Religion and the Rise of Western Culture: The Classic Study of Medieval Civilization

by Christopher Henry Dawson

In this new edition of his classic work, Religion and the Rise of Western Culture, Christopher Dawson addresses two of the most pressing subjects of our day: the origin of Europe and the religious roots of Western culture. With the magisterial sweep of Toynbee, to whom he is often compared, Dawson tells here the tale of medieval Christendom. From the brave travels of sixth-century Irish monks to the grand synthesis of Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century, Dawson brilliantly shows how vast spiritual movements arose from tiny origins and changed the face of medieval Europe from one century to the next. The legacy of those years of ferment remains with us in the great cathedrals, Gregorian chant, and the works of Giotto and Dante. Even more, though, for Dawson these centuries charged the soul of the West with a spiritual concern -- a concern that he insists "can never be entirely undone except by the total negation or destruction of Western man himself."

Genres: History, Religion, Christianity, Nonfiction, Cultural, Medieval, Catholic

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

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

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extraordinarily penetrating and elegant examination of the nature of medieval culture. If you have an interest in the history of the Middle Ages, this is top notch. If not, this book is probably not for you. If you are instinctively hostile to the notion that anything of redeeming value occurred in this epoch, or that the medieval Church played a hugely important and constructive role in the development of Europe and western civilization, you should probably go read something by Christopher Hitchens instead. This is very academic, not written for popular audiences. The immensity of the author's knowledge of these times is staggering. Some prior knowledge of the Middle Ages and Church history is required in order to appreciate his argument.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are accustomed to divide life into two separate spheres: the public and the private. Argument rages over what is the proper content of each, and one can never intrude or be relinquished to the other without debate. Another way of stating the divide is to call it the secular and the sacred. Each person may pursue and believe what they will in their private lives, but such things have no business influencing the secularised world of politics, education or the economy.

The history of Christianity and Western Europe, as Christopher Dawson here tells it, traces the root of this idea. Unlike in the kingdoms of the east, where political power and religion were centralised, in the West, political and military might was vested in the hands of barbarian chieftains and kings, while higher culture and learning was a delicate flame being shielded by the stones of a scattered band of monasteries. Even as Gregory of Tours can call himself a Roman nobleman, he is surrounded by savage kings who hold the reins of power, and he can only lament his own poor Latin which will not bear comparison to the great poets and orators of the crumbling Empire.

The culture of the barbarians - be they northmen, Gauls or Anglo-Saxons - was Heroic. It venerated the Strong Man, the Homeric hero, who fought bravely against the odds and died valiantly. The cringing strictures of loving one's enemy or that the last shall come first, were alien to such a people. And even as over time Christianity began to spread and become formally adopted by such heroic rulers, a tension was preserved, a divide subsisted. There was Christian belief on one hand, and political/military might on the other. There was a private and a public sector.

But this changes in the 11th and 12th centuries. The rise of city communes and trade guilds created societies far more integrated than those which had been possible under the feudal system. Despite that hierarchies remained, they were joined by a spiritual purpose which found physical embodiment in the Gothic Cathedral - each person had his part to contribute. Dawson makes what seems almost a Weberian point (though he is speaking of Catholics and not Protestants): 'for every individual member of the whole is an end in himself, and his particular officium or ministerium is not merely a compulsory social task but a way of the service of God through which he shares in the common life of the whole body.' Life in these cities was so arranged that one's public role was an expression of one's private self: Christianity had found a political expression. 'For it was in the life of the Church and in the extension of the liturgy into common life by art and pageantry that the community-life of the medieval city found its fullest expression, so that the material poverty of the individual man was compensated by a wider development of communal activity and artistic and symbolic expression than anything that the more materially wealthy societies of modern Europe have known.' Its architecture is Gothic, and one recalls John Ruskin's denunciation of the Renaissance succession as alienating the common man. (One has only today to stroll among the barren megaliths of London city erected by environment-destroying multinationals to feel that he is entirely right in this point). Its highest literary acheivement is the Divinia Commedia in which everything which was known about the natural word was perfectly synthesised with Christian belief.

