Because it’s so apposite to this piece, I’ll repost a quote I put in yesterday’s thread about smoking.
“The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity was shattered at the Reformation), it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.”
G.K. Chesterton
Whether you’re reserving the right to tell others not to smoke, or inject a vaccine, or wear a mask, or apologise for the sins of your fathers, or share toilets with people of the opposite sex, “consideration for others” will be the virtue wielded.
The hierarchy of which “others” are the most worthy, is what we in the West will fight each other about in this century; until we’ve weakened ourselves enough for somebody to put an end to our squabbling.
I wasn’t aware of this quote by Chesterton, but it’s a good one. ‘Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless’ – that is me to a tee.
Assuming there isn’t a facetious undertone to your comment, your thoughts shine, for me at least, like a diamond here. The whole point of good writing (thanks, UnHerd) and our thinking about it should be to eventually come to: “that’s me, to a tee”. And then to grow.
Jeff Butcher
2 years ago
The rot set in at the Reformation with its emphasis on the individual. However this was only because the Catholic Church had become so thoroughly corrupt. If there is continued uncontrolled inward migration to Europe the continent will eventually become an Islamic rather than Christian one and Paul’s question will be answered by Mohammed rather than Jesus.
I’m so sick of the Catholic libel that the rot began with the Reformation because of its “emphasis on the individual.” The Reformation’s emphasis was the Bible as sole authority for faith and practice, not “the individual.”
Not quite correct. The reformation did indeed make the individual more preeminent when they rejected the Catholic Church as the sole arbiter of biblical interpretation and instead replaced it with the individual as his own personal “pope”.
Please cite sources for this. I’m referring to historic figures of the Reformation. I’m unaware that any of them said anything remotely like that.
Some of the neo – Pentecostals in the 20th century may have said something akin to that, the “I have a word from the Lord” **** which did have its vogue in the last forty years of the 20th century, but I’d be shocked to learn that any of the Reformers said/wrote it.
The Reformation was a righteous reaction against the worldliness of the established church. OK, worldliness soon reappeared, triggering yet more dissent, but I hardly think that it was a watershed between ‘unrotten’ and rot.
In Britain , the Black Death of 1347-49 and the Peasants Revolt of 1381 where many serfs worked the land of the monastic order prepared the ground for support of the Reformation. The Dissolution of the Monasteries was supported by those who suffered under mean monastic orders. The burning by Mary of 287 Protestants in 11 years, more than the rest of Europe and the fear of the Inquisition carried by The Armada of 1588 alienated support for Rome. Guido Fawkes attempting to blow up Parliament in 1605 cemented anti Catholic opinion. The centralising of powers under Louis XIV and the conversion of James II to Rome created a reaction institutionalised anti Roman catholic attitudes in Britain. The problem is that The Divine Right of Kings supported by the Papacy is alien to the Anglo Saxon concept of consultation and consent as practised by the kings. Barnes Wallis said the English genius for invention was due to our individuality which has to be prevented where the monarch rules by the Divine Right of Kings because they can never be wrong. Papal infallibility is the same as communist apparatchik saying the party never makes mistakes and these actions inhibit innovation. The Industrial Revolution was largely a product of well educated craftsmen from Dissenting backgrounds who were free; they were not inhibited from innovation and profiting from it. Innovation will be slowed down if not prevented if permission is needed from bureaucrats employed by a monarch who rules because of the Divine Right of Kings. Bureaucrats may have personal reasons for not allowing innovation. In Britain an act or decision is often the result of many years or even centuries, it is Evolution applied to the body politic. Britain became a powerful nation because it was a is a nation of free born individuals who profited from innovation and where power rested on a navy not an army. The Royal Navy was much cheaper than an army so taxes were lower and there was no armed force by which the King or Parliament could impose it’s will on the people. Parliament and the monarch had to rule via consultation and consent
AC Harper
2 years ago
‘Decline is in the air’.
