3. Soren Kierkegaard and Karl Barth

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) seldom left his native city, Copenhagen, and, except for two brief visits to Berlin, never left Denmark. The externals of his life were rather ordinary for the son of a wealthy hosier. He always employed at least one servant and dressed in the best of fashion, but his death found him with the last of his income in his pocket. He was a lonely man seeking only one or two intimate friends, passing the daily pleasantries with everyone, but warding off with his masterful use of irony most of those who tried to befriend him. When he asked for and received the ridicule of a local scandal journal, his slightly twisted frame — he had an injury of the spine — became his trade mark because of the journal\u27s cartoons. [excerpt

1. International Anarchy (1900-1918)

It is probable that most people, if asked to list the characteristics of the Western World in this century, would place at or near the top of their list something about international rivalries. Curiously enough, a similar poll conducted in Europe and North America in 1900 would likely have given equal prominence to the idea that the world had entered a period of increasing international amity. [excerpt

1. Carl Becker on Progress

The first selection was written by Carl L. Becker (1873-1945), for many years professor of history at Cornell University (1917-1941), and one of the most highly respected members of his profession. One of his particular interests was the Enlightenment, about which he wrote a famous book: The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth Century Philosophers (1932). But while he clung to his fascination with the Enlightenment, Becker was in revolt against the scientific history which it had largely fostered. The ideal of scientific history, he thought, was noble enough, but unattainable and useless. Influenced by pragmatism, Becker asked the question: Can there by anything like objectively written history? Is the raw material from which it is to be derived a string of pure facts that the historian himself so deeply involved in his own cultural milieu that he reads into the past his own presuppositions (whether he wants to or not) and to a considerable extent finds what he wants there, both facts and interpretations? [excerpt

5. The Rise of English Parliamentary Government (1603-1789)

The century in which Richelieu and Louis XIV fashioned an absolute dynastic state in France is noteworthy in English history for a very different reason. While the state was being set for Louis XIV to declare, if he wished, I am the state, Englishmen were establishing the principle that all political authority is limited by law. This idea, which is called constitutionalism, was surely not new, having had its roots in English, feudal, and medieval history. But, what is profoundly significant for Western Civilization is that this idea became an operative political principle in late seventeenth century England. In the eighteenth century the English successfully devised a frame of government which preserved the gains which they had made earlier. [excerpt

4. The Enlightenment Again Under Attack

Until recently, and especially in the United States, Western Civilization has been dominated by Enlightenment thought, tempered by the criticisms of the nineteenth century. One of the current questions is whether this strand of thought is adequate to cope with the problems of the age of anxiety. Those who believe that the Enlightenment ideas are still basically sound suggest the giving up of transcendent or long-term goals in favor of more immediate aims. Equality and freedom are, in such a context better when they apply to more people than when they apply to fewer. According to this way of thinking, one interpretation of justice would be better than another if it could be realized by more people. That type of security is better which more people can enjoy. Thus the Enlightenment concepts are dealt with less qualitatively than quantitatively. [excerpt

XVII. The Transformation of Liberalism and Nationalism, 1871-1914

In the first half of the nineteenth century liberalism and nationalism were key concepts of the major political and economic movements within Western Civilization, As has been explained in the preceding chapter, by the end of the century new radical movements — socialism, syndicalism, and anarchism — had supplanted them on the extreme left of the political spectrum. By 1914 this new Left was a significant factor in many countries. However, it was still a minority movement and, for most people living in the Western World between 1871 and 1914, nationalism and liberalism were more important in determining the texture of politics. Even many conservatives now compromised with them. That these were not the same liberalism and nationalism which had been the watchwords of reform half a century before should not be surprising because the world in which they operated and often conquered had also changed. [excerpt

6. Ian T. Ramsey

In view of the requirement of verifiability that is demanded by certain philosophical schools, there seems little justification for what are conventionally recognized as theological statements. Certainly no one man has yet succeeded, except perhaps to his own satisfaction, in expressing religious notions in such language and in verifying by such a method that universal consent is gained for the validity of his system. If the charm of empirical verification is not invoked, then for some minds there is little reason to say anything. Obviously, given such rigid requirements for securing a sympathetic audience, theological discussion may find itself standing tongue-tied in the wings while logic and empiricism dominate the stage. But faced with the possibility of the eventual demise of theology, an effort is made to translate religious experience into intellectual terms which are acceptable to these critics. [excerpt

2. An Agricultural Revolution

While capitalism was making rapid strides toward dominating English industry, changes were taking place in agriculture which made it more efficient and productive, and which prepared it to be fitted eventually into the industrial capitalistic pattern. Actually, changes in the direction had been occurring in English agriculture since the revival of trade discussed in earlier chapters. [excerpt

5. The Search for Meaning

It is possible to draw certain parallels between the West\u27s present predicament and similar periods of radical change and the dislocation of values, and so to suggest that this sort of thing has happened before, that man has always come our of such situations and landed on his feet, that history is basically cyclical, and that there is no need to be unduly alarmed about our contemporary situation. While it is possible to make a very convincing case for this argument, there are three major factors which are new today. Thanks to our past territorial expansion and new techniques of communication, there is no area of the Western World whose ideas and institutions have been unchanged, Today\u27s changes are immediately carried to all parts of the world. Thus there are no longer any isolated areas to which people can go to escape change and its consequences. Also, thanks to the same means no classes in society are immune from these changes. Whereas in earlier centuries such changes affected only minority groups and limited areas, now they affect all groups and all areas. And further, as we have already noted, this combination of factors, plus the size of our institutions and their competition with one another, have served to increase the rate of change. These three new factors have helped to make our contemporary crisis both more widespread and penetrating than the others which Western Civilization has experienced. [excerpt

2. The French Revolution, 1789-1815

A torch lighted in the forests of America set all Europe in conflagration. Thus Voltaire had written concerning the impact of the American Revolution on the Old World. French intellectuals had long admired Newtonian science and Lockean political theory. The successful revolutions in England in 1688 and in America a century later emphasized the anachronistic nature of the status quo in eighteenth century France. It is perhaps not entirely coincidental that in the year when Americans completed their revolution the French began a movement which was to involve practically the entire European continent, drastically reshape its social and political institutions, and make its repercussions felt even in the New World. [excerpt