The conditions on which such cities could exist were precarious, and in England for example never came about because there the central monarchy was too strong and effective for such autonomous political entities to exist. The unity fragmented over succeeding centuries though I am unsure that Dawson's explanation as to why this should be so is entirely straight forward. Partly it is the result of the constant impetus to reform which characterises Latin Christendom, represented by the universities and the new religious orders. Partly too it was lack of strong political leadership. But as Dawson points out, it was probably less quick and less clear a process in the minds of most, of whom we have but scant record. He concludes with excerpts from Piers Plowman, written in the 14th century by a man who was, though no doubt learned, did not belong to the court nor the schools. It is written in the old alliterative style of the heroic Anglo-Saxon age, and in it 'there is no room for any social dualism or political conflict between Church and state.'

Right as the Rose that is red and sweet
Out of a ragged root and rough briars
Springeth and spreadeth and spicers desire it,
So Do Best out of Do well and Do better doth Spring.

True wedded folk in this world are Do well
For they must work and win and the world sustain.
For of this kind they come that confessors be called,
Kings and Knights, Kaysers and churls,
Maidens and Martyrs out of one man come.'

[Francisco Segundo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talvez porque o livro tenha origem em uma série de palestras, ou porque exija uma boa bagagem de história, algumas linhas argumentativas são cheias de buracos, quando não bruscamente interrompidas. Senti falta de um pouco mais de desenvolvimento. O autor traça a idade média quase como uma época de renascimento - em oposição àquela ideia de idade das trevas - e coloca o cristianismo como um dos atores principais da época, por meio do resgate de todo desenvolvimento cultura e científico da antiguidade clássica realizado pelos mosteiros. Além disso, apesar da importância dada à Roma, fala da importância da santificação do trabalho dentro dos mosteiros, o que representa uma valorização do camponês e reconhecimento, pela primeira vez, de seu papel dentro da sociedade medieval (contraponto à sociedade escravocrata). Trata o cristianismo como a primeira cultura de traço universal, o que ajudou o Ocidente a sobreviver a todo tipo de ataque e a se expandir por meio da conversão dos bárbaros.

Não deixa de dar a devida importância para a relação entre Estado e Igreja, falando inclusive da corrupção interna que surgiu na Igreja a partir do momento em que ela começa a emergir como poder supranacional. Descreve também o papel das catedrais na formação das primeiras Universidades no século XII (principalmente Paris e Bolonha) e como a escolástica e os estudos de lógica desenvolvidos nessa época ajudaram a formar as bases do pensamento científico, que mais tarde se expressaria no Renascimento.

3,5!

[Lucas Petry Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grande estudo sobre a civilização medieval europeia que nos leva a refletir sobre um dos aspectos mais fascinantes do cristianismo, qual seja, a "ambivalência" de Cristo (simultaneamente Deus e homem), a imanentização do absoluto transcendente na história, e ao consequente dualismo da cultura cristã que funda o espírito ocidental. São questões que extrapolam o estudo histórico desta obra, mas esse é o seu ponto de partida e de chegada.

[Tim R · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time reading any Dawson, whose significance was clear to me from the many references I kept stumbling on in other works of history and cultural criticism. I found the first half of the book very difficult, as Dawson’s walk through the Dark Ages, beginning with the collapse of the Roman Empire and moving through waves of missionary efforts first toward the British isles and then from the same isles to the continent, as well as wave upon wave of barbarian attacks that seem to have left Europe a post-apocalyptic wasteland multiple times, left me confused and hanging on for dear life to make it through all the names he dropped and historical events he referenced that I was encountering for the first time. I found myself relying on a recent Great Courses lecture I listened to on the Dark Ages to keep my head above water. I even benefited from reading Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road a few months ago for context on the Kaganate of the Khazar Empire, which Dawson mentions as though everyone knows alllll about it. I found myself regretting that I took AP Comparative Politics sophomore year of high school instead of AP Euro (which I did precisely to avoid the litanies of royal names that Dawson uses so fluently).

Eventually, Dawson’s thesis became more apparent and I started following the uber, meta-narrative that he is actually interested in: the idea that the culture of Christendom, the pan-Western inheritance that built the Europe we know today, was the product of an ongoing dialectic of opposing cultural forces from the very beginning. Legalistic Roman culture met clannish barbarian culture. That same barbarian warrior culture met love-your-neighbor Christian monasticism. The resulting Carolingian fusion, a style of ecclesiastical organization that made the bishopric a hereditary possession, then met a movement of reform that asserted the supremacy of religion over the state, which advanced a unifying paradigm as opposed to the spirit-against-body dualism of ancient Christianity going back to Paul and Augustine. It continues. This stuff is fascinating and it’s what Dawson is known for. And although the reading was still a slog for me in terms of wading through the density of style, I found the content very rewarding. Ultimately, you are reading the conclusions of Dawson’s entire scholarly life spent among the minutiae of medieval studies — he knows that millennium better than you ever will, and therefore you will get lost in his evidence but you can benefit from his conclusions. Read the book to understand the Dawsonian paradigm, which is what everyone means when they talk about him.

