Beginnings of World Civilizations - Essay Example

Running head: History Lectures History Lectures (school) Beginnings of Civilizations It is natural to believe that our earliest years as human beings were not considered to be the most civilized. After all, we did not spring from the earth sporting ties and microwave ovens. We went through years lacking civilization. This week, you will learn about the start of human civilization, gaining an understanding of world history and our development as a species, and the development of social interactions and human behavior in general. Beginnings of Civilization It was only around 10,000-2000 B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) when culture and agriculture started to gain major developments and progress. In the years that followed, humans started to come up with ways to develop reliable food supplies through the planting of crops and domesticating of animals (Levack, Muir, Mans, & Veldman, 2010). People began to live longer, and as a result, were able to increase their population. Most people became farmers, increasing food supplies to the point of excess, with which they would trade and barter with others (Levack et al., 2010). With these initial commerce practices, the civilized societies slowly emerged. Southwest Asia Around 6000 B.C.E., the picture in Southwest Asia presented that of farming and interactive communities. From these communities, the Sumerians from Southern Mesopotamia, slowly emerged, and they built cities to govern their ways of life (World History, 2007). It is important to note that the existence of these cities were dependent on the ability to control the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers because most of these cities relied on water for their sustenance and for the support of their farms and their livestock (Dellapenna and Gupta, 2008). As in contemporary rule, the traditional Sumerian cities were also ruled by a leader; these cities were controlled by kings. The people from these times worshipped the sun and the moon and sometimes inanimate objects and they built temples to honor their gods. They made a valuable contribution to society with their introduction of cuneiform writing which is now the basic foundations of our current writing and reading (Levack et al., 2010). War and conquest were common themes during these early times. The Sumerians were no exception, as they were conquered by the Akkadian empire (Northern Babylonia which is now a portion of Iraq) (Abrams and Wang, 2003) and made a part of a multi-ethnic empire being exposed to various languages and cultures. Other societies emerged at this time, bringing about the Assyrian and Babylonian cultures. A significant contribution by the Assyrians (later conquered by the Babylonians) was bronze-making (Levack et al., 2010). And, perhaps you have heard of the name Hammurabi? He was one of the kings of Babylonia. Through his reign, Mesopotamia was conquered by Babylonia. Hammurabi also introduced one of the oldest criminal codes known to man--the Hammurabi code (Levack et al., 2010). Egypt The Egyptian civilization emerged along the Nile River at about 3500-2200 B.C.E. As with other civilizations, they emerged through agriculture and herding activities. Their major contribution to was known to be hieroglyphics, where early writing used symbols to depict meanings (Create for Mississippi, 2003). In the event that you might visit Egypt some day, you can witness hieroglyphics at the pyramids and ancient Egyptian tombs (Levack et al., 2010). Another popular icon of Egypt are mummies. Most of us view mummies as a representation of death. For the Egyptians, however, mummies represented life and the preservation of life. Europe In what we know today as, Europe, we also see farming and agriculture as the starting point for civilization. Do you see a theme emerging? These practices, however, were introduced by migrant cultures from the Mesopotamia region. Other types of cultures slowly emerged from Europe, however, as they took the ancient Asian cultures and made it their own. They developed the linear pottery and battle axe cultures which became widespread throughout the region (Levack et al., 2010). With the developments in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the West was able to gain much progress in farming, trading, politics, and even writing. And later on, these developments would spread to other continents and other parts of the world. References Abrams, I & Wang, G. (2003) The Iraq War and its consequences: thoughts of Nobel Peace Laureates and Eminent Scholars. New Jersey: World Scientific Publishing, Inc. Dellapenna, J. & Gupta, J. (2008) The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water. New York: Springer Levack, B., Muir, E., Mans, M., & Veldman, M. (2010). Chapter 1 Summary: The Beginnings of Civilization: 10,000-2000 B.C.E..The West: Encounters and transformations. Retrieved from http://wps.ablongman.com/long_levack_wc_1/43/11050/2829013.cw/index.html Sumer and Akkad (n.d) World History. Retrieved from http://theworldshistory.blogspot.com/2007/05/sumer-and-akkad.html