No. Times are far from the worst they have ever been. I’d argue that the first blow starting ‘The Death of God’ (see Wikipedia) predates the Enlightenment, or the Reformation but instead stems from the ineffectiveness of The Church in dealing with the Great Pestilence (aka The Black Death).
The Great Pestilence shattered the social order in Christendom in slow motion, to receive further blows from the Reformation and later Enlightenment. A decline that has been rolling out over seven hundred years.
To bang on about current events is short sighted and concentrates on a tree, not the wood.
beancounting42
2 years ago
Very good piece and a wake up call. The West is sleepwalking through its decline and fall, our consciences rarely troubled by the huge vacuum that is created in when it believes it need not acknowledge its Creator.
Last edited 2 years ago by beancounting42
Hosias Kermode
2 years ago
All may not be lost. The writer of this article is a recent convert to an Orthodox version of Christianity. During this pandemic, I have met many others on the same journey, feeling the tug of this great religion, often after decades away. People realise they need more. Our own lives have revealed that a morality based on personal rights is bankrupt at best and capable of downright evil at worst. As for “science”, it surely can only take us so far, given the limits of the human brain and the extraordinary complexity of even the smallest systems in our universe. Which isn’t to belittle honestly conducted scientific endeavour at all. Where would we be without it? But religion and science are not mutually exclusive. One encompasses the other. Perhaps our mistake been to assume that those great stories and spiritual texts were meant to be taken literally. The world wasn’t created in six days or Eve formed from Adam’s rib. But as Jordan Peterson among others has argued, these are ways of exploring some of the essentials of human existence through story. His Biblical series consists of difficult lectures, some two hours long. It has generated tens of millions of views worldwide. Why would this be, unless we had some kind of need for or at least fascination with the message being presented? Another mistake has been to assume – Dawkins style – that if the Christian story is not literally true, then the only alternative is the darkness of nothing at all. We cannot know what more there is. Surrounded on all sides by mystery, the right response is surely awe. No one has yet come up with a better, more powerful inspiration for how to act, how to face the world and make any kind of sense of it, than the love and sacrifice that are the essence of the Christian story. Yes many terrible things have been done in the name of Christ. As they have always been done by human beings in the name of their gods. The essence of Christianity remains untainted by them. You can mock me. Or you may go read Matthew 6:25 onward for starters. King James version is the best if you care about the beauty of the language.
Philip Stott
2 years ago
This has been the most interesting article I have read this year. I thank you
LCarey Rowland
2 years ago
About two and a half millennia ago, the prophet Daniel outlined what would later become the pattern for modern worship of leaders instead worship of God.
From Daniel, chapter 11:
“Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many, yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days.
“Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. Some of those have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.
“When the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.
“He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women (no respect for what women want), nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.”But instead, he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know.”
In the course of history, adolf hitler became the embodiment of that beastly leader described above.
Although the Allied armies disposed of the reprobate feuhrer, his example will become the model for future leaders who covet their own power above all others, as they will go to any length–honoring the god of fortresses/forces– to extinguish all that is decent and humane in our decaying civilization for the sake of glorifying themselves.
The alternative, for each person who is willing to reject their invitation to join into this world’s greatest experiment in depravity . . . . the alternative is to turn to the God of Compassion, mercy and justice, Jesus Christ.
This Jesus is the man who walked among us two millennia ago, who showed us the way of truth, mercy and compassion–the way that places us beyond the spiritual reach of those who will dedicate themselves to the fulfillment of depravations of the god of forces.
Galeti Tavas
2 years ago
“The West, in short, was Christendom. But Christendom died. If you live in the West now, you are living among its ruins. Many of them are still beautiful — intact cathedrals, Bach concertos”
yawn….
If this essay is, “Best of 2021Our favourite pieces from the last year of UnHerd”
then please print “Worst of 2021, Our poorest pieces from the last year of Unherd” and maybe there will be one I think good.