[Bella Swan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não é ruim, mas não é bom.
Esse livro é perfeito para quem gosta e sabe muito de história. Para quem tem uma boa interpretação de texto e não está começando agora no mundo da leitura.


Ele explica a Criação do Ocidente (óbvio), apartir de evoluções religiosas. É bem interessante. O autor é excelente e é considerado um dos maiores historiadores do século 20.

Só que para mim, uma leiga, ficou cansativo.
É compreensível, ele é bem profundo em detalhes históricos, mas cansa bastante. Muitos nomes, muitas datas... Se você não tem muito conhecimento sobre certos acontecimentos, principalmente sobre as pessoas que participaram daquilo, te leva umas semanas a mais para ler.
Mas foi uma leitura nova e que não me arrependo. É sempre bom saber como tudo começou, me ajudou em contexto histórico para literatura e escola.
Realmente absorvi muita coisa :)

[David Haines · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any one who is interested in Medieval history or the influence of religion upon culture. Some parts are perhaps overly general, and some elements might be contested, but his thesis is interesting, and this is still a valuable contribution to the study of Medieval History. The final paragraph of this work is a most interesting and intriguing conclusion…a conclusion which may also be the beginning of some very interesting research.

[Rodrigo Araujo Pereira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente obra sobre a idade média e a importância do cristianismo na formação do Ocidente após a queda do império Romano Ocidental. Esse é um dos períodos mais mal estudados e cercados de desinformação que existe. São mil anos de história q geralmente são negligenciados nos livros de história.

[Adam Marischuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scholarly analysis of the contribution of the Catholic Church to Western Culture

Renowned scholar, historian and Catholic convert Christopher Dawson delivered the 1948-49 Gifford lectures and those lecture notes would eventually become Religion and the Rise of Western Culture. Despite being published in 1950, the book still is relevant, and perhaps authoritative today. The book lacks the indignation of the diatribes being hurled across the political divide between Catholic and atheist social commentators, and is instead a scholarly, sober and balanced analysis of the role of the Church in developing those aspects of western culture many seem to take for granted.

Firstly, I need to get the bad out of the way: why isn't there a new edition without a foreward from the disgraced Archbishop Weakland available?

I believe much can be gleaned from the list of chapters, as these perennial subjects provide the foundation of any understanding of the Middle Ages:

I. Introduction: The Significance of the Western Development
II. The Religious Origins of Western Culture: The Church and the Barbarians
III. The Monks of the West and the Formation of the Western Tradition
IV. The Barbarians and the Christian Kingdom
V. The Second Dark Age and the Conversion of the North
VI. The Byzantine Tradition ant the Conversion of Eastern Europe
VII. The Reform of the Church in the Eleventh Century and the Medieval Papacy
VIII. The Feudal World: Chivalry and the Courtly Culture
IX. The Medieval City: Commune and Guild
X. The Medieval City: School and University
XI. The Religious Crisis of Medieval Culture: The Thirteenth Century
XII. Conclusion: Medieval Religion and Popular Culture
Appendix: Notes on Famous Medieval Art

There are many gems in the book as Dawson's writing is fluid and enjoyable, his conclusions informed and well defended, his examples lucid and pertinent.

"The conversion of Western Europe was not achieved so much by the teaching of a new doctrine as by the manifestation of a new power, which invaded and subdued the barbarians of the West, as it had already subdued the civilized lands of the Mediterranean." (p. 35)

"But while in the Mediterranean the monks were retreating from the dying culture of the ancient world, in the North monasticism was becoming the creator of a new Christian culture and a school of the Christian life for the new peoples of the west. " (p. 49)

"...how necessary it was to distinguish between the essentials of the Christian way of life and the accidents of Byzantine or Latin culture, which the missionaries were apt to regard as a necessary part of Christianity. [and from the footnote]For example, it seems from this document that the question of wearing trousers preoccupied the minds of Byzantine missionaries in the ninth century no less than of English and American missionaries in the ninteenth. But wereas these modern missionaries encouraged the wearing of trousers as a part of Christian civilization, the Byzantines banned them as a pagan and barbarous custom." (p. 107-108)

