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The Death of Christian Culture
First published in 1978, this hard-hitting exposition discusses the root causes of how and why Christian culture is dying. It investigates literature, culture, history, and religion in an attempt to show that education is increasingly about bureaucratic training and less about scholarly truth. A warning that cultural and artistic treasures of classical and Christian civilizations must be preserved, this provocative analysis diagnoses a cultural and societal malaise facing modern Western societies.
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 1977
46 people are currently reading
803 people want to read
About the author
John Senior
38 books45 followersDr. John Senior was a retired Professor of Classics and a well-known Catholic thinker.
Dr. Senior taught English, Comparative Literature, and Classics for decades at Bard and Hofstra Colleges, Cornell, and the Universities of Wyoming and Kansas.
With two other professors, Dr. Dennis Quinn and Dr. Frank Nelick, he chaired the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas.
Dr. Senior was a longtime member of the Immaculata Chapel at St. Mary’s College in Kansas.
Dr. Senior taught English, Comparative Literature, and Classics for decades at Bard and Hofstra Colleges, Cornell, and the Universities of Wyoming and Kansas.
With two other professors, Dr. Dennis Quinn and Dr. Frank Nelick, he chaired the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas.
Dr. Senior was a longtime member of the Immaculata Chapel at St. Mary’s College in Kansas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 15, 2018
I heard about John Senior while perusing the web a couple of months ago as well as his two colleague professors at the University of Kansas. I believe I was searching Catholic liberal arts education and naturally this man and his peers would have come up in the results. I learned that he and Dr Quinn and Dr Nelick started the Integrated Humanities Program and it was ultimately shut down because it converted so many souls to Catholicism. What a shame that it was closed.
I'd not ever read anything by Mr. Senior, so this was the first exposure I had to his writing. His writing style and prose reminded me a lot of a favorite writer of mine: Anthony Esolen. I would say that the writing style is perhaps poetic in nature, and there's a beautiful flow and carry and a savoriness to his style. Much like Esolen, there's a lot of pithiness and punch to his words, and they are ultimately undeniably true.
This book gets into the destruction of Christendom and namely, Christian Culture, in Western civilization but particular here in the good ol' U.S. of A. John eloquently deconstructed how it all happened for those of us who could use the history lesson, but does so in a way that is approachable and over time, able to be chewed. I would say that in general there are more philosophical themes in the book, but that is to say, natural themes. Unfortunately today, we aren't taught to ponder in such ways and therefor books such as these might come across as difficult to the untrained mind (much like my own).
As a Catholic, Senior is able to articulate with pithiness and punch the truth of Christianity and the West's cultural foundation being built/constructed on the Faith. The history is undeniable and the author brings it to light in ways that readers may not have understood. Due to his trade in literature, Senior displays the breakdown of culture on a multitude of levels from a lack of understanding of literature and coincidentally, history. Without a solid and healthy understanding of both, we have come to break down even further.
As the book goes on, its public Catholicity comes in heavier and heavier doses, which I, of course, love. I wonder if that was strategic on his part, but whatever the case, it was done with excellence. For those who don't agree with Catholicism, I'd urge one to read and be open anyway, as Senior is able to demonstrate quite well how integrated Catholicism is with Western civilization and ultimately creating Christendom.
A must-read for those concerned with the break down of our Christian culture.
I'd not ever read anything by Mr. Senior, so this was the first exposure I had to his writing. His writing style and prose reminded me a lot of a favorite writer of mine: Anthony Esolen. I would say that the writing style is perhaps poetic in nature, and there's a beautiful flow and carry and a savoriness to his style. Much like Esolen, there's a lot of pithiness and punch to his words, and they are ultimately undeniably true.
This book gets into the destruction of Christendom and namely, Christian Culture, in Western civilization but particular here in the good ol' U.S. of A. John eloquently deconstructed how it all happened for those of us who could use the history lesson, but does so in a way that is approachable and over time, able to be chewed. I would say that in general there are more philosophical themes in the book, but that is to say, natural themes. Unfortunately today, we aren't taught to ponder in such ways and therefor books such as these might come across as difficult to the untrained mind (much like my own).
