3 June, 2022
COLLOQUIUM 2022 – PLEASE REGISTER HERE
Dear Reader,
One of William Wordsworth’s best poems is an ode with the somewhat daunting title Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood. It’s a reflection on the progress of human life from infancy to maturity. He thinks of children as natural believers, born with an inherent sense of awe at the freshness of creation enfolded in eternity –
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Appareled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
We are creatures of divine origin –
…trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
But as we grow up darker ideas begin to cloud our understanding. In our youth we still keep some of that sense of the sacred (‘nature’s priests’), but by the time we reach adulthood the light for most of us has faded –
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature’s Priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
His conclusion, though, is more positive; faith is the great boon that helps us look beyond death –
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death…
…Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows [ = blooms] can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
There is in this poem just a suspicion of the pagan hope for reincarnation, but in essence Wordsworth was an Anglican Christian, as his many ‘ecclesiastical sonnets’ clearly show. He always had an Anglican’s suspicion of ‘crafty Rome’, but his marvellous description of Mary as ‘our tainted nature’s solitary boast’ expresses in just five sweet words the whole Catholic teaching on the Mother of God!
The poem is thoroughly in tune with the mind of St Augustine too: ‘you made us for yourself, O God, and our heart is restless until it rest in thee’.
What an unspeakably sad thing it is that the prevailing spirit of pessimism in our western world, particularly, adopts atheism as the default position and blinds growing children to their natural impulses.
Yours sincerely,
David Daintree
MORE THOUGHTS ON EASTERN EUROPE…
My earlier message on this subject (13 May) attracted an irate, strenuous and extremely well researched response from theologian Dr Robert Tilley. He took great exception to my application of President Reagan’s term ‘Evil Empire’ to modern Russia, which he thinks implies passive gullibility on my part to the mainstream media narrative. There is much in Dr Tilley’s article that I disagree with, and much that I approve, but we are posting it here (he suspected that we might back out) because we conservatives who rightly condemn ‘un-platforming’ by others should be ashamed to practise that abuse of freedom ourselves. Read it here, and be prepared for some bold and confronting opinions on Russia, Ukraine, the Church – and the Catholic Weekly!
EXTINCTION OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
This article on the decline of churches in the UK makes the grimmest possible reading. Based on present trends, it sets 2040 as the extinction date for the Church of Scotland, and (on the bright side?) allows the Catholic Church and the Church of England an extra 20 years! Of course this is all based on ‘modelling’, that favourite tool of modern policy makers. But modelling makes no provision for the unexpected and extraordinary twists and turns of history, or for the Grace of God.
SECULAR THINKERS WHO VALUE CHRISTIANITY
Akos Balogh from Sydney’s Moore College argues in this article that the notion of universal human rights is entirely the product of Christianity. That’s a big claim, bound to attract the scorn of many secular people. Balogh cites several secular thinkers who agree with it. Here’s atheist Chris Berg:
‘Yet virtually all the secular ideas that non-believers value have Christian origins… It was theologians and religiously minded philosophers who developed the concepts of individual and human rights. Same with progress, reason, and equality before the law: it is fantasy to suggest these values emerged out of thin air once people started questioning God.’
Jefferson, says Balogh, got it wrong: it is not self-evident that all men are created equal!
CHRISTIAN CLASSICAL EDUCATION
Logos Australis is hosting a book club for educators wishing to deepen their understanding of Classical education, its philosophical and historical roots. Members will first read and discuss The Liberal Arts Tradition by Ravi Jain and Kevin Clark. The book has been praised as a thorough, well-referenced overview of the history and development of the Liberal Arts over the past two millennia, including its Greco-Roman origins, the Judeo-Christian tradition and the quadrivium. Sign up from the Logos Australis website.
HARMONISING SCIENCE AND REVELATION
The second international conference of The University of Kabianga (2018) focused on the role of ethics in research and development and in human social wellbeing. This paper by Australian ethicist Martin Rice is a challenging read for the non-specialist but worth the effort. Here’s a sample:
atheistic worldviews that have no personally significant reason for why
our universe is here; no cogent explanation of why it is like it is; no cogent view of
human exceptionalism; no humanly-meaningful reasons for the emergence of natural and
moral evils; and only uncertain speculations about where it all could be heading and the
way it might end. Yet, however intellectually-bankrupt atheism might be, it is made more
attractive to thinking persons if it is opposed by poorly reasoned anti-scientific or
distorted-scientific forms of theism.
atheistic worldviews that have no personally significant reason for why
our universe is here; no cogent explanation of why it is like it is; no cogent view of
human exceptionalism; no humanly-meaningful reasons for the emergence of natural and
moral evils; and only uncertain speculations about where it all could be heading and the
way it might end. Yet, however intellectually-bankrupt atheism might be, it is made more
attractive to thinking persons if it is opposed by poorly reasoned anti-scientific or
distorted-scientific forms of theism.
