Christianity and European Culture: Selections from the Work of Christopher Dawson
Those concerned with the state of liberaleducation or the interrelationship of culture,education, and religion will find the late Dawson's essays of more than historical interest. The ones gathered here, writtenbetween 1930 and 1960, reflect a struggle on three fronts--against Fascism, against Stalinism, and against secularism--that dates but doesn't archaize them. The question Dawson keeps returning to is that of the relationship between Christianity and European culture. Because Dawson sees the two as being intrinsically connected, he sees an assault on either as an assault on both. That will be instructive for readers trying to make sense of the current "culture wars," debates over multiculturalism, and passionate arguments about language. Dawson's insistence that a common language and a common culture are essential for civilization puts him in the "conservative" camp, but he attends to culture with a seriousness that will interest multiculturalists and to education with a seriousness that will interest those all along the political-cultural spectrum who are committed to obtaining something more from teaching and learning than technique.Steve Schroeder