Earlier this week as I was doing some research on Christian history for an upcoming sermon when I came across this fascinating journal article in The New Atlantis by Hillel Ofek.  In a relatively short post, Ofek tackles some pretty fascinating questions:

1. What was the “Golden Age” of Islam?
2. What contributions did it make to the world?
3. What were the unique circumstances that brought it into existence?
4. Why did a “civilization that had produced cities, libraries, and observatories and opened itself to the world [regress] and become closed, resentful, violent, and hostile to discourse and innovation?”
5. What is the religion of Islam’s relationship to rationalism, free inquiry, and natural causality?
6. What are the moral and ethical implications of idealizing the “Golden Age?”
7. What are the obstacles and the possible ways forward for the Muslim world to join the Western world in the areas of technological, scientific, and societal advancement?

It is a thought provoking read that I highly recommend.  Check it out here – Why the Arabic World Turned Away from Science.