The Byzantine Empire: A Cautionary Tale

My PJ Media colleague Lincoln Brown gives us another illuminating take on my new book, Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization: “The Byzantine Empire: A Cautionary Tale,” by Lincoln Brown, Front Page, January 11, 2024:

One ignores the parallels between the Byzantine Empire and the 21st Century at one’s peril.

[Order Robert Spencer’s new book. Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization: HERE.]

George Santayana’s quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” has been emblazoned on coffee mugs, bumper stickers, websites, and quite possibly needlepoint samplers. In recent years, that saying has been massaged a bit to be replaced with “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” I would add that it is also an excellent mimic.

While the repetition of history is not the central theme of Robert Spencer’s latest book, Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization, it plays an important role. One ignores the parallels between the Byzantine Empire and the 21^st Century at one’s peril. Spencer takes up the task of chronicling the story of the Eastern Roman Empire. It is a story that could best be described as well, byzantine.

Empire of God does the heavy lifting on a subject that has been largely ignored in high school and even many 100-level collegiate history classes. For that matter, it was also given short shrift by the History Channel, even before the days when it abandoned history for a fascination with pawn shops, custom cars, and the supernatural.

Many people are under the impression that the glory that was Rome came to a screeching halt when Rome itself was sacked by the Goths. It is a common assumption that once the barbarians overran the Eternal City, the last Caesar handed over his laurel crown, hitched up his toga, and made a hasty exit stage left. But the people in the East in no way believed that the curtain had lowered. The truth is that until 1453, when the Eastern Empire finally fell, the Byzantines considered themselves Romans and the keepers of the Greco-Roman traditions and philosophy. The empire existed for a phenomenally long time.

Spencer also charts the course of the growth of the Christian church and how it contended with the remnants of the old beliefs to assert itself and even maintain its right to teach ancient Greek literature and philosophy, paganism aside. Empire of God describes the split between the Latin and Orthodox sides of the church. In some history books, it is relegated to the filioque debate. In reality, the division was much deeper and more complex than one may realize. The massive ecclesiastical divorce was years in the making. Be that as it may, the development of the Eastern Church still resonates in Christianity today, even in churches that do not adhere to the Nicene Creed or any of the traditions of their ancient predecessor. The book also shows how the empire refined laws and educational practices to provide the foundations that anchor modern education and jurisprudence.

There is more. Read the rest here.