As a Catholic, Senior is able to articulate with pithiness and punch the truth of Christianity and the West's cultural foundation being built/constructed on the Faith. The history is undeniable and the author brings it to light in ways that readers may not have understood. Due to his trade in literature, Senior displays the breakdown of culture on a multitude of levels from a lack of understanding of literature and coincidentally, history. Without a solid and healthy understanding of both, we have come to break down even further.
As the book goes on, its public Catholicity comes in heavier and heavier doses, which I, of course, love. I wonder if that was strategic on his part, but whatever the case, it was done with excellence. For those who don't agree with Catholicism, I'd urge one to read and be open anyway, as Senior is able to demonstrate quite well how integrated Catholicism is with Western civilization and ultimately creating Christendom.
A must-read for those concerned with the break down of our Christian culture.
June 7, 2020
Un libro escrito hace más de 40 años, que se mantiene plenamente actual en su análisis de la sociedad, el hombre y la Iglesia.
Mantiene la tesis de que la decadencia del hombre actual, manifestada en la educación, la investigacion académica, la literatura, la marginación de las Humanidades, el sentimentalismo dominante... se deben por la pérdida de la referencia divina y sobrenatural, que tiene como consecuencia que el hombre es el nuevo dios. Y a eso contribuye la pérdida de los valores nobles y elevados, no exclusivamente religiosos, que han estado presentes desde hace siglos en las sociedades humanas. Pero aun esos valores no exclusivamente religiosos elevan al hombre y le abren la puerta a la existencia de Dios.
Son especialmente lúcidos y esperanzadores los dos últimos capítulos: "La noche oscura de la Iglesia" y "Negra pero hermosa". Y es que para Senior, la civilización occidental es la Cristiandad, y no se puede entender este libro sin la visión católica del autor de fondo.
Y como bonus track, la lista de los mil libros buenos que recomienda el autor y que se incluyen al final del libro es una auténtica maravilla que aporta armamento pesado para cultivar el intelecto, el corazón y la imaginación.
Una frase del autor puede resumir parte de la idea del libro: "Este mundo es una noche oscura, aunque muy hermosa".
Otra obra imprescindible de John Senior, que hay que leer.
Mantiene la tesis de que la decadencia del hombre actual, manifestada en la educación, la investigacion académica, la literatura, la marginación de las Humanidades, el sentimentalismo dominante... se deben por la pérdida de la referencia divina y sobrenatural, que tiene como consecuencia que el hombre es el nuevo dios. Y a eso contribuye la pérdida de los valores nobles y elevados, no exclusivamente religiosos, que han estado presentes desde hace siglos en las sociedades humanas. Pero aun esos valores no exclusivamente religiosos elevan al hombre y le abren la puerta a la existencia de Dios.
Son especialmente lúcidos y esperanzadores los dos últimos capítulos: "La noche oscura de la Iglesia" y "Negra pero hermosa". Y es que para Senior, la civilización occidental es la Cristiandad, y no se puede entender este libro sin la visión católica del autor de fondo.
Y como bonus track, la lista de los mil libros buenos que recomienda el autor y que se incluyen al final del libro es una auténtica maravilla que aporta armamento pesado para cultivar el intelecto, el corazón y la imaginación.
Una frase del autor puede resumir parte de la idea del libro: "Este mundo es una noche oscura, aunque muy hermosa".
Otra obra imprescindible de John Senior, que hay que leer.
June 28, 2025
A great collection of scholarly Christian wisdom. Dr. Senior’s identification of the forces threatening Christianity in the 1970s is unfortunately just as relevant in the present day, as these forces have only been exacerbated in the half century since. It was somewhat difficult to find a thesis of the book as a whole, but treating “The Death of Christian Culture” as a collection of separate essays on its modern opponents and philosophies yields expert insight.
August 12, 2023
John Senior possesses a mind whose sharpness and learning can lead you to do little but lament the state of your own. Powered by wonder and nurtured by faith, he excoriates the modern education system but lays the blame at the soil in which it feebly struggles; a dying culture blinded by pride, divorced of reason, and lacking the reference point for things it haphazardly impresses upon those it hopes to one day shape as adults.