The Meaning of Hieroglyphics (2003) CREATE for Mississippi. Retrieved from http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/stt/work/WJB_STT_hieroglyphics.pdf Early Muslim Civilization and Early Tribal Africa Regardless of our preconceived notions about Muslim and Islam, the earliest conceptions of this religion and culture are surprisingly a combination of other cultures and religions – from Christianity to Judaism and yes, even the pagan religions. In stark contrast to the labels being thrown at Islam in contemporary times, Muslims have been tolerant of other religions and cultures (Kreis, 2006). Even when they conquered these cultures, they allowed these cultures to flourish. You may seem surprised by this quality considering the difficulties that Muslims have of dealing with other religions, but there you go, history would speak for itself. One thing is sure however, from the very start, Islam has learned to protect itself and its essence as a religion and as a belief by not allowing other beliefs to dictate upon it. This we see to this very day. In its initial years, Islam has been considered a nomadic culture until it found a home in the – you guessed it – the Arab territories. Of course you all know Islam’s most famous prophet? Of course you do. He is of course, Muhammad or Mohammed. He was known to have united this religion or culture. Do you know why he is considered their prophet? Well, he was considered their prophet became the teachings of Allah were said to have been revealed to him by an angel. And these teachings were laid out in their bible – the Quran (Khanbagi). Even as their holy man, Muhammad had to pass on sometime and his passing brought on various problems of succession (Pipes, 1998). However, the succeeding years of the Muslim civilization brought on more conquered lands (Kreis, 2006). One after another, we see other cultures and territories fall to the Muslims, including the Byzantines, Syria, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain. But as they were conquering these territories, the infighting in their group also got worse. Perhaps you have heard of the Sunis and the Shiites? Well these two groups were borne out of the infighting Muslims (Jelen and Wilcox, 2002). Since some of them had different ideas on governance, they broke up into these two groups. The Shiites followed Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law and the Sunis followed the Ummayads (Jelen and Wilcox, 2002). The older rule of Islam was not all about fighting though. There was a golden period – a time when the Arabic, Byzantine, Persian, and Indian cultures were integrated with each other (Kreis, 2006). Why was it a golden age? It was a golden age because learning also reached its peak through Muslim associations with the Greeks and the Byzantines. They learned and interacted with each other. The interplay became more than predatory or conqueror-slave interaction. It became more as a learner and as student (Kreis, 2006). As the conquered groups learned about Islam, Islam and the Muslims also learned from the conquered. Knowledge became alive and in the process, science and philosophy was also preserved. Allah taught these Muslims to seek out knowledge and truth and to protect it (Kreis, 2006). They did that and more as they allowed knowledge to become a major part of their life and their daily activities. You might also be interested to know about the early beginnings of tribal Africa. Well, most of the southern part of the African continent has been occupied by tribes known as Khoisan (Hupston, 2009). Their language is characterized by clicking sounds. Yes, very much like that of the Bushman. From this tribe, more divisions were later seen – the San (Bushmen) and the KhoiKhoi or the Hottentots (History World, n.d). The Pygmies (which included the Bambuti, the Batwa, the Bayaka and the Bagyelil; they were scattered over a huge area in central and western Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda) (The Africa Guide, 1996) were known to occupy the tropical forests of central Africa, but it was the Negroes which dominated sub-Saharan Africa. These Negroes were known for their Bantu languages which dominated much of Africa in later years (History World, n.d). These Bantu languages were later heard more in Nigeria and Cameroon. And finally, we see, in later years the growth of more tribes in Africa. In fact, as we have heard at one point or another about Africa, it is dominated by tribes – families and communities. References African People and Culture (1996) The Africa Guide. Retrieved from http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/pygmies.htm History of Africa (n.d) History World. Retrieved from http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=1473&HistoryID=ab24>rack=pthc Hupston, F. (2009) Khoisan – Indigenous People of Southern Africa: Early Inhabitants of Kalahari Region of Sub-Saharan Africa. Suite 101. