Cahills How The Irish Saved Civilization Essay -- essays research pape

Cahills How the Irish Saved CivilizationThomas Cahill opens his story describing Romes fall, For as the romishEmpire fell, as all through Europe matted, unwashed barbarians descended on theRoman cities, looting artifacts and burning books, the Irish who were just teaching to read and write, took up the just labor of copying all of occidentalliterature - everything they could get their hands on. These scribes thenserved as conduits through which Hellenic and Judeo-Christian cultures weretransmitted to the tribes of Europe, newly settled amid the rubble and ruinedvineyards of the politeness they had overwhelmed. (Cahill, p.3) The themeof this book is that the scribes did something unique, they saved civilization,not the masses of people, but literature, the satisfy of classicalcivilization. (Cahill, p. 58) One reads of the time from Romes fall tomedieval times reading through the stories of the characters, most notableAugustine and Patrick.Augustine, his faith based on Roman Ch risitanity, looked into his ownheart and found the anguish of each individual. (Cahill, p. 115) Patrick, theslave morose Christian, escapes only to return to convert the Irish. He was thefirst missionary to the barbarians beyond Greco-Roman law who looked into thehearts of others. (Cahill, p. 115)Cahill notes Ireland is the only land where Christianity is introducedwithout violence - in that location were no murdered Irish...