Religion and the Rise of Western Culture

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 244 pages
• Published by: Image; Image Books ed edition October 1, 1991
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0385421109
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0385421102
• Book Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 12 ounces

Product Description
An essential work of European history, this classic study sweeps from the fall of Rome to the dawn of the Renaissance as it shows how Christianity, its leaders, and its institutions changed the face of Western culture.

Publisher Description
An essential work of European history, this classic study sweeps from the fall of Rome to the dawn of the Renaissance as it shows how Christianity, its leaders, and its institutions changed the face of Western culture.

Reader Reviews
Historian Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) saw religion as the cornerstone of culture. Specifically, this Harvard scholar saw Christianity as the root system that grew into what we call, invariably capitalized and announced with great fanfare, "The West." As someone who recently acquired a master's degree in history, I can tell you that Christopher Dawson's name never came up in any of my classes. Sure, I mostly studied American history, which would pretty much preclude reference to a scholar whose work centered on the development of Europe, but even in the classes I took on European history his name never appeared on a single syllabus. His name also never came up in the myriad courses I took on Christian theology and history. After reading "Religion and the Rise of Western Culture," I think I know why. First, the book is an extremely tough slog. If this collection of his writings is any indication, Dawson's knowledge of European history is encyclopedic. No one outside of a graduate level seminar could hope to follow all the ins and outs of this book. Second, and most important, academia has little interest in promoting a historian who argues that Christianity shaped all aspects of modern life. Dawson's claims are unpopular and not morally relativistic. The author sees Christianity as a unique force in human development, a force that constantly overcomes any obstacles placed in its path, either on purpose or by the vagaries of history. In the case of "Religion and the Rise of Western Culture," those obstacles range from the decline and collapse of the Roman Empire to the mass migrations of the early medieval period to the rise of cities and organized commerce. Presiding over and infusing all of these changes is the Christian faith. The perception that Christianity is a static, ossified system locked in rigid dogma stretching back through the ages, Dawson easily proves, is totally and utterly false. Time and time again the Church and its many institutions--missionaries, monasteries, new and dynamic religious orders--continuously renewed both the Church and European society. Renewal and dynamism in Europe during the Middle Ages? Is this guy insane? There is a popular tendency, however erroneous, to view the "Middle Ages" or "Medieval Europe" as a time and place of sporadic intellectual and cultural development. We've all seen movies or heard stories involving denizens of the Middle Ages staggering around in filthy rags murdering each other in fits of barbaric rage. If you subscribe to that view, "Religion and the Rise of Western Culture" will knock your socks off and slap some sense into your head at the same time! I know a bit more about early European history than the average person on the street, at least I hope I do, so the idea that the Middle Ages represented a period of vast change doesn't come as a surprise to me. What does amaze me is how MUCH was going on. Dawson's work is a veritable blizzard of names, places, and ideas. He moves from Rome to Augustine to Bede to Aquinas with an ease that boggles the mind. He discusses in great depth the rise of monasteries in Ireland, how these institutions kept knowledge alive during dark times, and how they received and then transmitted knowledge to other parts of Europe. Dawson discusses the development of the liturgy and the effect that ritual had on people. He talks about the rise of the universities at Bologna and Paris, and how Church law helped give birth to civil law. You want to know about guilds and the rise of cities as they pertain to the Catholic Church? It's here in mind-boggling detail. The author also finds time to emphasize the importance of Byzantium and the Orthodox Church and tie them to the main currents of Western Europe. He describes doctrinal debates, the relation of the Church to European monarchies, and roughly a billion other ideas I don't have the space to summarize here. What I liked best about the book, and what sort of helped bring the themes Dawson tries to explicate in the narrative to the fore, concerns the numerous migrations and invasions throughout Europe from the fall of Rome to roughly the tenth century. The book shows how Christianity, despite suffering great material losses from many of these invasions, reestablished its institutions and brought these barbarians into the embrace of greater Europe. Sometimes this process involved total conversion, other times Christianity operated side by side with tribal customs and law codes (see Beowulf for evidence of how Christian themes took up position next to barbarian values), but in every case the Church eventually triumphed. Dawson's work underscores how a theology first articulated by a single man in Palestine eventually led to the creation of mankind's greatest achievements. Reading "Religion and the Rise of Western Culture" makes one wonder how the West can ever survive without the spiritual and transformative qualities derived from the Christian faith. It's tempting to argue that it cannot, at least not in any recognizable form. Dawson claims outright that the West will die without Christianity. It's easy to see why the author feared for the future of European civilization. When he wrote his works on the relation between Christianity and Western Civilization, the horrors of the twentieth century were rearing their ugly heads. Two world wars of appalling barbarity coupled with the rise of harmful ideologies greatly concerned Christopher Dawson. He saw National Socialism and Communism as great "walling off" processes that cut off millions of people from their common Christian underpinnings by either distorting the message (National Socialism) or through attempts to displace Christianity completely (Communism). "Religion and the Rise of Western Culture" isn't an easy read, not by a long shot, but it's worth the time and effort. I would definitely read his other works.