‘…atheistic worldviews that have no personally significant reason for why our universe is here; no cogent explanation of why it is like it is; no cogent view of human exceptionalism; no humanly-meaningful reasons for the emergence of natural and moral evils; and only uncertain speculations about where it all could be heading and the way it might end. Yet, however intellectually-bankrupt atheism might be, it is made more attractive to thinking persons if it is opposed by poorly reasoned anti-scientific or distorted-scientific forms of theism.’
THE QUEEN’S JUBILEE
I recommend this super article by Jesuit Fr Anthony Symondson.
‘what was the most moving part of the Coronation: was it when the Archbishop put the crown on her head? She replied that it was not, it was the anointing that took her by surprise by taking her out of herself. Peace flooded her soul. She sees her life not as an accident of destiny but as a vocation given by God and this is manifested above all in her sense of duty and her clear-cut, if modestly expressed, faith.’
MATHILDE THE BATTLE MAIDEN
This Mercatornet article tells the story of a young woman who has just published the second issue of high-quality magazine dedicated to a feminine (rather than feminist) view of our common culture. You can order a copy of Mathilde here.
WELCOME TO OUR NEW ‘FRIENDS’
We are delighted to announce that the following have responded to our invitation to become Friends of Christopher Dawson. We thank them all for their generosity, encouragement and support.
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Prof Bob Kennedy
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COMING EVENTS
Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor of The Australian: Christianity’s Contribution to Western Civilisation, 20 June, Maypole Hotel, 6.00 pm (jointly hosted by the Archdiocese of Hobart).
The Judeo-Christian tradition has created and underpinned the moral and legal fabric of Western civilisation for more than 2000 years, yet now in both Australia and many parts of the West Christianity has become a minority faith rather than the mainstream belief. Let’s take a fresh look at the contribution Christianity has made to Western Civilisation: can our civilisation can stand without it?
Please buy tickets here.
Mr Sheridan will also speak the following night 21 June on the case for the historical reliability of the New Testament and will explore the lives of early Christians and contemporary Christians, focusing on his recent book The Urgent Case for Jesus in our World. Buy tickets here.
COLLOQUIUM 2022
The 2022 Colloquium will take place on Saturday 16 July. The registration fee is $100 (concession $75 for pensioners, students, Friends of Christopher Dawson and unwaged).
FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RELIGION –
THE ESSENCE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION
Here is the complete list of papers to be presented. The Colloquium will close with guest-of-honour Dr David van Gend’s after-dinner address.
DAVID COLLITS
Truth, Ideology and Freedom
Contemporary Australian culture exerts tremendous implicit and explicit control over the speech and therefore life and thought of its members. This paper proposes a theological solution, therefore, as being at the heart of any genuine attempt to reach a practical solution to the threats posed to freedom of speech and religion.
KENNETH CROWTHER
In a ‘post-Christian secular age’ that has largely shrugged off the burdensome impositions of natural hierarchy and has dislocated and redefined the virtues, what are the implications for freedom of speech?
BELLA D’ABRERA
It is now virtually impossible for conservatives to express their opinions, or indeed state the truth, in the public square without fear of being cancelled or being set upon by the mob. We have even arrived at a point where we are no longer permitted to state biological fact. There are signs however, that the worm is finally turning, not just in Australia but across the Anglosphere.
KEVIN DONNELLY
Defining intolerance as tolerance.
Marcuse argues, such is the oppressive and exploitive nature of Western societies like Australia, that those intent on radically overthrowing the status quo are free to use whatever means necessary to effect change.
MONICA DOUMIT
How safe are religious exemptions in anti-discrimination law?
Given Labor will need to rely on the Greens in the Senate to pursue its legislative agenda, how realistic are any protections for religious individuals and institutions? What should we be doing now to prepare for all religious exemptions to anti-discrimination law being removed?
LUCAS MCLENNAN
Christianity and free speech: an uneasy relationship.
I will argue that Christian communities today, while very much in need of a culture that respects freedom of speech and expression, should still ultimately recognise that their cause is truth, not turning the principle of free expression into an ultimate ideal of its own.
ARCHBISHOP PORTEOUS
The Two Wings – Faith and Reason
In this paper I will explore the rise of ideology in contemporary society, arguing that it stands in direct opposition to the tradition of the interrelationship between faith and reason which is necessary for the development of culture and healthy patterns of human life.
ALEX SIDHU
Freedom of speech and religion: The Christian difference
We hear much of ‘the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion’ in contemporary western society but what exactly do they mean and how should Christians understand these concepts and their limits? This paper will argue that the understanding of these rights in the Catholic Tradition is not compatible with the dominant liberal understanding, and discuss the implications for Catholic political engagement.
VERONIKA WINKELS
Shepherding Wolves to Save Our Freedoms
As socialist utopias soon resemble the autocracies they set out to abolish, the more our secular governments curtail religious freedoms in Australia, the more religious in character and function they themselves become. They write their own moral codes, as the new cardinal virtues of Inclusivity, Diversity, Repentance for Past Sins, and the somewhat insipid call to ‘Be Nice’ show.
We like people to attend in person, but recognise that not everyone can travel to the Athens of the South for that purpose! All presentations will be professionally videoed and posted online soon afterwards. Proceedings will also be published in full late in 2022 or early 2023.