Because it’s so apposite to this piece, I’ll repost a quote I put in yesterday’s thread about smoking.
“The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity was shattered at the Reformation), it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.”
G.K. Chesterton
Whether you’re reserving the right to tell others not to smoke, or inject a vaccine, or wear a mask, or apologise for the sins of your fathers, or share toilets with people of the opposite sex, “consideration for others” will be the virtue wielded.
The hierarchy of which “others” are the most worthy, is what we in the West will fight each other about in this century; until we’ve weakened ourselves enough for somebody to put an end to our squabbling.
I wasn’t aware of this quote by Chesterton, but it’s a good one. ‘Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless’ – that is me to a tee.
Assuming there isn’t a facetious undertone to your comment, your thoughts shine, for me at least, like a diamond here. The whole point of good writing (thanks, UnHerd) and our thinking about it should be to eventually come to: “that’s me, to a tee”. And then to grow.
The rot set in at the Reformation with its emphasis on the individual. However this was only because the Catholic Church had become so thoroughly corrupt. If there is continued uncontrolled inward migration to Europe the continent will eventually become an Islamic rather than Christian one and Paul’s question will be answered by Mohammed rather than Jesus.
I’m so sick of the Catholic libel that the rot began with the Reformation because of its “emphasis on the individual.” The Reformation’s emphasis was the Bible as sole authority for faith and practice, not “the individual.”
Not quite correct. The reformation did indeed make the individual more preeminent when they rejected the Catholic Church as the sole arbiter of biblical interpretation and instead replaced it with the individual as his own personal “pope”.
Please cite sources for this. I’m referring to historic figures of the Reformation. I’m unaware that any of them said anything remotely like that.
Some of the neo – Pentecostals in the 20th century may have said something akin to that, the “I have a word from the Lord” **** which did have its vogue in the last forty years of the 20th century, but I’d be shocked to learn that any of the Reformers said/wrote it.
Also “a history of Christianity” Diarmaid Macculloch
It’s basic history of the reformation. Google Martin Luther and sola scriptura and for more
https://raymundtamayo.com/protestantism-and-currents/did-martin-luther-believe-in-sola-scriptura.html
The Reformation was a righteous reaction against the worldliness of the established church. OK, worldliness soon reappeared, triggering yet more dissent, but I hardly think that it was a watershed between ‘unrotten’ and rot.
In Britain , the Black Death of 1347-49 and the Peasants Revolt of 1381 where many serfs worked the land of the monastic order prepared the ground for support of the Reformation. The Dissolution of the Monasteries was supported by those who suffered under mean monastic orders. The burning by Mary of 287 Protestants in 11 years, more than the rest of Europe and the fear of the Inquisition carried by The Armada of 1588 alienated support for Rome. Guido Fawkes attempting to blow up Parliament in 1605 cemented anti Catholic opinion.
The centralising of powers under Louis XIV and the conversion of James II to Rome created a reaction institutionalised anti Roman catholic attitudes in Britain. The problem is that The Divine Right of Kings supported by the Papacy is alien to the Anglo Saxon concept of consultation and consent as practised by the kings. Barnes Wallis said the English genius for invention was due to our individuality which has to be prevented where the monarch rules by the Divine Right of Kings because they can never be wrong. Papal infallibility is the same as communist apparatchik saying the party never makes mistakes and these actions inhibit innovation.
The Industrial Revolution was largely a product of well educated craftsmen from Dissenting backgrounds who were free; they were not inhibited from innovation and profiting from it. Innovation will be slowed down if not prevented if permission is needed from bureaucrats employed by a monarch who rules because of the Divine Right of Kings. Bureaucrats may have personal reasons for not allowing innovation.
