Like so many terms that are bandied about, the term “Western Civilization” is one that does not hold up very well under scrutiny. Western Civilization is said at times to be based on Christian traditions, or perhaps a little broader, Judeo-Christianity, or if pushed some will acknowledge the influence of the Greco-Roman world. The reality is such that the influences on Western Civilization are much broader than any of these categories suggest, to the point where the term itself loses much of its meaning.
Judaism is not simply the accumulated wisdom of a people, but instead in part the accumulated wisdom of many different peoples over thousands of years. From the Old Testament itself we can see that the influences on the Jewish peoples where vast. The Patriarch of the Jewish people, Abraham, was from Ur in Mesopotamia, in modern day Iraq. Eventually the Jewish peoples found themselves for many generations in Egypt. After the exodus they arrived in Canaan, roughly modern day Israel. After Jerusalem’s conquest by King Nebuchadnezzar, many of the Jewish peoples were exiled to Babylon. After the Persian King Cyrus the Great in turn conquered Babylon, the Jewish peoples were allowed to go back to Jerusalem. Throughout this whole period of time the Jewish peoples were not living in isolation from the peoples they found themselves amongst, they were interacting, combining, and refining their believes and practices. The ancient Israelites were also not living as one people in one place. There were common ties between the many various peoples living in often far flung locations, but they were not homogenous, then as today.
Christianity is not simply a linear progression from Judaism, as if such a thing could happen from a multifaceted religious tradition. A reading of the New Testament makes it clear that the faith was refined by influences outside Judaism, including Greek and Roman influences. Christianity in practice was also influenced by the traditional native tradtions of the peoples who adopted the Christian faith.
Greek thought also did not develop in isolation from the traditions of the rest of the Mediterranean, or even those beyond the Mediterranean peoples. The Greeks where greatly influenced by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, and many others, perhaps even some we have no record of. The famous Athenian historian and student of Socrates, Xenophon, wrote a very influential work, The Cyropaedia, which is loosely based on the life of Persian King Cyrus the Great. This book purports to draw lessons from the life of King Cyrus that were worthy of imitation and has been very influential upon European readers at times. Thomas Jefferson himself, one of the founding fathers of the hugely influential United States, had two copies of Xenophon’s work in his library. Roman civilization adopted from the Greeks and added to its own native influences from many peoples from its vast contacts.
And these are just the relatively ancient influences. American culture has had a vast influence throughout the world and upon Western Civilization, and American culture is a vast swirl of influences from throughout the world. Partly through America, the children of Africa have influenced and will continue to have an influence upon the world. As have the native peoples of the Americas and their progeny.
Western Civilization is far from a coherent monolith. There is no pure eternal well from which it draws. The term Western Civilization itself is a simple shorthand that conceals more than it informs. The human race is one people with myriad manifestations of human nature and inspiration. A contest of ideas need not be seen as a defilement, but could be seen as an opportunity for refinement.