THE NAME OF THE ROSE by UMBERTO ECO

Some People are put off this Book because of the many Latin references or what appear to the superficial eye obscure historical figures only known in specialist academic circles which is a shame as this is a very easy to read investigation mystery with profound overtures to how we got where we are now as a Society , and how we may begin to work our way out of current problems.

Initially , the publisher want Eco to change the first one hundred or so pages of the Book as it would save the reader trawling through so many historical and religious references , Eco insisted in keeping them as they are because he wanted to test the fortitude of the reader , arguing a serious reader , which he was targeting  , would get past this stage and be able to continue reading with due appreciation and respect for the substance of the work. 

Not only does it contain many historical and philosophical references , it also has , like classic Greek literature , debate segments.
The "debates" issues are very stimulating and are well deserving of a full and frank exchange of views.

Im looking forward to discussing one of the later debates in the book as i think Umberto makes it out as a clash between science and the "truth" which , in my view , is not where the establishment went awry , as in the matter of truth there is no mutually exclusive clash between religion and science.
The clash was rather between Dogma and Science , which meant that there was either going to be the prevalence of the Establishment or of Science , which forced the issue that Science in Western Europe was forced into the Atheist orbit in order to pursue its Truth whilst the Establishment was moved deeper to Dogma.
This is where a Tragic breach was made in that has to be resolved so that both Science and religion are co-participants on the course of Truth and not two poles of the fruitless polemic of bloody semantics.

This is where i believe the West can learn from Judaism and Islam in that those religions fully embraced science as a co-participant in the journey of truth to such an extent that the great Jewish and Islamic scientists mentioned in the Book where also esteemed religious Scholars without there being any incompatibility whatsoever.

 The various debates , especially comedy , to me , Bill Hicks; Richard Pryor and Billy Connelly are most certainly philosophers that challenge and force debates for betterment of positions with polemics being dissipated and a stand up to long term scrutiny ethos to win out.

Another debate , hence the date of setting in the Book , is a moving away from the Church being a series of orders of believers giving of themselves and material possessions for the greater good to the centralising of the Church is the field of land ownership and aligning to Power interests. That debate seems to emanate from the clash of Papal authority in Avignon and Rome and the emergence of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire.The debate is how much , if at all , the Church should align to Power Politics and BlocK cohesion or to sit it out of that Theatre and be a non-aligned force of social movements.Religion is being used and abused by the Power Blocks (Avignon/Italy Based/Germanic Holy Roman empire) with the adherents paying the blood price.That is why it is important to draw a distinction from the Church and the higher elites which were very much quasi-secular power block commission appointments.

The Borghias were made infamous because they were outsiders and tried to upset the Apple cart by trying to establish a Catalan order.This meant that they did not give out the necessary grace and favours of land and positions to the local Papal forces in Italy and they were pretty much wiped out in just about a year after the first Pope died and normal service was restored.
One Power blocks orthodoxy is another blocks heresy. If the Church is to get involved it has the choice of aligning itself with the elite |Power Blocks , which as you state can be messy and inconsistent (especially the Choices made in the 30s and 40s) or to have a consistent moral line to lobby for a minimum standard of rights for the lower elites and to give the Power Blocks no legitimacy that does not tally with those minimum standards , this later choice at least gives a long term consistent line that ultimately means the Church is truly independent rather than tainted and have the worst of both worlds of not being respected by the Power Blocks and not trusted by the weak.

In a way it relates well to the role of the Catholic Church in Eurocentric powers ( alliances in the 30s and 40s) and after Pope John Paul II support for the Victims of persecution in the former Soviet Block ( and making the right noises about Inter-Faith dialogue) to change under the current Pontiff to favour Rightist forces and the Role of the Church in South America which is in the forefront of the social justice movements that are looking to have more self-determination from the overt Corporate interests from outwith the Continent.

It is perfectly easy to read the Book without dealing too intensely with the debates and history , and on that level is a quality entertaining Murder Suspense Mystery in its own right.

Below the Author discusses current Europeanzone  issues with Jeremy Paxton.