Friday, April 15, 2016

The Three Pillars of the West

An insightful summary from Of Wolves and Men:
Western civilization developed in western and central Europe during the Middle Ages and was recognizable as a civilization as early as 900 AD. This civilization then prospered and eventually broke through the Malthusian trap and experienced long term per capita economic growth for the first time in human history; The European Miracle.

So what created The West? How do we define it? This is where things get interesting. The facts of the origin of The West are well understood and not in dispute. What is in dispute and open for discussion is the interpretation of those facts and the relative importance of each of those influences.

The West was created by the convergence of three cultural and historical phenomenons which not only act as foundation stones but also as social forces keeping each other in check. In a great paradox these three forces are in superficial opposition to each other but in combination support the weight of western civilization.

The Three Pillars of The West

1:) The Greek and Roman Legacy

2:) Christianity

3:) The Customs of the Germanic Barbarians

Note that you are under no obligation to like any of these three things but an educated man of The West should have a at least a basic understanding of each. Even men who openly despise two of the three pillars can still be useful defenders of The West if they believe strongly enough in their pillar of choice.
Where we are is not an accident. Many, if not most, of the challenges we face in our daily lives stem from society in general, and most individual in particular, either turning away from or rejecting aspects of these three pillars.

Therefore, as a man or woman of the West, the solution to most of your problems are to be found in one of those three pillars. When in doubt, go back to the source. When confused, go back to the basics.

51 comments:

Myles said...

Bill Whittle had a similar conclusion, that the three pillars were Greco-Roman philosophy, Judeo-Christian morality and English common law. A distinction without much of difference, but it's good that more and more people are picking up on the idea.

Al From Bay Shore said...

The public school monopoly which is American education on the K-12 level has been actively undermining these pillars. The study of Western history has been replaced with "World" history which has marginalized Greco-Roman history to make room for non-Western history. Christianity, as you already know, is all but absent. I don't know much about the Germanic customs - students might be required to read Beowulf but I'm sure. The point of all this is to say that the trend of cultural erosion will continue for some time because American education on a yearly basis is churning out hundreds of thousands of anti-Western civilization indoctrinates.

Anonymous said...

"The Customs of the Germanic Barbarians"

Could someone expand on this or recommend a short read?

Anchorman said...

Could someone expand on this or recommend a short read?

You mean, other than the link at the top?

tridekka said...

I read through a few of his other articles, good stuff. Thanks for linking over there.

Al From Bay Shore said...

Thank you Anchorman! I didn't understand what was meant by "Customs of the Germanic Barbarians" but the link essentially describes it as the Western European kingdoms that arose after the fall of Rome. I'm familiar with that stuff! A good book on this topic is "The Oxford History of Medieval Europe" edited by George Holmes. Another text is by "University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, Vol. 4: Medieval Europe".

Laguna Beach Fogey said...

Western Civilization actually began earlier, with the ancient Greeks and Romans. Christianity was added later.

Could someone expand on this or recommend a short read?

The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity. A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation, by James C. Russell.

Arthur Isaac said...

Every time I run across "Judeo-Christian" I shake my head.

Jesus could not have made it more clear that Judaism despised Him and why. He was a living refutation of their rebellion against God. Which is why they killed Him, Stephen, Paul and Peter. He called the leaders of Judaism liars and murders. Values I'm taking that you supposed He shared?

We also see the treatment of the prophets by Judaic values. Tortured, killed and imprisoned for not following the narrative. These are models for the modern SJW tactics. (take a look at Jeremiah 44).

Suggesting Judeo-Christian values is oxymoronic. Will Anarcho-totalitarian principles be the next term for signalling erudition while delivering squid ink? That's all Judeo-Christian values is.

Bill Whittle is a neocon. And his values are Jewish ones. From what Jesus said I'm not going to be shocked when Bill hates or persecutes me.

jay c said...

I wouldn't include the ancient Greeks as part of Western Civilization. An undeniable ancestor, but not the thing itself. They made significant contributions, but if we were to be transported back through time into ancient Athens, I suspect we would find their civilization to be even more alien to us than modern Mumbai or Kinshasa. Bureaucratic Rome would be much more familiar.

jay c said...

OT? Maybe, but still... FIFY "That Jew could not have made it more clear that some Jews despised Him and why. That one Jew was a living refutation of some other Jews' rebellion against God. Which is why some Jews killed some other Jews. A Jew called some of the leaders of other Jews liars and murders. Values I'm taking that you supposed He shared? We also see the treatment of the Jewish prophets by other Jews. Tortured, killed and imprisoned for not following their political narrative. These are models for the modern SJW tactics. (take a look at Jeremiah 44)."

Judeo-Christian does not refer to rabbinic Judaism, but to the faith lived and taught by the Jewish prophets, the Jewish Messiah, and the Jewish teachers who came to be known as Christians.

