Wreck of Western Culture

Humanism built Western civilisation as we know it today. Its achievements include the liberation of the individual, democracy, universal rights, and widespread prosperity and comfort. Its ambassadors are the heroes of modern culture: Erasmus, Holbein, Shakespeare, Velázquez, Descartes, Kant, and Freud.

Those who sought to contain humanism’s pride within a frame of higher truth — Luther, Calvin, Pou...