Conway, Michael A. (2014) Christianity in Europe: A Future? The Furrow, 65. pp. 331-338. ISSN 0016-3120

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Abstract

It may not be perfect, but contemporary Europe as a social, cultural, and political reality is an extraordinary achievement. It is not only the envy of many peoples the world over (witness the numbers that wish to come here), but it is a potential model for nations working together in collaboration, while maintaining individual identities at personal and national level. We, as Europeans, enjoy the highest levels of personal and communal freedom of any peoples ever, we enjoy a relatively high level of economic affluence; we enjoy significant political stability with our well-developed democratic structures; and women enjoy an almost equal standing to men in many areas of our culture (I think that it would probably be dangerous for me to suggest that we have achieved an absolute equality!). Europe is, of course, a complex entity that is built on a whole spectrum of archaeological layers that include Greco-Roman culture, Judeo–Christian culture, Arab- Islamic influences, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, humanism, modernity, postmodernity, and so on. Without overrating the achievement of Europe (as there is much that is still problematic), it is, nonetheless, significant in terms of its possibilities, its freedoms, and its stabilities. I, and I would wager, many Europeans, do not wish to live elsewhere. Writing recently in La Repubblica, the Bulgarian-French philosopher and psychoanalyst, Julia Kristeva, speaking of Europe as a ‘cultural space (lo spazio culturale),’ observes that ‘it is perhaps the only one that takes seriously the complexity of the human condition in its togetherness, the lessons of its memory, [and] the risks of its freedom.’

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Christianity; Europe; Future;
Academic Unit:	St Patrick's College, Maynooth > Faculty of Theology
Item ID:	7791
Depositing User:	Michael A. Conway
Date Deposited:	23 Jan 2017 09:14
Journal or Publication Title:	The Furrow
Publisher:	St. Patrick's College, Maynooth
Refereed:	Yes
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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