The Not-So-Dark Ages
Undeceptions with John Dickson
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The Dark Ages
Gibbon could barely contain his contempt for christianity and the church throughout his work. The expression dark ages was never primarily a scientific term, but rather a denunciation of the mediaeval conception of the world. Recent books such as catherine nix's a darkening age owe more to this sceptical battle cry than to the discipline of history found in universities today. Even the more polite description the middle ages causes some historians to wince because it's a kind of chronological snobbery.
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