Confidence men and the malicious rule supreme and waylay the innocent and not-so-innocent. He does not have a solution as such, because he is simply reiterating the eternal call to higher goods. Those found best in a return to the innocence and simplicity of the Europe of old. In an understanding that perception of reality is not the reception of facts by a mind, but rather humility that leads to wonder, which starts contemplation and finishes with a willing soul abandoning the false goods of the world, as the Prodigal Son did. The son who returns to do the will of the Father - union of a soul that desires to be cleansed and perfected in the flickering, invisible and eternal Divine light.
He laments and contrasts the false light of the modern world, through its false bravado and braggadocious imbecility, with the 'dark night' of the Middle Ages, whose darkness both perfected and was celebrated by the greatest contemplatives we have known. Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila spoke lovingly of this dark night, and taught us that material things are not wealth, that poverty is not destitution, and that darkness is not eternal. There is always 'a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts'.
He himself quite famously opened and operated the IHP at the University of Kansas, which was shut down after many students converted. It counts among its alumni a number of Abbots and at least one Bishop. 'Let them be born in wonder' was its motto. His writings are a wonder indeed.
Confidence men and the malicious rule supreme and waylay the innocent and not-so-innocent. He does not have a solution as such, because he is simply reiterating the eternal call to higher goods. Those found best in a return to the innocence and simplicity of the Europe of old. In an understanding that perception of reality is not the reception of facts by a mind, but rather humility that leads to wonder, which starts contemplation and finishes with a willing soul abandoning the false goods of the world, as the Prodigal Son did. The son who returns to do the will of the Father - union of a soul that desires to be cleansed and perfected in the flickering, invisible and eternal Divine light.
He laments and contrasts the false light of the modern world, through its false bravado and braggadocious imbecility, with the 'dark night' of the Middle Ages, whose darkness both perfected and was celebrated by the greatest contemplatives we have known. Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila spoke lovingly of this dark night, and taught us that material things are not wealth, that poverty is not destitution, and that darkness is not eternal. There is always 'a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts'.
He himself quite famously opened and operated the IHP at the University of Kansas, which was shut down after many students converted. It counts among its alumni a number of Abbots and at least one Bishop. 'Let them be born in wonder' was its motto. His writings are a wonder indeed.
October 26, 2024
The Death of Christian Culture is thought-provoking and has solid conclusions. John Senior attacks his subject from many different angles: literature, journalism, art, science, religion, Oriental doctrine, education of high school and college students, language, and more. There is a lot here in a fairly short book.
The draining of Christianity from our culture has been methodically happening for years. The author exposes how it is being done.
The losses run deep. In the last couple chapters of the book, Senior writes about the rich deposit of faith that the Catholic Church has. He urges us to read the saints, and look to the martyrs, monks and theologians of the past.
Doctors of the Church are quoted, and good books are recommended. Restoring Christianity to the culture could mean living in a kinder, humanity-affirming world.
The draining of Christianity from our culture has been methodically happening for years. The author exposes how it is being done.
The losses run deep. In the last couple chapters of the book, Senior writes about the rich deposit of faith that the Catholic Church has. He urges us to read the saints, and look to the martyrs, monks and theologians of the past.
Doctors of the Church are quoted, and good books are recommended. Restoring Christianity to the culture could mean living in a kinder, humanity-affirming world.
September 15, 2025
El libro tiene sus cosas interesantes y algunos puntos válidos, sobre todo en la defensa de la tradición y la educación clásica. Pero en conjunto ofrece un marco rígido y pesimista, más cercano al lamento cultural que a una reflexión abierta y católica.
Lo más problemático es cómo ha sido utilizado. La muerte de la cultura cristiana se ha convertido en gasolina para la “batalla cultural” y en referente de figuras como Taylor Marshall, el obispo Strickland, el cardenal Burke, o voces similares como Raymond Arroyo y el entorno de EWTN. Desde ahí se ha alimentado un discurso que ve ideologías por todas partes y que termina enfrentándose al magisterio vivo de la Iglesia y al Papa Francisco.