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/khoisan-indigenous-people-of-southern-africa-a118402 Jelen, T. & Wilcox, C. (2002) Religion and politics in comparative perspective: the one, the few, and the many. New York: Cambridge University Press Khanbagi, R. (2006) Muhammad the Prophet of Islam. New York: Global Scholarly Productions Kreis, S. (2006) Lecture 18: Islamic Civilization. History Guide. Retrieved from http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture18b.html Pipes, D. (1998) The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy. New York: Palgrave MacMillan Development of China in the 14th-16th centuries When you think of ancient China, I know the word dynasty comes to your mind. You are not wrong in that regard because the centuries we are studying, which is not even considered ancient is under the Ming and the Yuan dynasty. These centuries marked the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. When something is coming to an end, you may think that something is wrong with it, right? Right. This was also the case for the Yuan Dynasty which was going through economic hardships. It did not help China’s cause in any way when the Mongols were also controlling it (Veek, 2007). During this time, even when palaces and canals were built – and this seemed to represent progressive times for China – the fact that the peasants were paying and building these canals and palaces negated the concept of progress for the peasants and for China in general (MNSU, n.d). At this point, China was also trying to unsuccessfully gain access to Japan. It was nto doing well in its trade relations and the ruling Mongol Emperor favored the foreign traders more than the Chinese traders (Meyer, 1997). But the chinks in the Mongol’s armor soon showed and as soon as it did, uprising Chinese citizens easily toppled the Mongol rulers. The Emperor Yuan was soon overthrown (Meyer, 1997). These Mongols were easily pushed out of power and it was due to their own fumbles. The fact that they ignored Chinese citizens and did not even take the time to relate with the Chinese became one of these major fumbles. As was mentioned, they actually treated foreigners better. Well this was a fumble which did not ultimately serve its interests and in the end, it paid, in a major way, for this fumble – it lost control over China (MSNU, n.d). The Yuan Dynasty collapsed. But as one dynasty falls, another one often rises – and the Ming Dynasty was the one which emerged through Zhu Yuangzhang, a Han Chinese peasant and rebel army leader (Ong). Just as dynasties often gained power by manifesting their might, the Ming Dynasty did so in a major way, when it conquered Annam or Northern Vietnam. With more power came more shows of strength; and the Ming Dynasty did not disappoint as it went on to the Indian Ocean and to the east coast of Africa (MSNU, n.d). It went on to manifest its sea-strength through different maritime explorations and domestic trade activities. These explorations however could not last forever. And in 1433, these explorations were stopped. Strangely enough the exact reasons for the stoppage of these explorations were never known. But, like an intriguing event, various speculations on the cause of the stoppage were abundant (Lu, 2007). Some speculations indicate that these explorations were stopped because the emperor realized the great expense of large scale explorations. Other speculations indicated that China could not afford to concentrate its resources outside the country when its borders were being pressured by the Mongols (Lu, 2007). And still some others speculate that that court opposition may have played a hand in stopping these large scale explorations. They believed that some conservative officials viewing such explorations as totally alien to the ideas set by the government (Lu, 2007). So now what was China to do? It was a resilient country and was soon pressured by the Neo-Confucian bureaucracy to revive the strict agrarian-centered traditions. In the fashion of stability and strength, the Ming Dynasty became a stabilizing influence. It enhanced more than the economy, it also enhanced the arts, society, and politics (MSNU, n.d). And like all good things and all good periods, they all come to an end. The Ming dynasty was slowly chipped away by the wars with the Mongols, the entry of Japan into Korea, and the harassment of its coastal cities by Korea. As its defenses were down, it also became vulnerable to foreign powers. True enough, by 1644, the Manchus invaded Beijing and ruled north China, establishing the imperial dynasty known as the Qing (Haw, 2007). Once again, another dynasty ended and another began for China. References Haw, S. (2007) Beijing: a concise history. New York: Routledge Publishing Lu, S. (2007) Chinese modernity and global biopolitics: studies in literature and visual culture. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press Meyer, M. (1997) Asia: a concise history. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Ming Dynasty (n.d) Minnesota State University. Retrieved from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/later_imperial_china/ming.html Ong, S. (2005) China condensed: 5000 years of history & culture. