Weigel on the trouble with Europe

Although I've not yet seen it, this looks like an intriguing book: The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God, by George Weigel, best known for his official biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope. His thesis in this new book is summarized in an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times: "The Spiritual Malaise That Haunts Europe." Writes Weigel:

Europe is depopulating itself in numbers greater than at any time since the Black Death of the 14th century. When an entire continent, healthier, wealthier and more secure than ever before, fails to create the human future in the most elemental sense — by creating the next generation — something serious is afoot.

Some analysts have tried to explain this extraordinary phenomenon economically (the cost of children), others sociologically (changing social attitudes), still others ideologically (the rise of feminism). Each explanation contains an important grain of truth. But I am convinced that Europe's demographic meltdown is best analyzed in the realm of the human spirit, and that it is directly related to European high culture's abandonment of biblical religion.

To be sure, Weigel's thesis is not without flaws. Most basically, his apparent identification of the cultural and the spiritual — admittedly read out of the context of the larger book — raises the dark spectre of historicism, something Weigel would almost certainly not intend. One assumes he must mean that human culture is rooted in basic spiritual commitments and not vice versa. Moreover, if Europe's demographic decline is causally related to its abandonment of biblical religion, what of those parts of the world, such as India, which have never known biblical religion in large numbers and yet are still increasing in population?

On the other hand, could there be something especially deadly at work in a society which once knew the truth and has wilfully repudiated it? Given my own work on ideologies, which I am persuaded are modern manifestations of idolatry, I am inclined to think Weigel is on to something here. I will reserve further judgement until I see the book itself.


Basic Books

Before leaving this topic, however, it is worth noting that the new Pope is committed to the spiritual renewal of Europe, which is why he took the name of St. Benedict, the Patron of Europe. Believing Christians, whether Catholic or not, can only wish him well in this endeavour and offer prayers on his behalf.