Christopher Dawson Professions : Historian Born : October 12, 1889 Died : May 25, 1970 Browse All Authors Top 43 quotes by Christopher Dawson This freedom of political discussion on the highest level is something which Western civilization has in common with that of classical antiquity, but with no other Christopher Dawson levels political civilization If man limits himself to a satisfied animal existence, and asks from life only what such an existence can give, the higher values of life at once disappear. Christopher Dawson animal giving men If man attempts to suppress the animal side of his nature by a sheer effort of conscious will, nature finds a hundred unexpected and unpleasant ways to take its revenge. Christopher Dawson revenge animal men Man is a means and not an end, and he is a means to economic or political ends which are not really ends in themselves but means to other ends which in their turn are means and so ad infinitum Christopher Dawson political men mean Law describes the way things would work if men were angels. Christopher Dawson angel law men The present age has seen a great slump in humanist values. Christopher Dawson slumps literature age It is Christian culture that has created Western man and the Western way of life. Christopher Dawson religious christian men The intercourse between the Mediterranean and the North or between the Atlantic and Central Europe was never purely economic or political; it also meant the exchange of knowledge and ideas and the influence of social institutions and artistic and literary forms Christopher Dawson political europe ideas The true makes of history are the spiritual men whom the world knew not, the unregarded agents of the creative action of the Spirit. The supreme instance of this-the key to the Christian understanding of history-is to be found in the Incarnation- the presence of the maker of the world in the world unknown to the world. ... The Incarnation is itself in a sense the divine fruit of history-of the fullness of time-and it finds its extension and completion in the historic life of the Church. Christopher Dawson spiritual christian men Natural Theology says not only look up and look out-it also says look down and look in, and you will find the proofs of the reality of God in the depth of your own nature. Christopher Dawson depth reality looks Reason lives on the systematization of the past, but Faith is the promise of the future. Christopher Dawson faith past promise Humanism and Divinity are as complementary to one another in theorder of culture, as are Nature and Grace in the order of being. Christopher Dawson grace order culture The sublimated idealism of the Enlightenment, the spirit of the League of Nations and of the United Nations Charter have not proved strong enough to control the aggressive dynamism of nationalism. Christopher Dawson enlightenment strong league Man can know his world without falling back on revelation; he can live his life without feeling his utter dependence on supernatural powers. Christopher Dawson falling-in-love feelings men The Church as a divine society possess an internal principle of life which is capable of assimilating the most diverse materials and imprinting her own image upon them. Christopher Dawson church divine principles Yet humanitarianism is not a purely Christian movement any more than it is a purely humanist one Christopher Dawson movement literature christian Thus Christian humanism is as indispensable to the Christian way of life as Christian ethics and a Christian sociology. Christopher Dawson literature christian way It is true that Christianity is not bound up with any particular race or culture. It is neither of the East or of the West, but has a universal mission to the human race as a whole Christopher Dawson east race culture The modern dilemma is essentially a spiritual one, and every one of its main aspects, moral, political and scientific, brings us back to the need of a religious solution. Christopher Dawson political religious spiritual No doubt Western civilization has in the past been full of wars and revolutions, and the national elements in our culture, even when they were ignored, always provided an unconscious driving force of passion and aggressive self-assertion Christopher Dawson passion war past Similar Authors Abram L. Sachar historian Bryan Ward-Perkins historian Bruce Catton historian Bruce Bartlett historian Brian Crozier historian Allan Nevins historian All Authors