I give credit to the brilliance of the the true geniuses like Augustine and Aquinas.

That's the one quibble I'd have with the history part of your post. The Enlightenment was the pro-reason counterreaction to the Reformation's anti- reason stance.

True brilliance flourished in the middle ages. Augustine! AQUINAS! Aquinas, for example, brought both Aristotle and Averroes to the Western schools.

Reading even excerpts from their works would allow you to witness raw intellectual power, education, and insight.