The Historic Reality of Christian Culture

The Historic Reality of Christian Culture with Joseph T. Stuart, Margaret Mary Summers, and Mike Aquilina

In this discussion, three historians talk about the six ages of Western Christian culture as sketched out by Christopher Dawson in his 1960 book The Historic Reality of Christian Culture: A Way to the Renewal of Human Life. Their conversations feature quotations from primary documents from each age.

First Age: Early Christian Culture and the Clash with the Roman Empire (1 – ca. 300)
Second Age: The Age of the Church Fathers (ca. 300 – ca. 650)
Third Age: The Making of Europe (ca. 650 – ca. 1000)
Fourth Age: Medieval Christendom (ca. 1000 – ca. 1500)
Fifth Age: Breakout from Christendom (ca. 1500 - 1789)
Sixth Age: The Modern World (1789 – today)

The video mentioned in the discussion, The Church Forests of Ethiopia, can be found here:    • The Church Forests of Ethiopia  

Prime Matters (www.primematters.com) is a groundbreaking project of educational outreach of the University of Mary: "Awakening the Catholic Imaginative Vision."

0:00 The Historical Reality of Christian Culture
00:09:38 Introduction: On Christian Culture
00:23:48 First Age: Early Christian Culture and the Clash with the Roman Empire (1 – ca. 300)
00:39:23 Second Age: The Age of the Church Fathers (ca. 300 – ca. 650)
00:53:47 Third Age: The Making of Europe (ca. 650 – ca. 1000)
01:13:14 Fourth Age: Medieval Christendom (ca. 1000 – ca. 1500)
01:31:53 Fifth Age: Divided Christendom (ca. 1500 - 1789)
01:57:36 Sixth Age: The Modern World (1789 – today)
02:10:13 Conclusion: On Vocation