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Remarkable article when one considers when it was written and our current world condition.

Thank you for the ping.

EODGUY

Thanks for the observations, livius.

And you're right eod--his foresight is incredible.

Belloc had many insights, and this is remarkable for that era. During most of the 20th century, Islam appeared to be a ossified religion definitely on its way out. For instance, during the 1960s when there was a great revival of Eastern religions among Western followers, Islam (then) attracted almost no one. It was bypassed by people on their way to Tibet, India etc. Not until the 1970s did it begin to exert any real influence. No one, except Belloc, was prescient enough to predict this.

Belloc is a bit soft on the Christians of Mohammed's time, as one of the reasons for the rise of Islam was the intractable theological divisions within Christianity. They were much worse than he writes of. Issues such as "monophysite controversy" - about the single and dual nature of Christ, had caused endless divisions and polemics in Christian communities across the Middle East. In order to be admitted to Communion, Christians had to explain where they stood in relation to Platonic and Aristolelean notions of substance and nature. Failure to give the right answers saw you excomminicated. Then a new Bishop would arrive, with a different take on the dual nature of Christ, and the whole thing started again. Christians in the Middle East argue about these issues to THIS DAY. It is quite common to see open antagonism between Copts, Orthodox, and Syrian orthodox, over very obscure theological issues. It starts as soon as they meet. "Oh a Copt - you should ask where he stands on the matter of the divine presence prior to the resurrection and subsequent to the incarnation and..." One does not have to be an anti-intellectual to just give up on it. Thousands did, as soon as new prophet came out of Arabia.