En definitiva, aunque el libro contiene intuiciones interesantes, su influencia ha sido más divisiva que constructiva, y hoy funciona más como bandera ideológica que como auténtica propuesta cristiana - AE
Lo más problemático es cómo ha sido utilizado. La muerte de la cultura cristiana se ha convertido en gasolina para la “batalla cultural” y en referente de figuras como Taylor Marshall, el obispo Strickland, el cardenal Burke, o voces similares como Raymond Arroyo y el entorno de EWTN. Desde ahí se ha alimentado un discurso que ve ideologías por todas partes y que termina enfrentándose al magisterio vivo de la Iglesia y al Papa Francisco.
En definitiva, aunque el libro contiene intuiciones interesantes, su influencia ha sido más divisiva que constructiva, y hoy funciona más como bandera ideológica que como auténtica propuesta cristiana - AE
Want to read
January 16, 2016Complex, difficult analysis of the negative impact modern culture has had on the West.
Makes me not want to read anything written after 1870 ever again.
Fascinating, many well-developed ideas, but tends to ramble a bit.
Also doomsday-ish.
Makes me not want to read anything written after 1870 ever again.
Fascinating, many well-developed ideas, but tends to ramble a bit.
Also doomsday-ish.
November 28, 2011
Filled with brilliant insights, though undisciplined and wandering at times. Speaks some very important truths that remain salient today.
April 2, 2018
This book is not for me at this time. I read about 80 pages and those were a bit of a struggle. Too much judgement on the East. Maybe someday I will revisit, maybe not.
May 28, 2021
Though I already knew the way of restoration, I now understand what it is that needs restoring. Reversed, but nonetheless, insightful.
May 28, 2024
This book is a very insightful look into the problem of education in the modern world. From Senior’s vantage point in 1978, it was clear that education was entirely focused on the natural sciences and had little interest in letters. The result was a quarter educated population, merely literate and not acculturated. As Senior explains, this makes us vulnerable to half educated sheisters who present vice and obscenity and profound. I was shocked to learn some of the facts that Senior mentions in passing. For instance, the first chair at a major university of vernacular literature was at Oxford in 1857. Prior to that, English was not a subject of such great interest. People studied the Greek and Latin classics. Even then, we are so out of touch with even the English language that we hardly even center the classics of the English language anymore. As Senior puts it, the soil in which a Christian culture might grow is completely depleted in the West.
So what is the solution? Senior sees our inability to read and understand the great books as necessitating a soil emendation project. One must read the 1000 good books in order to read the 100 great books. This assessment seems correct to me. After all, wouldn’t we be asking a lot of our children if we expected them to reach the great heights of reading the Iliad and the Odyssey in the original Greek, if we can barely read Hawthorne or Shakespeare, and are functionally illiterate ourselves? Furthermore, great ideas can be dangerous when approached in a shallow manner, which will almost certainly happen without a guide. Finally, we simply cannot invite our children into a culture that we ourselves do not possess. I know most Christians looking for alternatives to public education, especially if they themselves were publicly educated, recognize they have a need themselves for reeducation. They expect they will learn alongside their children.
One issue I have with this book (and it’s not a small thing) is that Senior presents a traditional Catholic vision of education. I, for one, do not see the Latin mass as the root of Western culture. America is a Protestant nation. As such, an American classical education must recognize the importance of vernacular language. Otherwise, we are missing the mark. We cannot expect a general education to supply a working knowledge of Latin and Greek. And that’s an important observation since what we’re discussing is an alternative to public general education. Uniformity is one of the public education, to be sure. An elite few should receive an elite education. And the many should receive, as a baseline, an education that forms them to be lovers of God and neighbor, good churchman and good citizens; pious patriots, if you will. The few might learn Latin and Greek (certainly, more seminarians should have training in the classical liberal arts), but the many will not be able to benefit from this endeavor. So, Protestants must try to restore the classics to their proper place. They are for the forming of the men who will lead church and state. For the rest, they can thrive with a lot less.