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International Veek, G. (2007) Chinas geography: globalization and the dynamics of political, economic, and social change. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Development of India in the 14th century and cultural explosion For most of you who perceive that India’s history is exotic and rich, you would not be wrong. It is unfortunate, for the sake of our excitement that we are only focusing on one century of India’s history – the 14th century. 14th century India, just like China, is under two dynasties – known in particular as the Khilji Dynasty and the Tughlaq Dynasty. These periods are known to fall under the Delhi Sultanate. This is a period in their history which is marked by autonomous Muslim power (Schmidt, 1995). So here we see a link between India and Islam which goes to show us that Muslim was as widespread as other cultures and religions. At this point, the capital of India was moved so many times – not Delhi – but Lahore and later Devagiri. And still we see here that as one dynasty falls, another one comes into power. This succession is as bloody as expected with one power ending through the death of ruling authorities. In this case, as Balban of the Slave Dynasty died, Jalalluddin Khilji was installed into power (Gateway for India, 2005). But Jalaluddin’s nephew Allaudin wanted the throne from his uncle and gained such power by having Jalaluddin killed and proclaiming himself Sultan in 1296. His “rampage” did not stop with that kill. He went on to exemplify power through the conquest of lands – he went on to conquer Gujarat; in 1301, Ramthambhor was captured and the Rajput chief Hamir Deva was murdered (Mahajan and Mahajan, 1962). More killings and conquests followed from this seemingly bloodthirsty ruler when he conquered Chittor after killing Rana Rattan Singh. His Queen, along with other women even committed Jauhar (self-immolation). And on the violent conquests of Allaudin would continue with the capture of Malwa, Ujjain, Mandu, Dhar, and Chanderi (Gateway for India, 2005). After a few short years, he was almost in control of the entire North Indian region. His general also made major progress towards south India by capturing a large part of the region. Even as Allaudin seemed invincible, his reign was not without its problems as the Mongols carried out attacks on his territories several times, attacks which were successfully foiled (Gateway for India, 2005). But, he was a smart leader, and learned from these attacks. He learned to be prepared and to strengthen and organize his forces. Inasmuch as it seemed like his violent conquests would never end, he would later die in 1316 and Mubarak Khan, his third son, ascended the throne after much infighting. Mubarak’s rule was a disappointment as he was not as strong and as bloodthirsty as his father. He was eventually murdered by Khusru Khan; and this ended the Khilji dynasty (Gateway for India, 2005). The Tughlaq dynasty started when Ghazi Tughlaq, the governor of the northwestern provinces claimed the throne after killing Khusru Khan (Thorpe, 2008). Yes, more killings. He met an accidental death in 1325 and was soon succeeded by his son Muhammad bin Tughlaq. The expansion during his reign reached its zenith and his empire reached Peshawar in the north and Madurai in the South, from Sindh to Assam in the east (Thorpe, 2008). Muhammad introduced copper and brass as currencies equal to silver and gold coins. Forged coins, as a result became dominant at this point; and soon after, the bronze was also withdrawn as currency. His reign did not last long as he died from an illness in 1351 and was succeeded by his cousin Feroz Tughlaq (Thomas, 2004). Feroz did not contribute much to the empire. He was intolerant towards other religions. He was not totally useless however because he did initiate the construction of buildings with architectural skills (Gateway for India, 2005). However, he did reform the currency system. The invasion of the Mongols in 1398 made the situation for the Tughlaq Empire worse with Muhammad fleeing and Timur later capturing the city. Timur added insult to injury by destroying various temples in north India. Delhi was also plundered and thousands were killed. These defeats did not bode well for the Tughlaq dynasty and the Saiyyid dynasty was to take over by 1414 (Thomas, 2004). References History of India (2005) Gateway for India. Retrieved from http://www.gatewayforindia.com/history/muslim_history.htm#The%20Khilji%20Dynasty Mahajan, V. & Mahajan, S. (1962) The Muslim rule in India, Volume 1. Michigan: University of Michigan Press Singh, M. (2007) Dalits inheritance in Hindu religion. