The Breakdown of Secular Democracy and the Need for a Christian Order

In the first half Twentieth Century, Catholic philosophers and theologians like Jacques Maritain and Henri de Lubac wrote of what they called the “crisis of modernity.” This was said to be a crisis of meaning, one in which traditions are destroyed with nothing of substance to replace them with. More specifically it is a problem of anthropology and culture-modern culture itself the problem, and its primary fault is that it is built upon an incomplete understanding of the human person. This problem, however, has not only affected the culture of Western civilization, but it has shaped its politics as well. The various totalitarian movements of the past century, for instance, were products of modernist ideology. Likewise, secular liberal democracy is another product of modernity. The question has been raised though as to whether or not secular liberalism can sustain itself, especially as it seems to be breaking down in our present time, both from the perspective of anti-modernists who uphold tradition, but also from modernists themselves who have fallen into totalitarian ideologies, Marxism being the most common among them.
In this lecture (presented by Dr. Francisco Plaza), we shall begin by addressing the current state of culture, considering the nature of modernity and its crisis of meaning. For our purposes, we shall focus mostly on its political dimension. After providing a summary account of modernism and its crisis, we shall consider two responses from Catholic political thought that look to creating a truly post-modern order. The first of these is that of integralism, a revivalist type movement that looks to the past before modernity as the way beyond the modern problem. We shall consider the integralist response to modern politics, then consider where it is correct and where it may fall short. Finally, we shall conclude by considering Maritain’s defense of a “Christian Democracy” and “integral humanism” as the true way beyond modernity.
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[@tourist1313]

Great lecture. Thank you.