Professional paper
Culture as the Foundation of European Unity in the Thought of Christopher Dawson
Stjepo Bartulica
orcid.org/0000-0003-0052-6822
Abstract
The article discusses the relationship between religion and culture with an emphasis on the European experience. The Christian religion provided the foundation for the unity of European nations for centuries. However, this changed dramatically with the Protestant Reformation when religion became the source of deep division, rather than unity. The Reformation led to the rise of nation-states which over time became more and more independent from spritual authority. Antagonisms between European nations intensified to the point that they ended in bloody wars, especially in the 20th century. Today we are witnessing a new attempt to establish unity on the European continent in the form of the European Union. It is apparent that this current project is based primarily on political and economic interests, while the spiritual dimension is of secondary importance. Considering the fact that the stability of European Union has been seriously undermined, primarily because of the debt crisis which has spread to a growing number of countries, the question of how to organize Europe and on which principles has once again become relevant.
Keywords
Europe; culture; Christianity; Christopher Dawson; religion; secularization; Reformation; European Union
Hrčak ID:
75131
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2011.
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