Razumijevanje Europe

Works of Christopher Dawson

by Christopher Henry Dawson

Suvremenoj Europi neizostavno je potrebna zajednička kulturno-tradicijska osnova, to jest dublja vizija vlastitog identiteta.
Sagledavajući Europu kao zajednicu naroda i kao oblik duhovnog jedinstva utemeljenog na kršćanskoj tradiciji, filozof i povjesničar Christopher Dawson u ovom djelu upozorava na posljedice gubitka zajedničkih duhovnih težnji i zajedničkog sustava moralnih vrednota. Dajući tako kritiku Europe "bez duše", Dawson istovremeno nudi i viziju istinskog europskog preporoda.

Genres: History

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 1889, Hay Castle – 25 May 1970, Budleigh Salterton) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Christopher H. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century".

Reviews

[Buciu Petre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christopher Dawson is an almost forgotten intellectual today. His ideas are somehow convincing, yet hard to prove and even to take very seriously. Maybe that is why he did not left any follower. As a catholic humanist and historian, he is one of those exotic specimens that have virtually disappeared from the surface of the earth in the last decades, as progressivism and cultural ”revolution” have gained in popularity. He was a stern defender of Europe and its cultural traditions, a conscious and honest historian who rejected political nationalism as he rejected the „international cosmopolitanism” approach that we see today embodied in the political vision of the European Union. He thought of Europe as a community of different people with local attachments and custom and tied by a common culture consisting of the intellectual traditions of the ancient Greco-Roman and the spiritual force of Christendom. His historical insights are no doubt profound and valuable, but his solutions of a renewed spiritual culture may seem beyond possibility, as he sometimes confessed himself. The book is certainly worth reading and may provide readers with very valuable insights which are much needed in our historical dangerously illiterate age. It will surely awake some from their illusions.

[Karlo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iako se možda s ponečim u ovoj knjizi ne slažem, mislim da je njena veličina u tome što ne samo Europu nego i cijelu zapadnu kulturu - kao što i sam naslov kaže - razumije, ili to barem nastoji, u pravom smislu te riječi, to jest ne kao puku povijest ratova i moći, nego k tome i kao slijed i miješanje idejnih tokova i vjerovanja što su bili ili su još uvijek na djelu u povijesti.

[Pseudointelektualac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this author recommended on my uni class about the history of Christianity. All I can say is - I'd like to write like this. Dawson succeeds to balance historical prose with philosophical arguments pretty good, while preserving the exposition clear and even entertaining. This kind of erudition feels like a lost art.

P.s. is it just me or did he causually make up Nietzsche's book? "Nature and History of European Nihilism"? Sounds AI-generated, lol.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good message from the beginning and the end.
Though for the more avid history fan, some of the country-specific writings can become dull when you already know them.
The power of this books remains in the message of the author which he starts with and finishes in a powerful manner.

[Aric Broderick · Rating 2 out of 5]

For master's. Wasn't a huge fan of Dawson's narrative.

[Zach · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like all egoists and elitists, Dawson attempts to portray the "uniqueness" of European civilization and christianity and the "barbarity" of all other cultures. What a pompous ass. This book belongs in the trash bin on history and deserves to be forgotten. Arguably, the only type of person that would enjoy or espouse this book and its views is a white, Christian ethno-nationalist. Treat yourself to some real European history and read "Exterminate All the Brutes" by Sven Lindqvist.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was okay

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dawson sees Europe as unified by a common religion - Catholicism. Of course this was in the Middle Ages, but Dawson has a religious vision for a Unified Europe in the future. Yet, this vision appears to be very unlikely, with declining religiosity and group selection having stopped around 1750 (see Sarraf et al. - Modernity and Biobehavioral Decline). Dawson's vision of a decentralized but religiously unified Europe has fallen to a Europe unified by the bureaucrats - yippee! And Europe's culture today? Why, is it not full of those terrible menaces: sexism, racism, white supremacy, and homophobia? Terrible! Let's throw it all out and study World War Z (like my honors class did). What a great decision! This could never go wrong!