Posted by
Mike on Sunday, July 03, 2011 2:38:25 PM
http://www.westernperspective.blogspot.com/
The errors in which modern man finds himself are caused by a skewed
worldview. Belloc was prophetic in the last century, both with respect
to the events of Europe and the greater Middle East, particularly
greater Syria, precisely because he had a deep understanding of history,
unlike today's pundits who, at best, only superficially comprehend
history. Belloc's superior grasp of history is owing to his humility as
a man of the world, forming a worldview through his association with a
truly great thinker Cardinal Newman.
Newman's worldview was shaped by his conversion as a boy to Evangelical
Anglicanism, having first been brought up with the strict French
Calvinism of his mother who was a Huguenot. The Evangelical truths
which he learned as a child, many from Old Testament sources, were the
guiding force of his life eventually bringing him to accept the
sacramental life within the Catholic Church. Regarding this subject,
Newman once wrote,
"Men who are plunged in the pursuits of active life, are no
judges of its course and tendency on the whole. They confuse
great events with little, and measure the importance of objects,
as in perspective, by the mere standard of nearness or
remoteness. It is only at a distance that one can take in the
outlines and features of the whole country."
This more or less explains the unrealistic historical perspective of Beck and his adherents in today's world.
As Newman was concerned with salvation history and thereby excluded from
consideration great civilizations including China, India and the Islamic
empires, so to Belloc's historical perspective centering on France or Gaul
as the culmination of Greco-Roman culture forming the basis of
Catholic Europe. Belloc's identification of the Church with Europe, and
of Europe with the Church, has been open to criticism by those who see a
greater role played by the barbarians who settled within the Empire,
and others who remained outside, in forming Christian culture. Belloc's
historical perspective therefore only makes sense in reference to
Newman's which greatly influenced Belloc.