Reply #3: I have to wonder too if Christianity and Islam would ever have even gotten a foothold [View All]

[salvorhardin]

200 years of science and mathematics seriously eroded religious influence in Europe (by 1900) and helped usher in the Enlightenment. If those 200 years of development had occurred between 200BC and 0AD, coupled with the Greek and Roman military juggernauts, I wonder if Christianity would have even spread beyond a mere fringe following? And if all that development was in the Mediterranean and Middle East instead of Europe, I wonder if it's doubtful if Islam could have even gotten started?

Of course, they wouldn't have had the printing press which is really what helped to ignite fires under both Christianity and science and mathematics. By the time Newton and Leibnitz were born, Europe had already had 200 years of the printing press. Could they have done it without the printing press to widely disseminate their ideas? If Alexandria hadn't burned, would it's sheer continued existence (and one hopes, continued expansion) create the right conditions for the state to fund the creation of the printing press? Would their metallurgy have been advanced enough by that time to create movable type?