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dense and rewarding. Christopher Dawson is almost a forgotten name, but back in the 1920s-30s he was a major historian on par with ambitious grand narrative historians who are trying to explain the decline of the West as a result of the First World War like Arnold Toynbee, Oswald Spengler, and J.D. Unwin. His approach is more religious among those writers, reasonable considering his Catholic background. This book is a classic, a series of lectures delivered under the Glifford lectures 1948-49 explaining the role of Christianity on the rise of Western culture. The theme that is present in this book and which is present in all his writings is that Christianity is the soul of Western culture. Without it, it will perish.

It is in today's Zeitgeist to explain that the rise of Western culture is attributable to Renaissance, to a lesser degree Reformation, and Enlightenment. However, Dawson turns everything on its head and argues that the Middle Ages, while often neglected due to stultification of wealth and culture, is actually the essential ingredient. He starts on the period which is often neglected by historians of culture; namely that of the collapse of the late Western Roman Empire circa late 5th century and the beginning of Middle Ages circa early 6th-7th century. Here we can see the two key ingredients to the growth of Christianity and the dawn of the new era; Roman culture (law, language, prestige), and Christian otherwordliness (moral, teachings, miracles). These two ingredients play a key role in converting the Barbarian inhabitants of the West, while also providing them with solid, all-encompassing belief system and dynamism necessary for any society to develop.

Dawson argues that this 1000 years period of the Middle Ages is essential to the rise of Western Culture. All the strands of thoughts that become a bedrock for today's Secular society such as Humanism, Atheism, Secularism, and Enlightenment could actually be traced to values of Christianity that are developed in the Middle Ages.

Why is the Middle Ages essential? Due to a number of reasons. Firstly, it provided a period of solidification of belief. I always thought that Middle Ages was a stagnant period where everybody believed in Christianity and prayed and worshipped and killed one another, but Dawson proves otherwise. It was a period full of challenges, from internal competition between the Empire and the Pope, and external competition of foreign invasion, from Saracens on the South, Huns, Magyars, and eventually Tartars from the East, and Vikings from the North. Christianity started in small communities such as in Gaul, Ireland (by St. Patrick), and England (Canterbury), and later spread to Germany. It was only later that a centralized Christian Theocracy such as Frank (Charles Martel and eventually Charlemagne) and Holy Roman Empire (Emperor Otto) were born, but even then it was interrupted by periods of weakening central control, famine, invasions by Vikings from Denmark and Scandinavia, and so on. The grip of Christianity upon Europe was tenuous at best, and only concentrated in Central and Western part of continental Europe. It was only due to the vital role played by Monasteries which act as a safeguard and keeper of key texts and skills which is essential to preserve the gains of culture and religion at that time that the tradition was kept alive. It was only much later around the late Middle Ages when we see a flowering of culture as a result of solidity of religion, which provides a vision essential to the later role played by Western civilization.

Which brings me to my second point. The Middle Ages emphasizes a unified vision of Worldview (Christianity) which encompasses all human understanding including philosophy, politics, religion, and all human wisdom. It finds its most complete artistic expression in Dante's Divine Comedy and its most complete expression in works like St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica. It is a unification of the Bible and Aristotelian science. It is a unification of all human wisdom united for a common purpose of understanding and imposing the Christian worldview upon the world. This latter point is what proves to be essential in the conquest of Western ideas throughout the world in the Modern Age.

