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"Dawson, Christopher, 1889-1970"
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The age of the gods: a study in the origins of culture in prehistoric Europe and the ancient near east
When first published in 1928, The Age of the Gods was hailed as the best short account of what is known of pre-historic man and culture. In it, Christopher Dawson synthesised modern scholarship on human cultures in Europe and the East from the Stone Age to the beginnings of the Iron Age. His focus was not merely on the material development of early society but more intently on the social and spiritual development of man that accompanied it. Piece by piece, Dawson fit together the varied influences that brought into being the ancient foundations on which modern civilisation was built. Published soon after World War I, the book uncovered the common tradition and unity of culture of European civilisation in hope of bringing cooperation and peace to the people of Europe. It defined what a culture is, how cultures change, and what constitutes progress. Dawson consulted the studies of archaeologists, early historians, anthropologists, and ethnologists, and presented an uncommonly balanced and greatly admired survey of the whole. Presented here with a new introduction by Dermot Quinn, The Age of the Gods continues the popular Works of Christopher Dawson series. Among other topics, the book sketches the glacial age and the beginnings of human life, the Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures and the rise of the peasant culture in Europe, the development of Sumerian culture, the archaic culture of Egypt, the megalithic culture in Western Europe, the age of empire in the Near East, the Bronze Age in Central Europe, the formation of the Indo-European peoples, the Mycenaean culture of Greece, and the beginnings of the Iron Age in Europe.
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The Judgment of the Nations
Christopher Dawson wrote The Judgment of the Nations in 1942, in the midst of the horrors of World War II.
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The crisis of Western education
This title presents works of Christopher Dawson. \"\"The Crisis of Western Education\"\", originally published in 1961, served as a capstone of Christopher Dawson's thought on the Western educational system. Long out of print, the book has now been updated with a new introduction by Glenn W. Olsen and is included in the ongoing \"\"Works of Christopher Dawson\"\" series. In all of his writings, Dawson masterfully brings various disciplinary perspectives and historical sources into a complex unity of expression and applies them to concrete conditions of modern society. Dawson argued that Western culture had become increasingly defined by a set of economic and political preoccupations ultimately hostile to its larger spiritual end. Inevitably, its educational systems also became increasingly technological and pragmatic, undermining the long standing emphasis on liberal learning and spiritual reflection which were hallmarks of the Christian humanism that created it. In this important work on the Western educational system, Dawson traces the history of these developments and argues that Western civilization can only be saved by redirecting its entire educational system from its increasing vocationalism and specialization. He insists that the Christian college must be the cornerstone of such an educational reform. However, he argued that this redirection would require a much more organic and comprehensive study of the living Christian tradition than had been attempted in the past. Dawson had reservations about educational initiatives that had been developed in response to this crisis of education. Among them, he expressed doubts about newly emerging great books programs fearing that they would reduce the great tradition of a living culture to a set of central texts or great ideas. In contrast, he insisted that a Christian education had to be concerned with 'how spiritual forces are transmitted and how they change culture, often in unexpected ways'. This would require an understanding of the living and vital character of culture. As Dawson saw it, 'culture is essentially a network of relations, and it is only by studying a number of personalities that you can trace this network'. Dawson offers a diagnosis of modern education and proposes the retrieval of an organic and living culture which alone has the power to renew Western culture.
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The Movement of World Revolution
The Movement of World Revolution, originally published in 1959, explores many of the themes Dawson considered most important in his lifetime: the religious foundation of human culture, the central importance of education for the recovery of Christian humanism, the myth of progress, and the dangers of nationalism and secular ideologies.
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Religion and Culture
Religion and Culture was first presented by historian Christopher Dawson as part of the prestigious Gifford Lecture series in 1947. It sets out the thesis for which he became famous: religion is the key of history
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Christianity and European culture : selections from the work of Christopher Dawson
This collection of Christopher Dawson's works illustrates his approach in defining \"\"Christian culture\"\", and its adaptability to non-Western and pluralist societies. It also gives insight on issues ranging from \"\"new evangelization\"\" to the \"\"clash of civilizations\"\" in the post-Communist world.
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Understanding Europe (The Works of Christopher Dawson)
In a time of remarkable but selective amnesia in the West reflected perhaps most dramatically in the denial of the Christian roots of Europe in the first drafts of the European constitution, \"\"Understanding Europe\"\" is as relevant today as it was on its first appearance in 1952. Christopher Dawson wrote of the uneasiness that characterized twentieth-century Western civilization in the aftermath of two disastrous global conflicts and the attempt to build a new secular civilization on impersonal economic forces. He desired a unified Europe, but one unified by a common Christian religion.Recognizing the emphasis on economic utility and mass productivity in European culture, Dawson argued that a renewed study of Christian faith and culture was essential in order to recover the deeper sense of European unity. In \"\"Understanding Europe\"\", Dawson expresses a desire for Europe to rediscover and renew its foundational Christian sources in order to recover a deeper sense of integrity.This edition includes an introduction by George Weigel. Other volumes in the Works of Christopher Dawson series include \"\"The Making of Europe\"\", \"\"Medieval Essays\"\", and \"\"Progress and Religion\"\".
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Medieval essays
A comprehensive collection of essays from the Middle Ages, this text ranges from the fateful days of the late Roman Empire to the final destruction of Byzantium, from the rise of Islam to the flowering of western vernacular literature, from missions to China to the caliphs of Egypt, from the tragedy of Christian Armenia to complex religious realities of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Spain, from philosophy to literature, theology to natural science.
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Progress & religion : an historical inquiry
In this volume Christopher Dawson outlines his main thesis for the history of culture, which was his life's work. Anthropology, sociology, philosophy, religion and history form the backdrop for the key idea of his thought - namely, that religion is the soul of a culture and that a society or culture which has lost its spiritual roots is a dying culture. To Dawson, a return to the Christian culture that had formed Western civilization was the only remedy for a world adrift. Dawson was writing in a period between the two great wars of the 20th century, a time when some thought that the idea of progress had finally been discredited by the carnage and barbarism of World War I. This text was designed to challenge the doctrine of progress, the rather naive but persistent belief that \"\"in every day and in every way the world grows better and better\"\". Dawson argued that Western civilization was at a turning point and confronted with two real choices: reappropriate a vital Christian culture or move increasingly toward more dangerous and alienated expressions of consumerism and totalitarianism. In this volume, he contends that no culture could truly thrive if cut off from its religious roots.
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