Musings of a Christian Humanist

     He was among the brightest students I have taught. We had just finished talking about how and why Freudian or Marxists interpretations of reality are suffocating in their reductionistic interpretations. The conversation moved to the writings of Christopher Dawson that are happily being reprinted by Catholic University Press of America. As our discussion meandered, he questioned, "why are Freudian and Marxist ideologies reductionistic, but Dawson's assertion that 'religion is the key to history' not reductionistic?" Bravo, I thought, a marvelous question. Now we were onto a grand quest. My first response was that, religion, as understood by Dawson is not a mere accident of human nature, but an essential characteristic or quality of the human condition that manifests itself throughout culture. Additionally, human cultures as envisioned and developed by various people through history act back upon and shape our religious impulse.   ...

​     ​ There is a popular series of books entitled, "Eat This, Not That." The premise of the series is that of all the foods out there, some are healthier for you than others or some are not as unhealthy as others. We can classify this essay as a "Read This, Not That." With the growing number of published works by fundamentalist atheists, let me suggest when trying to think through the complex issues of religious reality and human cultures, one should read Christopher Dawson and not the venomously ill-informed works of those who seem driven primarily by profit and not generous, well informed scholarship. ​     ​ Historically speaking, as a humane discipline, History and all of its variant emphases experienced decline when the mind of the modern inquirer into the past was clouded by the myopia of enlightenment consciousness of the 18th century.  Those blinded by the narrow Enlightenment lens could feel little interest and no spiritual sympathy for transce...