"I desire you to remember that we are Europe; we are a great people. The faith is not an accident among us, nor an imposition, nor a garment; it is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh; it is a philosophy made by and making ourselves. We have adorned, explained, enlarged it; we have given it visible form. This is the service we Europeans have done to God. In return He has made us Christians."Thank for Fr. Larry for providing this.
--An Open Letter on the Decay of Faith, 1906
Showing posts with label Christendom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christendom. Show all posts
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Belloc on our Christian heritage
Here's an interesting quote of Belloc's that I found at Eyes of Faith:
Friday, March 28, 2008
Christendom: Past and Future?
Hilaire Belloc made the famous argument that "Europe will return to the Faith, or she will perish. The Faith is Europe. And Europe is the Faith."
He made these remarks within his famous book summarising the important role that the Christian faith played in the rise and development of Western civilization as we know it. This point has also been recently reiterated by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. in How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization.
There's little doubt about the important role of Christendom in the past. Yet the question remains, what important role, if any, does it play for the future?
I must say, James P. Pinkerton provides a rather interesting answer in "The Once & Future Christendom: From death of the West—to knights of the West".
It'd would not be wise for us to simply lament about the passing of the old Christendom. Rather we should be inspired by its example to help forge a new Christendom for our era. There will certainly be significant differences between the once and the future Christendoms; the latter will be built on a basis of continuity with the former.
We should look to history for guidance and inspiration. But rather than be nostalgic (which gets us nowhere), we should look to the past for a foundation from which to move into the future. Rather than try to imitate the past, we should seek to creatively rediscover it. Pope John Paul II himself stated that true fidelity to tradition is creative, not imitative.
I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic, rather I'm hopeful for the future. Let the new day dawn!
He made these remarks within his famous book summarising the important role that the Christian faith played in the rise and development of Western civilization as we know it. This point has also been recently reiterated by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. in How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization.
There's little doubt about the important role of Christendom in the past. Yet the question remains, what important role, if any, does it play for the future?
I must say, James P. Pinkerton provides a rather interesting answer in "The Once & Future Christendom: From death of the West—to knights of the West".
It'd would not be wise for us to simply lament about the passing of the old Christendom. Rather we should be inspired by its example to help forge a new Christendom for our era. There will certainly be significant differences between the once and the future Christendoms; the latter will be built on a basis of continuity with the former.
We should look to history for guidance and inspiration. But rather than be nostalgic (which gets us nowhere), we should look to the past for a foundation from which to move into the future. Rather than try to imitate the past, we should seek to creatively rediscover it. Pope John Paul II himself stated that true fidelity to tradition is creative, not imitative.
I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic, rather I'm hopeful for the future. Let the new day dawn!
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