Dynamics Of World History

by Dawson, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9781882926794
• ISBN10: 188292679X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-01
• Publisher: ISI Books

Summary

In scope and in vision Dawson's conception of history ranks with the work of men like Spengler, Northrop, and Toynbee. This classic Dawson work is a conspectus of his thought on universal history in all its depth and range. Containing thirty-one essays selected from his writings it gives a clear and fascinating picture of his achievement in helping to widen our perspective of world history and in identifying the central determinative importance of religion for the formation of culture.

Author Biography

Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) became the first Charles Chauncey Stillman Professor of Roman Catholic Studies at Harvard University in 1958, where he remained until 1962. He twice delivered the University of Edinburgh's prestigious Gifford Lectures (1946-47 and 1948-49) and is widely regarded as one of the most important historians of the twentieth century John J. Mulloy was the founder and long-time editor of the Christopher Dawson Newsletter. Dermot Quinn is associate professor of history at Seton Hall University

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Dermot Quinn
Preface to the 1978 edition	xxxi
John J. Mulloy
Introduction to the 1958 edition	xli
John J. Mulloy
PART ONE: Toward a Sociology of History
SECTION I: The Sociological Foundations of History
The Sources of Culture Change	3	(10)
Sociology as a Science	13	(22)
Sociology and the Theory of Progress	35	(12)
Civilization and Morals	47	(10)
Progress and Decay in Ancient and Modern Civilization	57	(14)
Art and Society	71	(8)
Vitality or Standardization in Culture	79	(6)
Cultural Polarity and Religious Schism	85	(10)
Prevision in Religion	95	(14)
T. S. Eliot on the Meaning of Culture	109	(10)
SECTION II: The Movement of World History
Religion and the Life of Civilization	119	(18)
The Warrior Peoples and the Decline of the Archaic Civilization	137	(20)
The Origins of Classical Civilization	157	(8)
The Patriarchal Family in History	165	(10)
Stages in Mankind's Religious Experience	175	(24)
SECTION III: Urbanism and the Organic Nature of Culture
The Evolution of the Modern City	199	(12)
Catholicism and the Bourgeois Mind	211	(14)
The World Crisis and the English Tradition	225	(12)
Bolshevism and the Bourgeoisie	237	(8)
PART TWO: Conceptions of World History
SECTION I: Christianity and the Meaning of History
The Christian View of History	245	(18)
History and the Christian Revelation	263	(12)
Christianity and Contradiction in History	275	(8)
The Kingdom of God and History	283	(20)
SECTION II: The Vision of the Historian
The Problem of Metahistory	303	(8)
St. Augustine and the City of God	311	(30)
Edward Gibbon and the Fall of Rome	341	(28)
Karl Marx and the Dialectic of History	369	(12)
H. G. Wells and the Outline of History	381	(8)
Oswald Spengler and the Life of Civilizations	389	(16)
Arnold Toynbee and the Study of History	405	(14)
Europe in Eclipse	419	(8)
Afterword: Continuity and Development in Christopher Dawson's Thought	427	(56)
John J. Mulloy
Sources	483	(4)
Notes	487	(16)
Index	503