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House Schmidt, K. (1995) An atlas and survey of South Asian history. New York: M.E. Sharpe Thomas, E. (2004) The Chronicles of Pathan Kings of Delhi. New York: Kessinger Publishing Thorpe, V. (2008) The pearson Guide to Bank Probationary Officer Recruitment Examinations. India: Pearson Education India China’s influence on Japan from 14th-16th centuries We all naturally think of China and Japan as neighbors because of their geographical proximity to each other. This proximity however has also created much conflict between these two territories. And as the bigger and more influential state, it is natural, I guess, for us to think that China has had an influence on Japan. We would not be wrong in this regard because the Chinese culture influenced that of Japan through its art, religion, and politics (Jacobson, 2010). In fact, Japan was introduced to written language by China and ultimately, Japan’s history was shaped by the China’s influence. China also influenced Japan’s belief system by bringing Buddhism to Japan, early on its history (O’Brien, n.d). This is not a simple and dismissible impact on Japan or any other country for that matter. China also influenced Japan’s government with the suggestion of a centralized rule (Jacobson, 2010). Once again, this is a major contribution considering that Japan was messing up its governance during these times. True enough, more formal government processes soon followed the introduction of the centralized government to Japan (Jacobson, 2010). Another religion was also introduced by China to Japan and this is Confucianism. This religion had a major impact on Japanese culture, as it also affected its art and governance. At one point in its history, Japan’s government was based on Confucianism and Buddhism; Japan artwork also featured neo-Confucian influence which was very much similar to Chinese art (Jacobson, 2010). With these influences alone, we may be hard put to identify what was distinctly of Japan origin. And these influences on Japan would bear fruit because at the start of the 13th century, Honen, in the tradition of the Buddhist schools in China, founded the Jodo sect and Eisai the Rinzai Zen based on Chan (Beck, 2005). Their belief was founded on the fact that the divine winds were able to create storms which helped them to defeat the Mongols, Chinese, and the Korean invading armies. Trade relations between China and Japan were later resumed in the 15th century because both nations wanted to improve their economies and to fight off difficult times (Beck, 2005). Surprisingly enough, China’s influence even went as far as to affect Japan’s currency, with the latter using Chinese coins. The teachings of Buddhism grew further in Japan as Razan, a follower of Confucianist Seika, promoted education based on the teachings of Buddhism and with these teachings, Japan’s leaders were able to learn idealist philosophies (Teeuwen, Breen, Inoue, and Ito, 2003). Of course with idealism would come bigger ideas and these ideas would later turn into land reforms. With the teachings of Buddhism, the arts also gained much progression; in fact martial arts also increased its influence among the Japanese people (Beck, 2005). The Confucian principles introduced by the Chinese also influenced the samurai warrior and these principles went on to influence the philosophies of these Japanese warriors. As progress was gained through poetry, more books and written words were introduced into Japanese society (Beck, 2005). We have to remember that all these progress in the written word came from the Chinese influence. It is with much fortune that more schools were built and more books were written. During the 14th and on to the 19th centuries, Japan was able to focus its development in these areas. To add more flair to these developments, new instruments were also brought into Japan from China, one of these made up for elegant entertainment in Japan (Japan Cultural Profile, 2005). Advanced courtly culture seen in China gained the admiration of Japan and it was not before long when Japan also adopted these practices to match their military might and prestige (Japan Cultural Profile, 2005). All in all, the practices adopted by Japan from China were those which fit its aesthetics very well and which complemented its culture and traditions. In this regard, China started in Japan major ideas which grew into bigger ideas for the Japanese people. The Japanese people embraced these ideas despite the wars which seemed to wage constantly with China. References Beck, S. (2005) Ancient China to 221 BC. San.Beck. Retrieved from http://www.san.beck.org/3-13-Summary.html Chinese and Korean influence - gigaku, gagaku (2005) Cultural Profiles. Retrieved from http://www.culturalprofiles.net/japan/Directories/Japan_Cultural_Profile/-10586.html Jacobson, S. (2010) Chinese Influence on Early Japanese Culture. eHow. