The Death of Christian Culture [Hardcover]

John Senior (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1994 | ISBN-10: 0912141107 | ISBN-13: 978-0912141107

First published in 1978, this hard-hitting exposition discusses the root causes of how and why Christian culture is dying. It investigates literature, culture, history, and religion in an attempt to show that education is increasingly about bureaucratic training and less about scholarly truth. A warning that cultural and artistic treasures of classical and Christian civilizations must be preserved, this provocative analysis diagnoses a cultural and societal malaise facing modern Western societies.

--This text refers to the Unknown Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A beautifully written Jeremiad on the decay of Western intellectual and spiritual culture."  —E. M. Macierowski, PhD, professor, philosophy and classical languages, Benedictine College

"Anyone seriously interested in understanding what underlies the contemporary demise of the West should buy it, read it, and digest the many gems of wisdom it contains."  —Peter A. Redpath, PhD, full professor of philosophy, St. John's University

"Reminds us of Western civilization's treasury of wisdom, its perennial philosophy and great literature."  —Mitchell Kalpakgian, PhD, professor of humanities and the Trivium, Wyoming Catholic College

"Profound yet profoundly readable, this book is brilliantly revealing of both the causes and effects of modernity's cultural crisis."  —David M. Whalen, PhD, associate provost and associate professor of English, Hillsdale College

"Senior was the Catholic Socrates of the 20th century."  —James S. Taylor, PhD, author, Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education

"I knew John Senior for some 50 years. No one had the same success in defending and bringing others to the Catholic faith."  —Ronald P. McArthur, PhD, president emeritus, Thomas Aquinas College

"A true prophet."   —Reverend C.J. McCloskey III, research fellow, Faith and Reason Institute, Washington, DC

"John Senior was a great teacher and poet . . . In the middle of this dark night of secular society, Senior sees the Morning Star."  —Most Reverend David L. Ricken, DD, JCL, Bishop of Cheyenne

--This text refers to the Unknown Binding edition.

About the Author

John Senior holds his doctorate from Columbia University and was a professor of English, comparative literature, and classics and the founder of the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas. He was dedicated to preserving Catholic orthodoxy. Andrew Senior has worked as a diocesan director of religious education and as a professor of Latin, English, history, and philosophy. He currently teaches at St. Mary's College. He lives in Manhattan, Kansas. Dr. David Allen White is a professor of English at the United States Naval Academy. He is the editor of Shakespeare A to Z and the author of The Horn of the Unicorn and The Mouth of the Lion. He lives in Annandale, Virginia.

--This text refers to the Unknown Binding edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 195 pages
• Publisher: Roman Catholic Books (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0912141107
• ISBN-13: 978-0912141107
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,633,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Kraken Awakens, August 12, 2003

By 

Patrick Odaniel (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Death of Christian Culture (Hardcover)

It is hard to believe this book was published in 1979--it is a throwback to a time when culture meant something other than the latest dress featured on "Sex and the City." This cranky book (really, just a stitched together collection of past articles) has a little bit of everything: (1) a good introduction to the philosophy of the East and its beneficial and baleful influence on Christianity; (2) a sketch of modernism in poetry and literature and the pernicious influence of Keats and Arnold; (3) a description of the intersection of freedom, justice, crime and punishment; (4) the disaster resulting from the loss of a classical education (and how Joyce, as being at least "half educated" has pulled the wool over the eyes of the rest of us who are merely "quarter educated"; and (5) a traditional defense of Catholicism as represented in the writings of Newman and the scholastics. Be warned: This is hard-core catholic writing that has the old take-no-prisoners tang to it. A delight to read. Highly recommended (and short, at a mere 175 pages).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death of Christian Culture, April 22, 2010

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R. Misdom - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Death of Christian Culture (Hardcover)

An excellent commentary for the Christian perspective and where we began our steady decline from the Classical education that served us so well for centuries. Lots of meat here, likely to be reread over many years and maintain a permanent space on my bookcase. Should be required reading for those inclined students of Christianity.

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Look at Christianity and Culture, February 26, 2011

By 

Kevin M. Derby (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Death of Christian Culture (Paperback)

John Senior's "Death of Christian Culture" is an interesting academic jeremiad taking aim at everything from poetry to education and showing how they have helped undermine Christian society. It is a very learned if dry book that will do better with academics instead of casual readers. There is an interesting introduction and a rather short preface by Senior's son. These only cover 4 pages--odd since the publisher, IHS Press, usually allows much longer prefaces and introductions. The work reads more like a collection of essays than a completed narrative. In the book, especially in a list of books that should be used for instructing the young, Senior seems unaware of his own times--and this can prove frustrating. Some excellent modern Christian writers--for example Tolkien and Solzhenitysn--are not included on the list (though Senior makes a throw away reference to "Gulag Archipelago"). While I am sympathetic to Senior's argument, I was frustrated that he did not look that often outside academia and literature. The frontline of the culture wars are in the homes.

Senior writes from a traditionalist Catholic perspective--and perhaps the timing of his book was ironic. This book was first published in 1978--the year that John Paul the Great was elevated to the papacy. The late Holy Father was able to reach out to the faithful in a way unlike many religious leaders before and showed how Christian culture could flourish even in the challenges of the modern secular world. Senior would join the Society of St. Pius X--the leaders of which were excommunicated by John Paul the Great after the archbishop who founded the SSPX started appointing his own bishops. It's not an uncommon phenomenon. You pray for a sign and then miss it when it is right in front of you--just ask a bunch of Pharisees in roughly 30 AD who called for a messiah--and then rejected Him when He appeared.