle Ages.