Thirdly and finally, Dawson argues that the what made the Middle Ages so essential in the rise of Western culture later is its inherent dynamism mainly due to political structure. Let me give an example. I used to wonder why modern science was never invented by the Arabs or the Chinese, even though they have an arguably superior culture in around 11th-12th century (or in the latter's case, even earlier, say during Tang Dynasty). Dawson gives the answer here. He thinks that it is the West's religious and cultural division that actually provides a crucial ingredient to the development of Western Culture (and eventually Science etc.). As Authority was never centralized like in the Islamic world, intellectual and religious movements could be started by individuals without having to be censured by Centralized Authority. The Pope was never able to exercise a full extent of his authority because the European society was a feudal society, controlled by fiefs and little kingdoms owned by landowners and lords. Not even the Emperor himself can assert his authority in the periphery of its territory. On the contrary, radical religious movements such as the Fransiscan and the Dominican movement were pro-Rome (pro-Pope) and was eventually included into the religious hierarchy of Rome. Not only that, the development of the Medieval City, originally as a church-centered self-sufficient economic organism, but later developed into gilds and independent political authority, creates a political order which is based on independence and decentralized authority. It is also due to this development that European Middle Ages gave one of its prized and long-lasting contribution to the world: the University. It originated as gild-focused learning center but was later grown into religious intellectual center offering many subjects such as in Pisa, Bologna, and Oxford. Only in a couple of exception such as Paris that you have secular University. This is also the origin of Secular University and the wider argument of Secularism in general, which come about due to the desire of institutions to be free of religious censure, which come about due to the largely decentralized nature of European state and church politics.

One might argue that it is the Separation of Church and State which is the main reason of Western success, but it is also the Separation between State and State, Church and Church, and Land and Land.

A lethal combination: decentralization of authority and the Christian values of Truth, plus a desire to unify all wisdom into the Christian framework. Isn't that the key ingredients for the rise of the Modern World? Nowhere in the other civilizations such as Islam and China that you have this. It was only later that Science and Enlightenment eventually overthrow its parent, as was the case in nearly all major civilizations. Civilizations see religion and culture develop hand in hand. Both breed knowledge. Knowledge makes everybody sceptical. Religion is abandoned. Eventually culture goes bankrupt, and the society goes to decay and eventual death. I'd like to quote Will Durant here. Every civilization starts of being stoic and ends of being epicurean. Religion and culture dances together, rise and eventually settles into a harmonious death.

I started to explore Dawson's writings because of my concern with the West's obvious decline. As a civilization that has given so much for the modern world, one can only look at it with worry and sadness. It seems like it has lost its soul. Without Christianity, what is left for Human Rights, Pursuit of Truth, and Freedom? What is remaining if not selfishness, sexual freedom, demographic collapse, Communism/equality of outcome, and dystopian strengthening of the state as a replacement of the family. It's all very troubling and one can be well-advised to read somebody like Dawson again.

[Lucianoslw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dawson escreve na introdução do livro que é raro encontrar uma cultura em que todo o seu desenvolvimento religioso possa ser traçado do começo ao fim à luz da história. Felizmente, este é o caso do cristianismo, cujo processo podemos acompanhar detalhadamente, etapa por etapa, ao longo de vinte séculos.

As origens da cultura ocidental são evidentemente religiosas, e os padres latinos como Ambrósio, Agostinho, Leão e Gregório foram seus verdadeiros fundadores. Ao proclamar Jesus em vez de César, foi realizada uma revolução criativa que marcou uma nova era na história universal, especialmente no Ocidente. E com o estabelecimento dos mosteiros, estabeleceu-se a instituição cultural mais típica desde o declínio da civilização clássica até o surgimento das universidades europeias no século XII. Personalidades como Carlos Magno e o rei Alfredo colaboraram efetivamente na difusão de uma cultura cristã na Europa e, com a conversão dos bárbaros e a incorporação dos povos do norte e leste da Europa, conseguiu-se a unificação religiosa e cultural do continente. A reforma da Igreja no século XI,

Não menos importante foi o renascimento da cidade europeia da Idade Média a partir do século XII. A Europa se constituiu em um mundo de cidades em que a vida urbana e o espírito cívico eram tão importantes quanto nos tempos clássicos da Grécia e de Roma. O surgimento da Universidade orientou a cultura da Idade Média para os novos tempos, e durante três séculos a Europa tendeu para a unidade do cristianismo e para a criação de uma valiosa síntese intelectual e espiritual. No entanto, a partir de meados do século XIII iniciou-se um processo centrífugo que culminou na divisão religiosa e nas mudanças sociais e culturais do século XVI.

Como Dawson demonstra ao longo do estudo, os momentos de eficácia vital entre uma religião e uma cultura são os eventos criativos da história, em relação aos quais os sucessos externos da ordem política e econômica são transitórios e de importância limitada.

Leia mais resenhas em https://instagram.com/literatura.klas...

