The Book That Made Your World - Vishal Mangalwadi

The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization (Mangalwadi, 2011)

With passion and precision, Indian philosopher and Christian apologist Vishal Mangalwadi makes the case that the Bible is the source for almost every moral, humane, and liberating social and scientific development of modern times.

I tried to formulate a snappy list of brief summaries, but you can get that from the back of the book. For me, the strength of the book lies in Mangalwadi's keen eye for contrast of worldviews. Time after time he illustrates how the religious worldview of a people shapes their values, which in turn determines how (or if) they try to change their world. In ancient India and China, Mangalwadi maintains, there was no shortage of intelligent, creative people, yet science, medicine, technology, political freedom, and education did not flourish until the West brought it in through so-called "cultural imperialism". The ideas of karma, caste, detachment, and Nirvana specifically hamper humanitarian developments or social improvements, since people are getting what the universe decided they deserve, and all the material world is unimportant anyway. Contrast that with the Judeo-Christian worldview that God created the world and said that it was good; that God created man in His own image, male and female, and pronounced them good as well; that creation was given to humans to steward. If those things are true, then there is impetus (even obligation) to learn more about the created world and to care for and elevate all humans.

The most striking example is a story Mangalwadi tells from when he and his wife worked in a mission in rural India. Some of the mission workers noticed a malnourished baby girl in the village and offered to help with medical treatment, but the parents fought it tooth and nail. They viewed the child, their fourth, as a burden on them; as they saw it, it was better for her to die young. What shocked the missionaries was that the whole village agreed with the parents that it was wrong to keep the child alive. The conflicting attitudes of the village and the missionaries sharply illustrate the consequences that come from our basic assumptions about life and its meaning.

I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially to those who have had the misfortune to take a Western Civilization class in college. I thought my Western Civ class was alright, but after reading Mangalwadi, I want to call up my alma mater and ask for my money back.

Arbitrary rating: 5 out of 5 contrasting worldviews