Genealogies of the West: Civilization, Religion, Consciousness (Anthem Religion and Society)

Description

Genealogies of the West presents a new look at the West by tracing the still-recognizable footprints of the past and reflecting on what the present challenges are facing. It attempts to decipher traces of the places, characters, events, and intellectual trends that the West recognizes as its own. It tries to shape something like a genealogy(es) of the West, starting from the conviction that the knowledge of the past is essential to our enrichment as citizens and, ultimately, for improving our society. The book presents summaries and arguments about a vast array of issues raised by the history of Western civilization, especially about cultural points, intellectual attainments, religious beliefs, and historical transformations. It proposes to embark on a journey that reaches back to the foundations of Western civilization such as Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, and the early Christianity. It explores the painful split between Rome, Constantinople and Mecca. It connects the great values of the Middle Ages - from the chivalrous spirit to the scholastic rationality - to the present. It shows the faces of the modernity and its most relevant achievements - the state in politics, the capitalism in economics, the science in knowledge - and how they are being revised nowadays by postmodernity. It examines the twentieth- and twenty-first-century self-inflicted criticism of the West, which has revised its previous tradition and heritage, and threatens the entire civilization to disappear. The book also recalls the genealogies of the plural processes, ideas, and events that shape the West's tradition and identity, and their contemporary presence. It inspires the reader not only to brush up on the knowledge of the past but also to reflect on the present and consider the political, social, economic, cultural, intellectual, moral, artistic and spiritual elements of past cultures that have left an indelible mark on contemporary values. Such an effort aids in our understanding of who we are, where we come from, how we are wired, what we owe to each period of the past and, based on this rich experience, how we can face the future with guarantees. The book will help readers gain perspective, understand the complexities of the past, pinpoint historical inaccuracies, recognize Western values and traditions, and accept challenges for the future.