A Poor, Backward Society Dependent on Agriculture For Survival

Now readers of North Country Farmer are aware that the Middle Ages were a time of decentralized and agrarian plenty, where the common yeoman had more political and economic freedom than modern man does. The faith of the common man was Christianity, perhaps not in it’s purest form, but Christian none the less. Several years ago when looking through some “christian” homeschool history textbooks that were found at a garage sale, I came across this little “fact” about why the “Dark Ages” were so bad.

The urban (city) culture had been replaced by the rural (country) culture of the Middle Ages…About 95% of the population of western Europe lived in the country. This population shift from the cities to the country combined with the general lack of trade resulted in a poor, backward society dependent on agriculture for survival.

This just goes to prove that school at home isn’t anything special if you use the same faulty presuppositions that they use at the government re-education camps. It just goes to prove that slapping the word “christian” on a history book doesn’t mean it has a Christian worldview, nor does it mean that it’s contents have even a smidgen of common sense.

Has it ever crossed the minds of these “christian historians” that the heathen call the time period “the dark ages” because it was christian? Has it ever occurred to these foolish people that mankind’s corporate calling IS agriculture? Furthermore, how exactly is an urban culture any LESS dependent on agriculture? If this is today’s “christian scholarship”, we are in some real trouble! Civilization exists because we have 6 inches of topsoil and it sometimes rains…just don’t tell the idiots writing christian curriculum. They might call you a backward throw back to the “dark ages”!