The Crisis of Civilization

by Hilaire Belloc

Here the great Belloc shows that ever since the disaster of the Protestant Reformation, Western civilization (which was formed by the Catholic Faith) has been coming apart--since Calvinism opened the door to usury, unbridled competition, the domination of the mind by money, and ultimately the return of slavery. Belloc says our 2 choices are a return to Catholicism or chaos! Essential for anyone who would understand our world today!

Genres: History, Catholic, Religion, Nonfiction, Theology

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 1973

About the author

People considered Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc, French-born British writer, as a master of light English prose and also knew widely his droll verse, especially The Bad Child's Book of Beasts in 1896.

Sharp wit of Hilaire Belloc, an historian, poet, and orator, extended across literary output and strong political and religious convictions. Oxford educated this distinguished debater and scholar. Throughout his career, he prolifically across a range of genres and produced histories, essays, travelogues, poetry, and satirical works.

Cautionary Tales for Children collects best humorous yet dark morals, and historical works of Hilaire Belloc often reflected his staunch Catholicism and critique of Protestant interpretations. He led advocates of an economic theory that promotes and championed distribution of small-scale property ownership as a middle ground between capitalism and socialism alongside Gilbert Keith Chesterton, his close friend.

In politics, Hilaire Belloc served as a member of Parliament for the Liberal party, but the establishment disillusioned him. His polemical style and strong opinions made a controversial figure, who particularly viewed modernism, secularism, and financial capitalism as threats to traditional Christian society in his critiques.

Influence and vast literary legacy of Hilaire Belloc extends into historical circles. Erudition, humor, and a forceful rhetorical style characterized intellectual vigor and unique perspective, which people continue to study and to appreciate, on history, society, and human nature.

Reviews

[Roger Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profound, poignant, erudite: Belloc on the tragedy of the Reformation, the loss of Christendom, the rise of capitalism ...

For anyone interested, much more on this theme can also be found in various pieces in the Belloc section of my site: http://corjesusacratissimum.org/tag/h... ...

O Belloc! O Christendom! ...

[Kyle Berry]

Hilaire Belloc was an English, Roman Catholic, historian around the turn of the 20th century. He was chums with G.K. Chesterton. They ran a newspaper together, conjured up their own economic theory, called "Distributism", and generally antagonized Bertrand Russell whenever possible.

Hint: By "Crisis", he means social crisis.
Spoiler: The crisis was the Protestant Reformation.

This was the first time I had heard a persuasive case advancing anything negative about the Reformation. It was a little scary for me.

[Joe Musarra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was extremely informative and enlightening for someone raised on a thoroughly protestant/secular history of Western civilization. It fits right in with "The Crusades: The World's Debate" and "The Great Heresies" also by Belloc. The final chapter was somewhat dense and spoke to his proposed remedies for the titular crisis as things stood in the 1930s, so I had some trouble getting through the middle of that. That said, he came back around in the final few pages with a clear and hopeful vision.

[Carlos Fuentes Jamett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buen libro, es contundente, con el estilo enérgico de Belloc, la primera parte explica la crisis de la civilización, en especial en su origen histótico, y luego el momento presente, y hacia el final nos señala lo que él cree que son las medidas que podemos tomar para remediarla. Un llamado a todo católico para ponerse en acción.

[Zbigniew Zdziarski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belloc is so good.

[Juan Ruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al leer este libro me sentí en un salón lleno de anti-protestantes dogmáticos. Para un protestante el ambiente de este libro es bastante hostil... Pero es bueno, lo releería en un futuro.

[C. McMaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you are protestant, you don't necessarily have to agree with his suggestion that the reformation was the straw that broke the camel's back in western civilization in order to sympathize with his suggestion that the consequences of the reformation have been catastrophic to western civilization. Belloc paints an engrossing historical portrait of the downfall of Christendom culminating in the economic injustices which we still have today, all the while showing how the reformation is to blame. a must read in the area of church history and economics from a catholic perspective.

[Adam Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this years ago and liked it more than I do now. Apparently I forgot about what Belloc sees as the crisis of Christendom - the Reformation. The book is still good, and says a lot of great things (Islam is not a religion, it is a Christian heresy, etc.).

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice historical analysis, dated economic analysis