Dynamics of World History [Paperback]

Christopher Dawson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

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. For breadth of knowledge and lucidity of style [Dawson] has few rivals.... -New York Times Book Review Dynainics of WorldHistory is extraordinarily valuable, because it is much more than a Christopher Dawson compendium, or than an introduction to Dawson. It is a very carefully collected and edited quilt of Dawson's most important writings: a multicolored quilt, rather than a collection of disparate

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188292679X
• ISBN-13: 978-1882926794
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #440,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must read' for anyone interested in Catholic history., October 22, 2004

By 

Hunter Smith (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dynamics of World History (Paperback)

This book is awesome! Dawson was a professor of Roman Catholic Studies at Harvard University, but don't let that scare you away thinking it will be hard to read. It is written in language that us lay people can understand and relate to in a very deep and meaningful way. Dawson is Catholic and the book will give you an incredible historical perspective through Catholicism, however it really addresses all world religions and their role in human history and culture. Religion, Dawson believed, is the great creative force in any culture, and the loss of society's historic religion therefore portends a process of social dissolution. For this reason, Dawson concluded that Western society must find a way to revitalize its spiritual life if it is to avoid irreversible decay. Progress, the real religion of modernity, is insufficient to sustain cultural health. And an ahistorical, secularized (Americanized) Christianity is an oxymoron, a pseudo-religion only nominally related to the historic religion of the West. Dawson maintains that the hope of the present age lay in the reconciliation of the religious tradition of Christianity with the intellectual tradition of humanism and the new knowledge about man and nature provided by modern science. This book shows that though such a task may be difficult, it is not impossible. If you're an active, faith loving, curious, sacramental Catholic this book will bring you to a whole new level of knowledge about your religion. This is one of those, `changed my life', kind of books in the best kind of way.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for an understanding of western culture, June 28, 2005

By 

Steve McMullin (Saint John, NB Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dynamics of World History (Paperback)

This book was quite a surprise. While so many people focus on purely materialist causes for the rise of western culture, this collection of twentieth-century essays by Christopher Dawson emphasizes spiritual roots. These essays are well-written and if anything have become even more relevant with the passing of time. Though many people probably won't agree with all of his conclusions, it seems to me that a reading of Dawson's work is essential to understanding western culture.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History for Intelligent People, February 12, 2006

By 

John Deighan (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dynamics of World History (Paperback)

This book was bought with little previous knowledge of Dawson, and only a general idea of the subjects he discusses; but having read this book, and also now his (shorter) more strictly historical work "The Making of Europe", I know it was exactly what I needed. In fact, I feel that divine Providence was at work in my encountering this book. Thanks to Dawson, my understanding of the meaning (rather than only the bare facts) of our era of civilisation in Western Europe has been deepened. I feel I have a better grasp of the overall shape of our history, where we've come from and (therefore) where we're going. Dawson, I feel, writes with a combination of profound wisdom and sharp analysis; he is excellent on both the broader picture (more important) and the historical/sociological details and nuances (also important). Dynamics of World History is therefore historiography of the highest order. But more than this, his writings have a kind of prophetic urgency, which even after sixty or seventy years still seems to retain its power. Some people, I think, have objected to this aspect of his work- the "voice in the desert", if you like- claiming it represents too narrow and dogmatic (too "Christian") a perspective in a pluralistic postmodern age. But I believe it is this that gives his writing its tremendous force and also bestows a remarkable unity of purpose on all his work, which covers a great variety of topics and subtopics. Dawson made no secret of his religious convictions- but just as he himself says of Toucqueville, "he succeeds not despite them, but because of them."