[James Violand · Rating 2 out of 5]

This work is so dry, it makes the Sahara lush by comparison. I hope each chapter endured lessens my poor soul’s time in Purgatory. This is a survey of events within from around 500 through roughly 1300 AD, that influenced the formation of Western European culture. The focus is on the Church’s influence. Contrary to the predominant opinion of the secularists, Christianity had a dominating influence on these times and Dawson establishes this. The cost to the reader, however, is grueling. Without question, Dawson knows his material, but this is written with colleagues – not laymen – in mind. He alludes to a person to make a point or set an example yet misses the mark because the person is obscure to any layman. This is the problem with the work. It requires expertise a priori. A disappointment.

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Creation of Christian culture in the heart of Western Man

A sweeping summary of the rise of the church. Dawson has a detailed knowledge of hundreds of key players. He links the conversion of the Kentish and Gaulish kings. This was not the interplay of church and state, but rather the beginning of creation of biblical culture by the missionaries. Or consider the end of the 'geographic' dark ages. Francis travels to the Caliphate. (Yes, St Francis). Franciscans establish mission in Bejing, attempt international treaty with ' the khan' in central Asia - all this in the 13th century. A great intro from a scholarly and sympathetic perspective.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author was a preeminent medieval historian of the mid-twentieth century and this book was based of the Gifford lectures he delivered in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1948-49. He covers the entire medieval period of Western Europe from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century through the 15th century, as shown by its table of contents:

I. Introduction: The Significance of the Western Development
II. The Religious Origins of Western Culture: The Church and the Barbarians
III. The Monks of the West and the Formation of the Western Tradition
IV. The Barbarians and the Christian Kingdom
V. The Second Dark Age and the Conversion of the North
VI. The Byzantine Tradition ant the Conversion of Eastern Europe
VII. The Reform of the Church in the Eleventh Century and the Medieval Papacy
VIII. The Feudal World: Chivalry and the Courtly Culture
IX. The Medieval City: Commune and Guild
X. The Medieval City: School and University
XI. The Religious Crisis of Medieval Culture: The Thirteenth Century
XII. Conclusion: Medieval Religion and Popular Culture
Appendix: Notes on Famous Medieval Art

The "Barbarians" - the Germanic tribes that overran Western Europe were warlike and initially pagan, but soon converted to Christianity, at least formally and outwardly. But the Christian ethos primarily was conserved in the monastic movement, which spread all over Western Europe, and was vitally important for Christianizing the masses. There were setbacks after the time of Charlemagne, as Western Europe was attacked by the Scandinavian Vikings from the north, the Magyars (i.e. Hungarians) from the east and Muslims from the south. The Scandinavians and Magyars were eventually converted to Christianity. Recovery began in the late 10th century and reform movements began in the Church. There were disputes between the Holy Roman Emperors and the Popes. Education increased with the rise of the universities. In Spain, the works of Aristotle and others were translated into Latin (the language of the Universities), which caused philosophical and theological fermentation which led to the great medieval synthesis exemplified in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and others. There was the rise of the mendicant orders of friars - Dominicans and Franciscans. Throughout the book the political development of the kingdoms - France and others, and the city-states of Italy are discussed, and how the tradesmen and others were affected. Throughout, literary developments are discussed. The 14th century saw breakdowns. The templar order was suppressed by King Philip IV of France. The Christian Crusader states of the Levant were destroyed, the Hundred Years War began between France and England. The Bubonic Plague - the "Black Death" - struck Europe. The Popes were living in exile from Rome at Avignon. Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal was sending ships exploring the coast of Africa. So, basically the foundations were being laid for the developments which came to fruition in the eras of the Renaissance and the Reformation.

[Gustavo Yepez · Rating 2 out of 5]

First book from Mariana Brito's 2022 book club. I am convinced that this book was the first one in order to weed out the weakest people, which was indirectly confirmed by the book club admin herself. We all paid in advance to join so she's not missing out on any revenue regardless 🤣. I had read about the book before, so I knew what to expect, and between that and the fact that I am Catholic, the total bias towards Catholicism did not dissuade me from finishing the book. Also the fact that I paid for it in advance, like I said above. The author's bias did end up causing a huge fight in the book club's official Telegram group between Jews, Protestants and Catholics, so that was certainly the most fun

Going back to the book itself, it's a tough read today and I imagine it was a tougher read at the time it was written. I understand the book is a collection of several talks the author gave, and I feel for the poor souls who had to endure the content in that manner. At least when you’re reading you can stop, take a break, reread the last page for the third time to see if it finally makes sense, and so on.

