Preliminary communication
European Constitution and Apologetics of Christian Culture of Christopher Dawson (1889-1970)
Teodora Shek Brnardić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7472-1685
; Croatian Institute of History
Abstract
The Christian roots of Europe and its unity were a topical issue at the time of the European Constitution adoption (2004). But apart from presenting political views there were almost no historians in rank of English apologist Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) who would spring to defence of Christian culture as an integrative force in Europe. Therefore, it is necessary to return to Dawson’s texts in which he promotes today rarely seen and proclaimed Catholic visi- on of the history of European unity, which will be presented in this paper. Dawson promotes the thesis about the integrative power of Christian culture most clearly in his book The Making of Europe: An Introduction to History of European Unity (1932). In it, in the eve of the Second World War, he shows that it was just the medieval Christianity under Charlemagne that shaped Europe and enabled it to become self-aware. For Dawson religion is an essential compo- nent of culture and without it, it is not possible to understand the beginnings of European unity, it is not possible to understand Euro- pe. This fact should be constantly pointed out, since the preamble of the European Constitution demonstrates just how much this fact has fallen into oblivion. Therefore Dawson proposes a thorough stu- dy of Christian culture as a way to revive the memory of Christian roots of Europe.
Keywords
European Constitution; Christopher Dawson; Christian culture; Christian Europe
Hrčak ID:
155278
URI
Publication date:
7.4.2016.
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