Conan the Cimmerian said...

Good post. Reblogged @ http://conancimmerian.blogspot.com/

Arthur Isaac said...

Jay C., in case you didn't notice Judaism is Rabbinic Judaism. The inclusion of "Judeo" is squid ink.

S1AL said...

Arthur Isaac - You misunderstand the term. It refers not to the people, but to the faith, and the shared moral framework of Christianity and Judaism.

Anonymous said...

S1AL, it's clear you know nothing about the Talmud. Talmudic Judaism has no more in common a moral framework with Christianity than Hinduism does.

Derrick Bonsell said...

If you ask people like Sargon, Germany wasn't part of western civilization until after WW2. Though when it comes to politics Sargon is so often absurdly wrong that it boggles the mind.

Sokrates said...

Let us ask ourselves for example how the Romans would have reacted when their empire was in danger. Long before the breakdown at the end of the Antique, there where many crucial cituation (in particular at the time of the Republic) when Rome was at the edge of being exterminated by their emenies (for example the Gauls). Or how would have strong and sincere man like Cincinnatus would have dealt with such a threat.

From http://freedompowerandwealth.com

S1AL said...

@7634 - That was not the position espoused by the Savior, on either point.

little dynamo said...

There are no solutions to be found in 1 and 3. Modeling America on pagan classicism assured the very divides and decline now extant. These paths were well-set from before the nation's official founding. Republicanism, democracy, the sovereignty of the Almighty People, Equality, etc. -- all the spawn of failed pagan empires.

Modern America most closely resembles ancient Babylon, and ancient Rome, tho Dynastic Egypt is coming up fast on the outside. The Empire never ended, and no wonder, with so many adherents.

little dynamo said...


"Judeo-Christian does not refer to rabbinic Judaism, but to the faith lived and taught by the Jewish prophets"


Yep. There is no such thing as Rabbinic Judaism. Despite the protests and bloviations of centuries of self-anointed 'rabbis'. Nasty little crows. Rabies is more like it. Goes dubble for that effing Talmud.

The Jews refused and abused their own prophets, so they got kicked around pretty good. Be stubborn then, ain't my problem.

As for Western Civ, there would be none without the influence of Christ and his preceding prophets and servants. We see all around us what occurs when that influence is wholly, or partly, removed. And will see more too.

Laguna Beach Fogey said...

The crisis in which we now find ourselves, courtesy of the modern Left, is largely a result of 2) Christianity.

We need a return to the Pagan virtues of our Greek, Roman, and Germanic ancestors.

Jed Mask said...

Jesus Is The Way, Jesus Is The Truth and Jesus Is The Life...

Yea, yea. Keepin' it simple. Simple. Peace... Amen.

Anonymous said...

@LBF

Our current society is more pagan and less Christian than it has been since Roman times, and yet self-cucking is at record levels. Your attempted correlation of Christianity with self-cucking is a bit weak, to say the least.

You're one of those types who mistake useful-idiot Churchianism for Christianity.

Jed Mask said...

@ Laguna Beach Fogey

Smh at this: "The crisis in which we now find ourselves, courtesy of the modern Left, is largely a result of 2) Christianity.

We need a return to the Pagan virtues of our Greek, Roman, and Germanic ancestors."

No, NO we do NOT. We NEED a RETURN TO GOD in REPENTANCE and PRAY to GOD ALMIGHTY, LORD JESUS CHRIST!

The "Trouble of the West" is SIN. Plain 'n simple. NOT a return to the rudiment ways of man; a return to the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is needed Mr. Fogey.

What about Love, Peace, Joy, Temperance, Kindness, Wisdom, Knowledge and all that good stuff of God. Wicked feminism, lasciviousness, pride, arrogancy, greed, gluttony and all our problems originate from our SIN. THAT'S what needs to be addressed here.

Smh at how many people are forgetting to seek ye the KINGDOM OF GOD and THEN everything else will be added unto you (with Spirit-led effort of course). Amen.

~ Sincerely,

Bro. Jed

Arthur Isaac said...

S1AL, "You by your traditions make the word of God of no affect." What did Jesus espouse again?

It's a fiction that Judaism is Torah believing. Torah believing Jews are a small persecuted sect known as Karaites. Those guys are in line with our values, the Judaizers have always been and will always be persecutors of the body (as Saul was.)

It's not a conspiracy theory, it's clearly stated ALL through our Scriptures and history.

Arthur Isaac said...

Just out of curiosity, who of you "Christians" believes that the abomination which causes desolation will take place in a building over in Jerusalem? I ask this somewhat rhetorically because you clearly suck at reading and "rightly dividing the word".

Aeoli Pera said...

1. Christianity

2. Neanderthal admixture

If China became a Christian nation, they would make the West look like chumps.

