23 DECEMBER 1944: With the sixth Christmas of the war surely being the last, our aim should not be merely peace but the reconstruction of Western civilisation This weekend Christmas will be celebrated in some fashion throughout Europe – in Berlin as well as in London, in the caves and cellars of Cologne as well as in Manchester. It is a symbol, perhaps a relic, of that unity of the Western world which Christianity did so much to promote and which we in this century have done so much to destroy. But Christianity was not the only creative force, nor are the great wars the only cause of decay. Our civilisation also rests, as the Bishop of Chichester pointed out this week, on the great traditions of humanism, science, and law. And he might have added on the common heritage of the arts – that spring from the old enchantment of ancient Greece where the Nine Muses were born “in shepherds’ cabins on the steep hillside.” Continue reading...
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