So what is the solution? Senior sees our inability to read and understand the great books as necessitating a soil emendation project. One must read the 1000 good books in order to read the 100 great books. This assessment seems correct to me. After all, wouldn’t we be asking a lot of our children if we expected them to reach the great heights of reading the Iliad and the Odyssey in the original Greek, if we can barely read Hawthorne or Shakespeare, and are functionally illiterate ourselves? Furthermore, great ideas can be dangerous when approached in a shallow manner, which will almost certainly happen without a guide. Finally, we simply cannot invite our children into a culture that we ourselves do not possess. I know most Christians looking for alternatives to public education, especially if they themselves were publicly educated, recognize they have a need themselves for reeducation. They expect they will learn alongside their children.
One issue I have with this book (and it’s not a small thing) is that Senior presents a traditional Catholic vision of education. I, for one, do not see the Latin mass as the root of Western culture. America is a Protestant nation. As such, an American classical education must recognize the importance of vernacular language. Otherwise, we are missing the mark. We cannot expect a general education to supply a working knowledge of Latin and Greek. And that’s an important observation since what we’re discussing is an alternative to public general education. Uniformity is one of the public education, to be sure. An elite few should receive an elite education. And the many should receive, as a baseline, an education that forms them to be lovers of God and neighbor, good churchman and good citizens; pious patriots, if you will. The few might learn Latin and Greek (certainly, more seminarians should have training in the classical liberal arts), but the many will not be able to benefit from this endeavor. So, Protestants must try to restore the classics to their proper place. They are for the forming of the men who will lead church and state. For the rest, they can thrive with a lot less.
October 10, 2023
Comentario sobre la edición de Homo Legens en español.
La traducción es lo más chapucero que he visto en muchísimo tiempo y la edición también adolece de errores colosales cada pocas páginas. Parece que los traductores no han hecho más que poner el libro directamente en Google Translate. A poco familiarizado que estés con la lengua inglesa puedes ver el texto original subyacente, lo que hace incomodísima -prácticamente imposible- la lectura. Ni siquiera se han molestado en copiar traducciones existentes de los libros que cita Senior , y no me refiero a libros difíciles de encontrar, sino a la Biblia misma, por ejemplo. Ni siquiera están bien traducidos los títulos del apéndice, por mencionar otro más de los muchos ejemplos que podría poner. ¿Cómo se puede publicar un libro así? Lo compré en español porque aquí, en USA, está descatalogado y es más caro encontrarlo, pero de poco me ha servido hacerme con este ejemplar.
La traducción es lo más chapucero que he visto en muchísimo tiempo y la edición también adolece de errores colosales cada pocas páginas. Parece que los traductores no han hecho más que poner el libro directamente en Google Translate. A poco familiarizado que estés con la lengua inglesa puedes ver el texto original subyacente, lo que hace incomodísima -prácticamente imposible- la lectura. Ni siquiera se han molestado en copiar traducciones existentes de los libros que cita Senior , y no me refiero a libros difíciles de encontrar, sino a la Biblia misma, por ejemplo. Ni siquiera están bien traducidos los títulos del apéndice, por mencionar otro más de los muchos ejemplos que podría poner. ¿Cómo se puede publicar un libro así? Lo compré en español porque aquí, en USA, está descatalogado y es más caro encontrarlo, pero de poco me ha servido hacerme con este ejemplar.
October 25, 2023
John Senior is, I imagine, an unknown name to most university students today. He is perhaps unfamiliar to most Catholic students, even. Yet he oughtn't be, especially if you are a UNSC student at Baylor... for I'd venture that every good (let alone) great books program owes-aside from the obvious, the authors themselves-a insurmountable debt to Senior for his pedagogy and vitality that gave them due form.
There is a reason that his program was shut down at Kansas; nothing upsets modern university sensibilities quite like obtaining (or almost obtaining) a four-year degree, just to go become a Benedictine monk in France... all the more why those interested in the liberal arts should read his works.
#Seniorcontramundum
There is a reason that his program was shut down at Kansas; nothing upsets modern university sensibilities quite like obtaining (or almost obtaining) a four-year degree, just to go become a Benedictine monk in France... all the more why those interested in the liberal arts should read his works.
