The Battle of Lepanto needed strong leadership. Today, Europe is searching for similar leadership. Europe needs statesmen: men and women who think about the next generation, not the next election; people like Don Juan of Austria and Blessed Emperor Karl, animated by a deep sense of service, ready to put the interests of their peoples before their own.
All is not yet lost for those who believe in Christendom. Saner leadership seems to be emerging in Hungary and elsewhere in Central Europe. So, too, in Western Europe a new generation is looking for answers.
One of the West’s problems is that at the end of the Cold War, it has been uncertain of its purpose—which has engendered a moral and political crisis, especially in the face of the threat of Islamic terrorism.
We continue to find insights into the power of music to arouse emotions—even about armed conflicts and military triumphs like the Siege (and later Relief) of Vienna on September 12, 1683.
The defence of Christendom against the Turks—together with the fight against heresy—was a dominant feature of the pontificate of Pius V.
We are all Germans now. What started out as the uniqueness of German guilt has mushroomed into an all-encompassing Western guilt, now tied to the legacy of imperialism and the transatlantic slave trade. And apparently, we can never finish atoning for our ‘sins.’
For the development of Swedish conservatism, a return to its deep cultural roots provided by Catholicism and the vibrant civil society formed by its Protestant free churches is essential. A relativistic or secular approach will not suffice.
Beyond the mere personalities involved, the fault lies with the hubris that has dogged us from our political beginning—the idea that we could or should remake the world in our own perfect image.
Post-Soviet countries have experienced their fair share of socialist utopia and have decided they do not want any more of it. But in the West, socialist movements like BLM are gaining ground.
The idea of an “authoritarian personality” is not a myth. It just so happens to exist primarily in those who wish to diagnose it in others.
Fear of nature will rule every meaningful decision regarding life and death. Viruses and climate change will justify continued social isolation and an increasingly totalitarian government.
Christopher Dawson is an enigmatic character in the history of Western thought. No scholar of his generation was a greater
