In The Gods of Revolution , Christopher Dawson brought to bear, as Glanmor Williams said, "his brilliantly perceptive powers of analysis on the French Revolution. . . . In so doing he reversed the trends of recent historiography which has concentrated primarily on examining the social and economic context of that great upheaval." Dawson underlines the fact that the Revolution was not animated by democratic ideals but rather reflected an authoritarian liberalism often marked by a fundamental contempt for the populace, described by Voltaire as "the 'canaille' that is not worthy of enlightenment and which deserves its yoke." The old Christian order had stressed a common faith and common service shared by nobles and peasants alike but Rousseau "pleads the cause of the individual against society, the poor against the rich, and the people against the privileged classes." It is Rousseau whom Dawson describes as the spiritual father of the new age in disclosing a new spirit of revolutionary idealism expressed in liberalism, socialism and anarchism. But the old unity was not replaced by a new form. Dawson insists the whole period following the Revolution is "characterized by a continual struggle between conflicting ideologies," and the periods of relative stabilization such as the Napoleonic restoration, Victorian liberalism in England, and capitalist imperialism in the second German empire "have been compromises or temporary truces between two periods of conquest." This leads to his assertion that "the survival of western culture demands unity as well as freedom, and the great problem of our time is how these two essentials are to be reconciled." This reconciliation will require more than technological efficiency for "a free society requires a higher degree of spiritual unity than a totalitarian one. Hence the spiritual integration of western culture is essential to its temporal survival." It is to Christianity alone that western culture "must look for leadership and help in restoring the moral and spiritual unity of our civilization," for it alone has the influence, "in ethics, in education, in literature, and in social action" sufficiently strong to achieve this end.

lgrsnf/The Gods of Revolution - Christopher Dawson (Author) & Joseph T. Stuart & Arnold Toynbee (Introduction).pdf

Christopher, Dawson

The works of Christopher Dawson, CUA Press edition, Washington, D.C, 2015

Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2015

United States, United States of America

Jan 22, 2015

Source title: The Gods of Revolution (Worlds of Christopher Dawson)

Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Introduction by Joseph T. Stuart
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Arnold Toynbee
Christopher Dawson: An Appreciation by James Oliver
Part One. The Revolution of Ideas
1. The European Revolution
2. The Historic Origins of Liberalism
3. The Birth of Democracy
Part Two. The French Revolution
4. The Rights of Man
5. The Altars of Fear
6. The Reign of Terror
7. The Fall of the Mountain
8. The Turning of the Tide
Part Three. The Impact of the Revolution
9. Religion and the Romantic Movement
10. Europe and the Revolution
11. The Revolution and the Modern World
Bibliography
Index
Also in the Works of Christopher Dawson

"Published posthumously, this was Christopher Dawson's classic book on the French Revolution, offering a cultural and moral critique of Western Europe for readers in the aftermath of the devastation of World War II"--Provided by publisher.

2024-03-11