Christopher Dawson: A Cultural Mind in the Age of the Great War

The English historian Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) was the first Catholic Studies professor at Harvard University and has been described as one of the foremost Catholic thinkers of modern times. His focus on culture prefigured its importance in Catholicism since Vatican Council II and in the rise of mainstream cultural history in the late twentieth century.

Key Questions Explored

• How did Dawson think about culture?
• Why does it matter?

Joseph T. Stuart argues that through Dawson's study of world cultures, he acquired a "cultural mind" by which he attempted to integrate knowledge according to four implicit rules:

1. Intellectual architecture
2. Boundary thinking
3. Intellectual asceticism
4. Intellectual bridges

Dawson's multi-layered approach to culture, instantiating John Henry Newman's philosophical habit of mind, is key to his work and its relevance. By it, he responded to the cultural fragmentation he sensed after the Great War (1914-1918).

How Dawson Formed His Cultural Mind

Stuart supports these claims by demonstrating how Dawson developed his cultural mind through an interdisciplinary science of culture that involved:

• Anthropology
• Sociology
• History
• Comparative religion

Stuart also shows how Dawson applied his cultural thinking to problems in politics and education.

Dawson's Definition of Culture

This book establishes how Dawson's simple definition of culture as a "common way of life" reconciles intellectualist and behavioral approaches to culture. In addition, Dawson's cultural mind provides a synthesis helpful for:

• Recognizing the importance of Christian culture in education
• Demonstrating principles that construct a more meaningful cultural history

Who Should Read This Book?

Anyone interested in:

• The idea of culture
• The connection of religion to the social sciences
• Catholic Studies
• Dawson studies

…will find this book an engaging and insightful intellectual history.