Unless you are already a scholar on the subject, you are going to get lost. Dozens of people will be popping in and out, being referenced once and then never again, so eventually you stop trying to remember who is who and just try to get the general feel. If the subject mattered enough to me, I would have stopped and looked them up on Wikipedia to get more information and a more complete picture of the situation, but I never managed to care too much since the whole thing is delivered in a “because I said so” manner. No other hypotheses are considered, and all the evidence seems to support the author’s argument because it was clearly cherry-picked. By the end of the book, we are supposed to accept as fact that Christianity single-handedly kept western culture alive from the fall of the Roman Empire all the way through to the modern era.

However, the book does have its redeeming qualities. It was nice learning about several historical events that I was not aware of, and consequently learning more about the history of my religion. You can still do that without buying into Dawson’s conclusions. I also enjoyed a few of the sections with quotes straight from the historical sources, providing a glimpse of how people felt about the state of the world all those centuries ago, and making you think about how some perceptions have changed since then and some really haven’t. Despite my gripes with the evidence, I can imagine gathering it took a lot of work and research, and if I were back in college writing about this topic, this book would be a great source since it covers the whole time period and mentions many people and events that I could then do more research on.

[Paithan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally found it! A history book that doesn't look at the materialistic and economic concerns of the past, but instead focuses on what people believed that they were doing.

Very interesting read. Shows that Christianity was not the reason for the dark ages, but the only reason that Europe ever made it out of the dark ages. The chapters on the Carolingian 'Imperial Church' and the era of Monasticism are the most interesting.

In the end there is a chapter on the 13th century and the rise of absolute monarchs. The author writes that the church began to see itself as the head of the whole Christian community as a response to the absolute monarchs, who wished to be the dominant forces in their own territories. Unwilling to share power or influence with the Church. And for the first time in history they could do it.

Before this, the Church and the State were considered separate entities (each a complete thing, with its own functions) within the same wider community. One did not try to dominate the other, if they did it was considered improper by the wider community.

What I'm getting to is the history of how the Church changed, in its attempt to bring the word of Christ to the world, was very interesting.

[Caleb Stober · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definite 5 stars from me. Dawson has to be one of the first historians I've read who rightly acknowledges the role & development of Christianity & the Christian "spirit" in Europe in the overall development of the European civilizations. This is like a more history-oriented version of the portions of Charles Taylor's A Secular Age insofar as it covers history through the Middle Ages. I think Taylor is more interested in the development of secularism as the most recent product of a long development of Christian thought, whereas Dawson is more interested in the development of European civilization as a product of Christianity's intervention into the pagan cultures of Europe. Think of this as a library within a book, filled with lots of names and events which are covered briefly that provide you with rich teasers for follow-up through further reading. It is academic, and may feel a bit overwhelming if you don't already have some familiarity with European history but I personally really enjoyed reading it. Furthermore, if God grants me children I will likely use this book at least in part to teach them.

[Fr. Zachary Galante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dawson is a fantastic Church historian, but he is not for the beginners. This book offers a perspective that is often lacking in historical courses on the study of Europe. Most European history courses start something like this: Rome was great until it fell; Then nothing happened for 800 years until the renaissance; Then Europe with all of its conflict and charm developed. Dawson writes about what happened in those 800 years, which he argues, have a tremendous importance for the rest of Europe's history. A great read for those interest in history of the West, the Church, and the truth of our cultural roots.

[Steve Wegman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of lectures that review how the Christian church shaped western culture from the fall of the Roman Empire to the medieval and monastic eras. I suspect that serious students of history might rate it higher, but it was far to full of obscure references for me to follow much of the time. It does a good job of showing how Christianity shaped European culture and facilitated the west's leading the world in many categories.

[Mike Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Dawson gives a wide ranging analysis of the relationship between church, state, and culture through the medieval period (roughly 500 to 1300 in this text). He is pretty convincing in showing the important role that Christianity played in defining Western culture. His knowledge of the topic is clearly encyclopedic, and there were times I had trouble keeping up. However, on the whole the book is accessible to someone with an academic bent.

[Doug Schreiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent piece of scholarly work. It is a bit repitious on main points and is not a very compelling read or well centered on the main themes. THere are several in each section of the book and you have to pick through them and make your own conclusions.
Good read though and an excellent companion to other historical secular works to link the influence of the church into history,

[David Bruyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb and encyclopaedic, yet eminently readable. Includes much detail not often found in standard Protestant church histories.

