Introduction

[John]

In this book, pivotal to all his historical insights, Belloc answers the question: What made Europe? He shows it was not the barbarians nor the Protestant Reformation, but the Catholic Faith that made Europe (and the worldwide civilization produced by Europe). Protestantism gravely wounded this our civilization, and only the Catholic Faith can rejuvenate it. It must return to that Faith or perish! This is a tremendous eye-opener on where we are today and where we must go from here!

Most of the questions below have been adapted from LitLovers or are standard questions. As always, please feel free to a a discussion question that you think would be helpful.

I got my copy of the book and it is a reprint using a teeny, tiny, barely legible font. I now find that there is a free copy available online: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Europe....

[Manuel]

John wrote: "I got my copy of the book and it is a reprint using a teeny, tiny, barely legible font. I now find that there is a free copy available online: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Europe...."

There is also a free edition in the Gutenberg project: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8442

[Faith]

Thank you!!!!

[Ben]

I love his writing style in the Introduction. And he makes a lot of sense.

"A Catholic as he reads [the great story of Europe] does not grope at it from without, he understands it from within. He cannot understand it altogether because he is a finite being; but he is also that which he has to understand. The Faith is Europe and Europe is the Faith."

It's so true that having a Catholic Intuition gives greater insights into European History. I recently read books on The Byzantine Empire, and on the Norman Conquest of England and was struck by how much the Church was important in those stories. I think someone who doesn't have a Catholic perspective is a at a disadvantage because they don't have the same intuition.

[Ben]

Oh I misunderstood this, I thought this was a section to discuss the Introduction. I'll move my comment to a better section.

[Fonch]

I agree with Ben the best of Hilaire Belloc is his prose and his combative style. I feel reading as i was in a field Battle at the beggining of a crucial War.