Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam [Paperback]

Joseph Ratzinger (Author), Marcello Pera (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2007

Bringing together their unique vantage points as leaders of Church and State, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Marcello Pera challenge us to imagine what can be the future of a civilization that has abandoned its moral and cultural history. They call on the West to embrace a spiritual rather than political renewal -and to accept the moral values that alone can help us to make sense of changes in technology, economics, and society.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Complementary lectures delivered in May 2004 and the lecturers' letters of response to one another make up a small, potent book on the topic that Bruce Bawer's startling While Europe Slept (2006) gives electrifying currency: the decline and all-too-possible fall of European culture to the radical Islam that Mary Habeck in Knowing the Enemy (2006) calls "jihadism." Pera, a philosopher of science who has become president of the Italian senate, dissects political correctness and the condition of which it is a symptom, cultural relativism. Ratzinger, who a year later became Pope Benedict XVI, summarizes Europe's Christian heritage with breathtaking concision and historical mastery. Both men see Europe today in a crisis of identity that has made it largely unable and unwilling to defend its culture against intransigent Islam, and both call for revivifying Christian identity. In his letter, Pera advocates nondenominational Christianity as the basis of a revitalized Europe; in his, Ratzinger propounds the conditions for a pan-European Christian civil religion such as Pera outlines. An engrossing, enlightening, extremely timely discussion. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"(A) thoughtful history lesson about what European/American civilization consists of, with some striking comments on the Spengler-Toynbee debate." The Spectator"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465006272
• ISBN-13: 978-0465006274
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A former publishing executive, John F. Thornton is a literary agent and co-editor of Tongues of Angels, Tongues of Men: A Book of Sermons. He lives in New York City. Susan B. Varenne holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. She is a New York City teacher and a freelance writer specializing in religion.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Very insightful and honest, March 2, 2006

By 

John Allen "Marketing Guy" (Suwanee, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam (Hardcover)

I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up this little book, but it's much more than an analysis of Europe's problems. It includes thought and analysis by Pera (president of the Italian Senate and a non-Christian) as well as by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

Both take a look at the effects relativism has had on European culture and offer their advice on how to shake the malaise that is covering the continent. In the process, they slice history into meaningful events and even give some great insight into the U.S. and it's spiritual, political, and cultural situation.

For Catholics, this is a brillant look into how Ratzinger/Benedict sees the world and the problems he is dealing with. His suggestion of the Christian minority "activist" is a compelling vision for the future in Europe and the U.S.

For non-Catholics, the history of relativism and how it exacerbates our problems with Islam is fascinating. To suggest this is merely "medieval thinking" is ignorance in the purest form. This is a philosophical meditation on where Western culture is and what that means for our future.

Highly recommended.

72 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, March 8, 2006

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam (Hardcover)

Europe is dying. We know that birthrates in most European countries are near to 1. That means for every two people, one is produced since birth rates measure births from women. If one only measures the birth-rates of indigenous Europeans, not recent immigrants, they will find that in fact the number is closer to .25, that is for every four European Christian women only 1 will have a child.

Europe will not exist in 50 years. Instead Europe will be a majority Muslim. Not only is this a very real fact but the urban landscape of Europe is already almost a majority Muslim. Recent riots, violence and criminality have shown the dangers that are upon europe, also the rise of anti-semitism, racism, intolernace, religion and just plane hatred shows what is happening to Europe.

Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope, co-authored this sad soul searching text that explains how a Europe without a history, without 'roots' is likely to disappear and the disappearence of European people in Europe will mean a damage to the world, it calls into question those ideas like liberty, freedom, democracy, and equality that Europe have related to the world, like in 1940 it threatens a 'new dark age' in the words of Churchill. This is an insightful, wonderful read.

Seth J. Frantzman

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A convergence of ideas, September 13, 2006

By 

Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam (Hardcover)

The most remarkable thing about this little book is not so much the particular issues that are discussed in it. The last few years have seen an increased concern expressed by many Europeans (and others) about the direction in which that continent is headed. What is remarkable is that there is increasingly a convergence of ideas that point to the solution of Europe's long term ills. In this book two extraordinary intellectual giants (one a Pope and another a philosopher and the president of the Italian senate) present their views of those ills from an essentially the same vantage point. There is yet a hope that not everything is lost.