[Leonardo]

Dawson influenció a Lonergan

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necessary reading to understand just how much Christianity has influenced Western civilization.

[Zbigniew Zdziarski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exciting but solid.

[Peter Bringe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an insightful book on the dynamics involved in the formation of Western culture in the Middle Ages. Far from being a stagnant period, this book does a good job explaining the various eras of medieval history and the diverse cultural forces at work, especially focusing on the impact of Christianity. It was a helpful account how Christianity discipled the nations in Europe from the fall of Rome to the 13th century.

Some quotes from the book:

"Nevertheless throughout the whole history of Western Europe down to the last century the absence of unitary organization and of a single uniform source of culture did not destroy the spiritual continuity of the Western tradition. Behind the ever-changing pattern of Western culture there was a living faith which gave Europe a certain sense of spiritual community, in spite of all the conflicts and divisions and social schisms that marked its history." (16)

"Moreover the liturgy was not only the bond of Christian unity. It was also the means by which the mind of the gentiles and the barbarians was attuned to a new view of life and a new concept of history...As we have seen, the archaic [pagan] ritual order was conceived as the pattern of the cosmic order, and consequently its typical mysteries were the mysteries of nature itself represented and manifested in the dramatic action of sacred myth...The Christian mystery, on the other hand,...was not concerned with the life of nature with culture as a part of the order of nature, but with the redemption and regeneration of humanity by the Incarnation of the Divine Word.
"But since the Incarnation and the whole redemptive process were historically situation, the Christian mystery was also an historical mystery–the revelation of the divine purpose manifested on earth and in time, as the fulfillment of the ages. Thus instead of the nature myth which was the key to the ritual order of the archaic civilization, the Christian mystery is based on a sacred history, and liturgy develops into an historical cycle in which the whole story of human creation and redemption is progressively unfolded." (40-41)

"For the divine right of the anointed king was counterbalanced throughout the greater part of the Middle Ares by its conditional and revocable character; and this was not a mere concession to theological theory; it was enforced by the very real authority of the Church. Here again the influence of the Old Testament tradition of theocracy was paramount, so that the medieval monarchy, and most of all the medieval empire, possessed a theocratic character in a different sense from that which is to be seen in the Byzantine Empire, or in the absolute monarchies of Europe after the Renaissance and the Reformation. Nevertheless even in these later periods it is not difficult to find examples of the older view of the limited and essentially dependent nature of divine right. Throughout these periods, both in Catholic and protestant Europe, there was a large body of opinion which acknowledged the Divine right of kings without admitting that this involved the principle of Passive Obedience, so that there is an historic connection between the modern idea of constitutional monarchy and the medieval tradition of kingship." (93)

[St. Benedict, critiquing the Papacy of his time:] "For if you are to do the work of a prophet you need the hoe rather than the sceptre."(247)

"If there is any truth in what I have been saying...such moments of vital fusion between a living religion and a living culture are the creative events in history, in comparison with which all the external achievements in the political and economic orders are transitory and insignificant." (274)

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dawson understood the roots of our culture.

[Graychin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The latter half of Dawson’s 1947-49 Gifford lectures, collected in this volume, explore the influence of Christianity in the medieval synthesis of western culture and the birth of the elusive but demonstrable something that once upon a time went by the name of Christendom. Dawson was a Catholic as well as an historian but this isn’t mere apologetics. It’s solid stuff, well drawn and insightful, that moves from the barbarian invasions to the era of St Francis. Western culture gets some bad press these days, much of it undeserved. This book might help set the record straight on a few things.

[Chris J · Rating 3 out of 5]

That this book is a 3 and not a 4-star says waaaay more about my ignorance than any shortcoming in Dawson's writing. This book caused me to feel the canyon-sized gaps in my knowledge of the Middle Ages. I simply didn't know enough for the book to make more of an impact on me...pearls before swine.

Still, I did glean a good deal from the book and on the whole enjoyed it. I can see myself attempting this book again in ten years when maybe I'm not such a dumbass.

[Aaron Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rise of western civilization in the Middle Ages—the importance of “the internal change they brought about in the soul of Western man…”.

Monasticism, kingship, conversion (Vikings, barbarians), unity, papacy, republicanism, schooling/university (science, trivium), chivalric and courtly culture, etc.