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/facts_7197318_chinese-influence-early-japanese-culture.html O’Brien, B. (n.d) Buddhism in Japan: A Brief History Part I: Introduction, Nara Period, Shingon, Tendai and Pure Land. About.com. Retrieved from http://buddhism.about.com/od/throughasiaandbeyond/a/japanhistory.htm Teeuwen, M., Breen, J., Inoue, N., & Ito, S. (2003) Shinto, a short history. New York: Routledge Spread of Humanism and Christianity in Western Europe in 15th-16th centuries It is easy enough to imagine Western Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries because these periods were assessed so many times during our studies in history. This assessment is however focused on humanism and Christianity. As you might have guessed, humanism is the literary and cultural movement which spread over Western Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries with the emphasis on the value of the classics for their own sake, not based on their religious relevance (Kohl, n.d). It is an “artsy” movement and was started by writers Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch through their classical contributions. Other “artsy” scholars were also influenced by the work of Dante and company and this led to the establishment of the Platonic Academy of Florence (Kohl, n.d). Humanism was affected by Greek and Latin literature and philosophy and it soon became the educational program Humanities. Some of you may even have taken this subject as a course so you might be able to relate with this topic well. Anyway, with the work of Petrarch, humanities came to mean a dynamic cycle of education, including grammar, history, poetry, and philosophy (Grafton, Most, and Settis, 2010). Other artists would follow Petrarch’s lead with their own contribution to humanism through learned treatises and traditions (Grafton, Most, and Settis, 2010). Humanities would not be complete when Classical Greek humanism also progressed across Western Europe. It is enlightening to also note that different scholars gained more knowledge in ancient civilization through the work of Plato, Homer, Plutarch and Bracciolini (Loffler, 2011). Other scholars even actively sought to reconcile Platonic teachings with Jewish traditions, as well as Christian orthodoxy (Kohl, n.d). And the fire of the humanities would spread with their work later spreading through Switzerland and north of the Alps. Erasmus (you might have heard of him) of the Netherlands was one of those affected by humanities. He conceptualized satires on the corruptions of the clergy and he also showed the similarities between Christian beliefs with pagan traditions (Kohl, n.d). The work of Thomas More (yes, he wrote Utopia!) emerged at this time and more works from various scholars spread geographically throughout the Western European territories. But what of Christianity, you might ask. We’re getting into that now. Well, Christianity gradually gained a firm footing in Western Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries with the founding of the Jesuit orders propagating Christianity in Europe (Philtar, n.d). The founder of the Jesuit order was Ignatius of Loyola who was a soldier recovering from his wounds and was inspired by Jesus’ work. Yes, this sect still exists today as a Catholic ministry. Getting back to the topic, the Jesuit order was based on the life of Jesus and the devotion of this sect centered on his life; their teachings of Christianity across Western Europe were based on these philosophies (O’Malley, 1999). Rome became a dominant force in Western Europe in the 16th century with the Protestant reformation and during this time different countries in Europe broke away from Rome’s power in order to place themselves under the control of kings and governments. The words used here may seem civil but the Rome and Protestant “battles” were more inflammatory. These protestant churches defined early Christianity in Western Europe and were able to relieve themselves of the non-biblical teachings which they believed destroyed the credibility of the church (Philtar, n.d). The Catholic Church, in response to the Protestant Reform sought to rid itself of the corrupt practices which plagued its overall practice. In the process, the teachings of the church became rooted on these reforms with many people still being influenced by Rome’s teachings. For thirty years, the Catholics and the Protestants waged conflicts with each other with both religions trying to gain firm footing in Western Europe (Spielvogel, 2008). At some point, Protestantism gained more power in some parts of Europe, and vice versa. Nevertheless, in the process of conflict, Christianity found its roots in Western Europe (History World International, n.d). Thankfully enough, these “conflicts” have become less inflammatory. References An Overview of European History (n.d) History World International. Retrieved from http://history-world.org/an_overview_of_european_history.htm General Essays on Western Christianity. (n.d) Philtar. Retrieved from http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/christ/west/westessay.html Grafton, A., Most, G., & Settis, S. (2010) The Classical Tradition. USA: Harvard University Press Kohl, B. (n.) Humanism. Holy Smoke. Retrieved from http://www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/humanist.htm Loffler, K. (2011) Humanism. Make Believe. Retrieved from http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/chrishum.htm O’Malley, J. (1999) The Jesuits: cultures, sciences, and the arts, 1540-1773, Volume 1. New York: University of Toronto Press Spielvogel, J. (2008) Western Civilization: Since 1500. California: Cengage Learning Read More