Christopher Dawson
Encyclopedia
Christopher Henry Dawson (1889 – 1970) was a British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 independent scholar
Independent scholar
An independent scholar is anyone who conducts scholarly research outside universities and traditional academia. Independent scholars play an especially important role in areas such as art history and other humanities fields...

, who wrote many books on cultural history
Cultural history
The term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...

 and Christendom
Christendom
Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity...

. Christopher H. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century".

Life

Brought up at Hartlington
Hartlington
Hartlington is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is near Burnsall and 2.84 miles south east of Grassington....

 Hall, in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, Dawson was educated at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

 and Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

. His background was Anglo-Catholic, but he became a Roman Catholic convert in 1914. As a post-graduate student, he studied economics, and then at Oxford history and sociology. He also read in the work of the German theologian
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 Ernst Troeltsch
Ernst Troeltsch
Ernst Troeltsch was a German Protestant theologian and writer on philosophy of religion and philosophy of history, and an influential figure in German thought before 1914...

. In 1916, Dawson married Valery Mills.

Writing

He began publishing articles in The Sociological Review, in 1920. His starting point was close to that of Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Oswald Manuel Arnold Gottfried Spengler was a German historian and philosopher whose interests also included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West , published in 1918, which puts forth a cyclical theory of the rise and decline of civilizations...

 and Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934–1961, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global...

, others who were also interested in grand narratives conducted at the level of a civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...

. His first book, The Age of the Gods (1928), was apparently intended as the first of a set of five tracing Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an civilization down to the twentieth century; but this schematic plan was not followed to a conclusion.

His general point of view is as a proponent of a 'Old West' theory, the later term of David Gress
David Gress
David Richard Gress , is a Danish-American historian, known for his 1998 survey From Plato to Nato on Western identity and grand narratives.-Life:...

, who cites Dawson in his From Plato to Nato (1998). That is, Dawson rejected the blanket assumption that the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 in Europe failed to contribute any essential characteristics. He argued that the medieval Catholic Church was an essential factor in the rise of European civilization, and wrote extensively in support of that thesis.

He received also a measure of academic recognition, and was considered a leading Catholic historian. From 1940 for a period he was editor of the Dublin Review
Dublin Review (Catholic periodical)
The Dublin Review was an influential Catholic periodical founded in 1836 by Michael Joseph Quin, Cardinal Wiseman and Daniel O'Connell. Quin had the original idea for the new journal, soon persuading Wiseman to lend his support, and next enlisting O'Connell whose Catholic Emancipation campaign he...

. He was Chauncey Stillman Chair of Roman Catholic Studies at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 from 1958-1962.

Influence

His writings in the 1920s and 1930s made him a significant figure of the time, and an influence in particular on T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

, who wrote of his importance. He was on the fringe of 'The Moot', a discussion group involving Eliot, John Baillie
John Baillie
John Baillie CH was a Scottish theologian, a Church of Scotland minister and brother of theologian Donald Macpherson Baillie.Raised in the Calvinist tradition, Baillie studied at Edinburgh University, Jena and Marburg, and then taught in Canada and the United States. He was professor at Edinburgh...

, Karl Mannheim
Karl Mannheim
Karl Mannheim , or Károly Mannheim in the original writing of his name, was a Jewish Hungarian-born sociologist, influential in the first half of the 20th century and one of the founding fathers of classical sociology and a founder of the sociology of knowledge.-Life:Mannheim studied in Budapest,...

, Walter Moberly
Walter Hamilton Moberly
Sir Walter Hamilton Moberly, GBE, KCB, Kt, DSO was a British academic.-Life:The son of Rev. Robert Campbell Moberly and the grandson of George Moberly, he was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford...

, Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi, FRS was a Hungarian–British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and the theory of knowledge...

, Marjorie Reeves, Bernard Lonergan
Bernard Lonergan
Fr. Bernard J.F. Lonergan, CC, SJ was a Canadian Jesuit priest, philosopher, and theologian widely regarded as one of the most important Catholic thinkers of the twentieth century....

 and Alec Vidler
Alexander Roper Vidler
Alexander Roper "Alec" Vidler OGS was a noted English Anglican priest, theologian and historian of religion.- Biography :Vidler was born in Rye, Sussex, the son of Leopold Amon Vidler who had recently married Edith Hamilton Roper. During World War I he worked in a family business, and served...

