primary agents responsible for Europe’s descent into what are popularly referred to as the 'dark ages.' Supporting evidence is available, if not plentiful.” John Morreall, a Doctor of Philosophy and Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, also mentioned Freeman as one who has misperception about “the fate of scientific inquiry at the hands of Christianity in the Middle Ages". Mary Beard, a Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, notes: "for most of Freeman's book, this argument takes a back seat". She then notes that most of his book is a general overview "of the rise of Christianity through antiquity and the early middle ages, set against its classical background" and is, as such, not remarkable and actually well written, but she notes also: "To make pagan antiquity a bastion of scientific rationality demands ignoring the Dodds effect and skating very lightly over a whole range of decidedly "irrational" features." - She ends her review: "The real problem is in Freeman's stark opposition between the classical and Christian worlds. The truth is that we are only able to read most of the scientific triumphs of pagan antiquity because the hard-working monks of Christian monasteries chose to copy and study them. Thomas Aquinas may have "re-discovered" his Aristotle through Arab translations. But, by and large, we have Freeman's "irrational" Christians to thank for preserving classical "rationality" – and, for that matter, irrationality." Anthony Gottlieb, former Executive Editor of The Economist and a historian of ideas, notes that Freeman's work “is highly questionable” but that it “tells an entertaining story, and on the way produces an excellent and readable account of the development of Christian doctrine”, but he ends by stating "Yet the book does not make its case, and indeed barely tries to." David Bentley Hart, a philosophical theologian who has taught at the University of Virginia, argued how Freeman “attempts long discourses on theological disputes he simply does not understand, continually falls prey to vulgar misconstruals of the materials he is attempting to interpret, makes large claims about early Christian belief that are simply false, offers vague assertions about philosophers he clearly has not studied, and delivers himself of opinions regarding Christian teaching that are worse than simply inaccurate.” Glen Bowersock, a professor of ancient history at Princeton University, wrote about Freeman’s work that it is “essentially a potted history of the ancient world, in which Christianity is introduced as