Why do we humans so typically disappoint ourselves, and why is our future now so uncertain?

This short reflection on the history of the West, and of Christianity, argues that the problem lies in our tendency to seek the esteem of others in order to feel good about ourselves.  All hierarchies of dignity, all tyranny, all injustice, all violence - including our violation of our own environment - arise out of this tendency to go on an 'upward journey' to fame and celebrity.

This is the basic illness of the West - and Christianity too was affected by it when the opportunity arose to make the Christian Church the dominant religious force in the fourth century.  The scandals of Christendom, and the fragmentation of Christianity, followed.

But the movement that arose out of this Christian scandal - secularism - has been frustrated by exactly the same human flaw.  This explains the fate of the great modern ideologies - fascism and communism - and the apparently inescapable violence of the modern era.  It explains also the crazes for celebrity and ostentatious consumption, and the scandals of waste, corruption and environmental crisis in our own time.

Desperately in need of a solution to this human problem, we need to look again at the West's foundational texts - the Bible - to discern the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as the outline of the 'downward journey' that humanity now needs to take to escape the perils that confront us.  This is still the best hope we have.

ISBN 1 85607 264 9
    
Chapter Summaries

Copyright © 2007 Sean O'Conaill