#Seniorcontramundum
September 18, 2025
3,5. La cuestión (cuestiones) que levanta son importantes, se deben atender. Algunas las resuelve de un modo que comparto, otras no. Pero hila fino y consigue exponer la relación entre decaimiento de la educación, de la religión y de la civilización occidental. Va de la mano. Tiene una visión algo radical, pero es que los temas que plantea tocan ma raíz del hombre occidental. No es posible seguir en la ignorancia. Vale la pena leerlo, presenta sin tapujos algunas de las perversiones en las que ha caído la supuesta “cultura occidental” desde que el relativismo abrió las puertas a todo tipo de sinsentidos (contradicciones internas del sistema cultural).
October 11, 2021
This collection of essays by the late professor of English John Senior outlines how the West has been falling into decadence and destruction since 1857. Though Senior published this book in 1978, it couldn't be more relevant today. Parts of it are absolutely prescient and prophetic, such as when he warns that introducing advanced concepts into the minds of children at too early an age will turn them away from first principles and make them unable to think independently. There's much in here to ponder.
November 21, 2025
This is a fascinating book. I enjoyed following Senior's assessment of the cultural and moral decline following Modernism that he mapped out. His insights into what caused us to lose appreciation for the literary tradition that western civilization is based on is relevant and convincing. I'm far from being convinced Catholicism is the means of rescuing society from moral decay, but this was a beneficial book to read.
October 12, 2017
One of the things I love about John Senior is how he confronts modernism and uncovers the philosophical roots of how we have gotten to where we are today. I am not Catholic, but have a deep appreciation for Senior's work and highly recommend it to all Christians who want a better understanding of the present state of Christianity in the West.
October 2, 2024
El libro es muy recomendable, John Senior sabía cosas. Pero la traducción española es muy mala, frases gramaticalmente incorrectas, o que cambian el significado del original... Siendo un libro poco famoso, debe ser la obra de un amateur, que es de agradecer, pero espero que en una futura edición salga algo mejor.
August 8, 2018
I wish everyone could someday read this work. John Senior’s clarity and precision is a treasure. For the anyone seeking objective Truth and especially for the Catholic, this boom is a must-read in the struggle against Modernism and Liberalism.
April 28, 2021
Unlike his better known ‘Restoration’, John Senior’s ‘The Death of Christian Culture’ chronicles the intellectual scene of the last century or so, and how it has strayed after casting off its Christian foundation. Very informative, but it assumes a great deal of familiarity with modern philosophy from the outset.
May 30, 2025
A remarkable and still accurate assessment of our current plight as a culture.
Embrace Christian culture and its virtues, and as John Senior would admonish us, teach your children to love it by showing it to them and loving it yourself.
Embrace Christian culture and its virtues, and as John Senior would admonish us, teach your children to love it by showing it to them and loving it yourself.
May 30, 2023
He’s right.
April 15, 2021
Complex and sometimes difficult to read but very insightful. I can’t argue with his beliefs but it was hard to read the truth so bluntly put. I’m very glad I read it though. Only through reading hard things can we learn, grow and become better people.
March 7, 2017
Senior's main thesis is that Modernism has ruined Occidental culture through exoticism, sensationalism and ennui--from Baudelaire to the present day. He mainly focuses on education, and in particular how modern educational institutions fail to cultivate intelligence and morals--even sometimes encouraging immorality. A worthwhile read for anyone interested in conservative critiques of culture, but should be all taken with a grain of salt and gets curmudgeonly at times.
November 17, 2024
La verdad es que la traducción es mala. Supongo que este libro pierde muchísimo valor por eso
June 20, 2025
This book, written in the 1970’s, was amazingly prescient regarding the situation our culture finds itself in today. John Senior minces no words as he assesses the state of society in his time, and his candor is like a bitterly cold but refreshing wind.
September 28, 2016
More philosophical than I expected. I liked The Restoration of Christian Culture more.
October 14, 2016
Although the author rambled too much for my taste, I did pull out some good gems.
January 31, 2017
Liked his analysis very much. Profound insight. Found his prescription wanting (as a protestant).
July 21, 2016
Learned curmudgeonry.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews