Islamic Science - Why Then But Not Now?

Abbas Ibn Firnas, (810 – 887 A.D., Spain) an inventor of corrective lenses, an improved method of cutting glass and stone, and who hurt himself with the glider he'd fashioned, also built a room where spectators witnessed stars, clouds, thunder, and lightning, produced by mechanisms hidden in his basement.
His work is among that featured at an exhibit of Islamic scientists at the Dallas Islamic Center.

Pope Benedict the Gnostic

Earlier this summer Pope Benedict praised the ninth century Irishman John Scotus for his contribution to the Christian West's philosophy. Most of the pope's explanation was incomprehensible, something about St. Maximus Confessor and Dionysius the Areopagite. The pope also said that "censorship by the ecclesiastical authorities cast a shadow over his figure. Scotus represented a radical Platonism which at times seemed to approach a pantheistic view of life..."

Next the pope seems to try on the robes of a Gnostic:

"The word of Holy Scripture purifies our somewhat-blind reason and helps us to return to the memory of what we, as the image of God, carry in our souls, marred, unfortunately, by sin”.

"This, the Pope went on, leads to “certain hermeneutic consequences which even today can show us the road to follow in order to interpret the Scriptures correctly. What is important is discovering the meaning hidden in the sacred text, and this requires a particular form of inner discipline thanks to which reason can open the sure way towards truth. This exercise consists in cultivating a constant readiness to conversion."

Medieval Drawings in New York

The Economist's review of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's show on medieval drawing lasts until 23 August 2009, and includes (right) a "French work, the Four Gospels, produced later in the [ninth] century. It displays an arresting, monochrome portrait of the Evangelist Luke, filling almost the whole page (see above). An endearing, small winged ox (Luke’s symbol) watches from his perch on a curtain rod as Luke writes his text. Both have gold haloes.