; and also the Sword of the Spirit
Sword of the Spirit
Sword of the Spirit was a forerunner of the Catholic Institute of International Relations, now Progressio, founded by Cardinal Hinsley in August 1940...

 ecumenical group. According to Bradely Birzer, Dawson also influenced the theological underpinnings of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's writings. Russell Kirk
Russell Kirk
Russell Kirk was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, literary critic, and fiction author known for his influence on 20th century American conservatism. His 1953 book, The Conservative Mind, gave shape to the amorphous post–World War II conservative movement...

 was another who greatly admired Dawson, although the two men never met.

Comparable historians

As a revivalist of the Christian historian, Christopher Dawson has been compared with Kenneth Scott Latourette
Kenneth Scott Latourette
Kenneth Scott Latourette was an American historian of China, Japan, and world Christianity. His formative experiences as Christian missionary and educator in early 20th century China shaped his life's work...

 and Herbert Butterfield
Herbert Butterfield
Sir Herbert Butterfield was a British historian and philosopher of history who is remembered chiefly for two books—a short volume early in his career entitled The Whig Interpretation of History and his Origins of Modern Science...

.
Comparisons have also been made between the work of Dawson and German sociologist and historian Max Weber
Max Weber
Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself...

. Both employ a metahistorical approach to their subjects, and their subjects themselves bear similarities; namely, the influence of religion on aspects of western culture.

Works

  • The Age of Gods (1928)
  • Progress and Religion: An Historical Inquiry (1929). Reissued by the Catholic University of America Press
    Catholic University of America Press
    The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the academic publishing house of the Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941, the Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses...

     (2001)
  • Christianity and the New Age (1931)
  • The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity (1932). Reissued by the Catholic University of America Press
    Catholic University of America Press
    The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the academic publishing house of the Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941, the Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses...

     (2003)
  • The Spirit of the Oxford Movement
    Oxford Movement
    The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...

    (1933)
  • Enquiries into religion and culture (1933). Reissued by the Catholic University of America Press
    Catholic University of America Press
    The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the academic publishing house of the Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941, the Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses...

     (2009)
  • Medieval Religion and Other Essays (1934)
  • Religion and the Modern State (1936)
  • Beyond Politics (1939)
  • The Judgment of the Nations (1942). Reissued by the Catholic University of America Press
    Catholic University of America Press
    The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the academic publishing house of the Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941, the Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses...

     (2011)
  • Gifford Lectures
    Gifford Lectures
    The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford . They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term — in other words, the knowledge of God." The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported...

     1947–49
    • Religion and Culture (1948) ISBN 0-404-60498-6
    • Religion and the Rise of Western Culture (1950) ISBN 0-385-42110-9
  • Understanding Europe (1952). Reissued by the Catholic University of America Press
    Catholic University of America Press
    The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the academic publishing house of the Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941, the Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses...

     (2009)
  • Medieval Essays (1954). Reissued by the Catholic University of America Press
    Catholic University of America Press
    The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the academic publishing house of the Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941, the Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses...

     (2002)
  • Dynamics of World History (1957) edited by John J. Mulloy, with others
  • The Movement of World Revolution (1959)
  • Progress and Religion: An Historical Enquiry (1960) with others
  • The Historic Reality of Christian Culture (1960)
  • The Crisis of Western Education: With Specific Programs for the Study of Christian Culture (1961). Reissued by the Catholic University of America Press
    Catholic University of America Press
    The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the academic publishing house of the Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941, the Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses...

     (2010)
  • The Dividing of Christendom (1965)
  • Mission to Asia (1966) [Originally published: The Mongol mission (1955)]
  • The Formation of Christendom (1967)
  • The Gods of Revolution (1972)
  • Religion and World History (1975)
  • Christianity and European Culture: Selections from the Work of Christopher Dawson edited by Gerald J. Russello

External links

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