The Founding Fathers of Western Civilization

Since the readers of this blog seem to enjoy lists, here's another (from the same friend and colleague who submitted this list earlier -- Click here: Riddleblog - The Latest Post - The Twelve GreatestAmericans)

Have some fun with this one!

Christendom’s Founding Fathers of Western Civilization:

1. Augustine
2. Thomas Aquinas
3. Christopher Columbus
4. Martin Luther
5. John Calvin
6. Nicholas Copernicus
7. Michelangelo
8. Blaise Pascal
9. John Locke
10. Jonathan Edwards
11. Isaac Newton
12. William Wilberforce

You've got to figure out how to get Bach and Shakespeare on this list, but who goes?  Columbus, probably . . .  Copernicus or Locke?  Not so sure.

Comments

[Matthew]

I would replace Columbus with Shakespeare and Wilberforce with Bach. Both Columbus and Wilberforce were hugely important in their own right. It would be hard to argue, though, that what they had done would not have been accomplished by anyone else. Wilberforce was one of dozens of abolitionists in the UK.

[homeschoolmom]

Shakespeare is fabulous, but he doesn't necessarily make me think of "Christendom". How about replacing Columbus with Edmund Spencer or John Milton, both of whom wrote distinctively Christian epic poetry which influenced generations of authors?

[Jeremy]

How does Tertullian not make the list? He's probably the most under-rated figure in the shaping of Western Christianity, which is a big factor in the shaping of Western Civilization.

[Coyle]

Woo-hoo! More lists!

Not that anyone asked, but here's my go at it :)
the apostle Paul
Tertullian
Augustine
Leo the Great
Charlemagne
Aquinas
Bernard of Clairvaux
Martin Luther
John Calvin
Increase Mather
Immanuel Kant
Martin Luther King, Jr.

[timinator]

Looks like a great list Professor Ken.

[anon]

Coyle: Martin Luther King, Jr.? A founding father of Western civilization?

I suppose someone will soon suggest Barack Hussein Obama...

[Coyle]

anon,

Yeah, if we can call this thing we live in today "Western Civilization," then I thought there should be someone somewhat modern on the list- and preferably someone who'd made a positive contribution.
But I could be talked out of it, in which case "Cromwell" would be my substitution :)

[Alberto]

Where is Rene Descartes? How about Leonhard Euler? And how can you have Copernicus but not Galileo?

When you think of "Founding Western Fathers", you have go beyond Christian influences, but this is a restricted list.

[Matt]

A better list (in no particular order)

Hagin
Copeland
Crouch
Hagee
Hinn
Kenyan
Osteen
Lindsay
Duplantis
Hickey
Meyer
Howard-Browne

[some dude]

Brunelleschi instead of Michelangelo; Descartes instead of Pascal; Bernard of Clairvaux instead of Thomas. Remove Copernicus, Columbus, Edwards and Wilberforce. and add Shakespeare, Bach, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Thomas Jefferson.