Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

["Jim Forest" <jhforest AT gmail.com>]

Continuing the dialogue with Michael Larson:

I wrote:

>> > However it's astonishing that -- apart from the Balkans -- Europe, the
battleground of so many wars, many of which had a religious

component, hasn't been a place of war for 63 years. This surely is in
part thanks to the efforts made here to gradually create a European
Union. It is far from perfect, but we are not killing each other. (As an

American living in Europe, I am one of the immediate beneficiaries.)"

Michael replied:

>> I am truly glad that you're not killing each other, but is a secular
Europe united allegedly by pluralism more palatable than the one that

was united by Christendom? And are there not worse things even than
war--such as, for instance, a pallid and faithless peace? Percy often
said as much, I think.

While I wouldn't agree that Europe is quite as secular as we are widely 

regarded as being, personally I prefer to live in the Europe that exist, albeit 
to a sad extent post-Christian but where we are not wading in blood, than 
a Europe that is once again a religious battlefield.


I have often wondered why religious life in Europe has weakened so 
much. There are many factors, but wars between Protestants and 
Catholics are probably not an insignificant one. What often seems like 
ancient history from the vantage point of the US doesn't seem nearly that 

long ago to a great many Europeans, many of whom would revise a familiar 
biblical text to make it read: "See how they kill one another."

We have had both Reformation and Counter-Reformation, with many 
deaths and martyrdoms on both sides, but to what extent there were 
followers of Christ in  Europe in the post-reformation centuries is 
less obvious.

friendly greetings!

Jim Forest

-- 
Jim & Nancy Forest
Kanisstraat 5
1811 GJ Alkmaar
The Netherlands

Forest-Flier web site: www.incommunion.org/forest-flier/
Orthodox Peace Fellowship web site: www.incommunion.org
photos: www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/sets/
recently published: "Silent as a Stone," a children's book about a community of rescuers in Nazi-occupied Paris:
http://incommunion.org/forest-flier/books/silent-as-a-stone-mother-maria-of-paris-and-the-trash-can-rescue/

another new book: "The Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life":
http://incommunion.org/forest-flier/books/the-road-to-emmaus-pilgrimage-as-a-way-of-life/

* * *
Nancy and I have been keeping a journal that follows our recent kidney transplant. A blog has 
been set up for this purpose -- A Tale of Two Kidneys. See: http://ataleof2kidneys.blogspot.com/

* * *