1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A STUDY OF CATHOLICISM AS AN INTEGRATING IDEA OF EUROPE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND
| Project/Area Number |
07610466
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
英語・英米文学
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| Research Institution | KOBE UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
YONEMOTO Koichi KOBE UNIVERSITY,FACULTY OF CROSS-CULTURAL STUDIES,ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, 国際文化学部, 助教授 (50144605)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NOTANI Keiji KOBE UNIVERSITY,FACULTY OF CROSS-CULTURAL STUDIES,ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, 国際文化学部, 助教授 (80164698)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1995 – 1997
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| Keywords | CATHOLICISM / CHRISTENDOM / T.S.ELIOT / G.K.CHESTERTON / H.BELLOC / C.DAWSON |
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| Research Abstract |
At present the European Union is much-discussed in the social sciences, esp. by political scientists and economists. But it is a relatively little known fact that there were, in the years between the two world wars, people who maintained that Catholicism would work as a synthesizing idea of rapidly disintegrating Europe. It was not a favorable time by any means for the Church to propound its message, for it was undoubtedly two totalitarianisms, i.e., fascism and communism, that filled the minds of European peoples with dream and hpe. Moreover, the church itself was being attacked by secularization among its members.
The present research investigated with sympathy the social views of Hilaire Belloc, G.K.Chesterton, Christopher Dawson and T.S.Eliot. It aimed at elucidating the core principle which they seemed to share, to prevent Europe from falling apart, and to restore its unity. These authors represented the Catholic intellectuals in England, which has taken pride in being a Protestant country.
So they first had to fight heroically the inveterate prejudices against Catholicism. They all had a common understanding of the Reformation, that it severed off England from Europe which was one Christendom. For them it was basically a tragic event. They attributed the main cause of secularization to Protestantism, which is also held to be responsible for the disintegration of Europe. Facing an alternative of Christianity or new paganism, they tried to convince people of the necessity of recalling the value of the essentially medieval idea of Christendom that still holds for the 20th century. It has become evident that their common idea derives from the Catholic understanding of the Church that it is divinely founded and communal in its nature, and works as a sacramental body of Christ to sanctify people.
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