In Britain an act or decision is often the result of many years or even centuries, it is Evolution applied to the body politic. Britain became a powerful nation because it was a is a nation of free born individuals who profited from innovation and where power rested on a navy not an army. The Royal Navy was much cheaper than an army so taxes were lower and there was no armed force by which the King or Parliament could impose it’s will on the people. Parliament and the monarch had to rule via consultation and consent
‘Decline is in the air’.
No. Times are far from the worst they have ever been. I’d argue that the first blow starting ‘The Death of God’ (see Wikipedia) predates the Enlightenment, or the Reformation but instead stems from the ineffectiveness of The Church in dealing with the Great Pestilence (aka The Black Death).
The Great Pestilence shattered the social order in Christendom in slow motion, to receive further blows from the Reformation and later Enlightenment. A decline that has been rolling out over seven hundred years.
To bang on about current events is short sighted and concentrates on a tree, not the wood.
Very good piece and a wake up call. The West is sleepwalking through its decline and fall, our consciences rarely troubled by the huge vacuum that is created in when it believes it need not acknowledge its Creator.
All may not be lost. The writer of this article is a recent convert to an Orthodox version of Christianity. During this pandemic, I have met many others on the same journey, feeling the tug of this great religion, often after decades away. People realise they need more. Our own lives have revealed that a morality based on personal rights is bankrupt at best and capable of downright evil at worst. As for “science”, it surely can only take us so far, given the limits of the human brain and the extraordinary complexity of even the smallest systems in our universe. Which isn’t to belittle honestly conducted scientific endeavour at all. Where would we be without it? But religion and science are not mutually exclusive. One encompasses the other. Perhaps our mistake been to assume that those great stories and spiritual texts were meant to be taken literally. The world wasn’t created in six days or Eve formed from Adam’s rib. But as Jordan Peterson among others has argued, these are ways of exploring some of the essentials of human existence through story. His Biblical series consists of difficult lectures, some two hours long. It has generated tens of millions of views worldwide. Why would this be, unless we had some kind of need for or at least fascination with the message being presented? Another mistake has been to assume – Dawkins style – that if the Christian story is not literally true, then the only alternative is the darkness of nothing at all. We cannot know what more there is. Surrounded on all sides by mystery, the right response is surely awe. No one has yet come up with a better, more powerful inspiration for how to act, how to face the world and make any kind of sense of it, than the love and sacrifice that are the essence of the Christian story. Yes many terrible things have been done in the name of Christ. As they have always been done by human beings in the name of their gods. The essence of Christianity remains untainted by them. You can mock me. Or you may go read Matthew 6:25 onward for starters. King James version is the best if you care about the beauty of the language.
This has been the most interesting article I have read this year. I thank you
About two and a half millennia ago, the prophet Daniel outlined what would later become the pattern for modern worship of leaders instead worship of God.
From Daniel, chapter 11:
In the course of history, adolf hitler became the embodiment of that beastly leader described above.
Although the Allied armies disposed of the reprobate feuhrer, his example will become the model for future leaders who covet their own power above all others, as they will go to any length–honoring the god of fortresses/forces– to extinguish all that is decent and humane in our decaying civilization for the sake of glorifying themselves.
The alternative, for each person who is willing to reject their invitation to join into this world’s greatest experiment in depravity . . . . the alternative is to turn to the God of Compassion, mercy and justice, Jesus Christ.
This Jesus is the man who walked among us two millennia ago, who showed us the way of truth, mercy and compassion–the way that places us beyond the spiritual reach of those who will dedicate themselves to the fulfillment of depravations of the god of forces.
“The West, in short, was Christendom. But Christendom died. If you live in the West now, you are living among its ruins. Many of them are still beautiful — intact cathedrals, Bach concertos”
yawn….
If this essay is, “Best of 2021Our favourite pieces from the last year of UnHerd”
then please print “Worst of 2021, Our poorest pieces from the last year of Unherd” and maybe there will be one I think good.
This article was written masterfully. If you do not or can not see this, it is you who lack mastery in English and logical thought, my friend.