Arthur Isaac said...

And I would add, that there has been a fundamental and purposeful corrosion of all of these pillars by a group set on to destroy Western Civilization.

I humbly suggest that "Judeo-Christian" squid ink is at the center of the problem. Christianity's hijacking by Judaizing dispensationalists out of the camp of Darby and Scofield are at the core of our problems.

Aeoli Pera said...

Contra that, I believe the center of the problem has been Gnostic bankers within the Catholic church, and then later masquerading as deists and secularists.

Aeoli Pera said...

Which is not to say I'm letting the easily influenced off the hook for giving up Christianity for enlightenment ideals.

"""
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

-Hebrews 6
"""

Arthur Isaac said...

Was I mistaken that usury was illegal? Are we calling Rothschild's Gnostic now?

S1AL said...

Arthur Isaac - I don't know what tinfoil-hat definition of Judaism you're using, but I'm using the standard English definition. As for what Jesus espoused? That the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, are true and accurate. That neither dot nor squiggle will pass from them until He returns.

Aeolit Pera - You should take a look at the rapid spread of Christianity in China. Some estimates conclude that there are now more Christians there than in the United States.

Arthur Isaac said...

Tin foil hat? How about what Jesus said about it? Yeah, you can't/won't read Scriptures without wrestling them to your own destruction. Jeremiah 2 describes your condition, oh yeah, it's also an apt description of Judaism.

Arthur Isaac said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arthur Isaac said...

The problem with guys like S1AL is they want to obfuscate on "my people" (not Jews surely) and the errors because they want to make the same errors. And then mock anyone who points out how far afield they've wandered. Burn heretic.

Aeoli Pera said...

Tin foil hat?

Never leave your Faraday-caged home without it.

S1AL said...

You really have no idea what you're nattering on about, do you?

Unknown said...

The jewsus freaks out in full force ...

Arthur Isaac said...

No substantive argument from the peanut gallery.

So far you've used the dictionary but not the Bible in a theological debate but I'm the one out of Mt depth?

S1AL said...

If you're incapable of understanding the connection between Jeremiah 2 and my original statement, then yes, you are very much out of your depth. I'll give you a hint: "moral framework".

S. Thermite said...

@ Arthur Isaac

Since astonishingly no one else has said it yet...

The train is fine

Were Moses, Job, David, Solomon, or any of the other OT teachers and prophets "Christian," seeing how they all pre-dated the birth of Christ? How about all the scribes that preserved the Torah until then? Were the Ten Commandments not taught by Jews before Christianity arrived? And would you be less butt-hurt if we called it Hebrew-Christian morality instead, it was the Apostle Paul mistaken when he wrote his epistle about the importance of the former to the latter?

S. Thermite said...

*OR was the Apostle Paul mistaken

Arthur Isaac said...

His people, the Jews, committed two evils. They refused to come to Him, the source of living Waters and they instead hewed for them cisterns that could hold no water. Yet you baldly refuse this. Not there isn't an argument.

As Stephen declared you do always resist the Holy Spirit (as do the Jews).

Arthur Isaac said...

And the fact that there are people that want to rebel against God is hardly a theory. That you mock the Gospel is no shock to our Lord.

S1AL said...

Oh, I didn't realize that you're ESL. Just keep on keeping on, then.

Arthur Isaac said...

Sir Thermite, you point out the remnant and try to carpet the world. The faithfulness of the people that gave us the Bible doesn't negate the fact that they were in the minority, that they spoke against the rebellious people and that most were killed for doing so.

This reaction is the Zionist, dispensationalist hijacking I was referring to. Churchianity has learned to whore from the mother of whores (Judah and Israel). Take up the definitions with God.

Arthur Isaac said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arthur Isaac said...

Judeo-Churchianity values.

Anonymous said...

Sir Thermite

Christianity is the successor religion of that of the Old Testament Israelites.

Judaism is built around the Talmud. It is not the same religion as that of the Old Testament. Their interpretations of Torah are subject to the Talmud.

dc.sunsets said...

@ aeoli, Exactly. I posit that 1000 years from now, long after the current West exists only in history books and after two to four civilizational rallies followed by brutal wars, China will be the successor of today's West because what survives will be Christian and biological change will be pervasive among the new peoples there.

East Asians have a higher mean IQ but their culture, a product of their deferential religions, holds them back. Christianity would loose the reins and let them run.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't put too much stock in China becoming Christian. First of all, there's no real proof that Christianity is that widespread in China. Secondly, whatever there is is almost entirely the watered-down pentecostal Churchian crap that's pervasive in the West and that's taking hold in Latin America and Africa.

Unknown said...

It should be of interest to note that feminism only arose in the West. The reason for this is because ancient Germanic barbarians actually respected their women. While men and women had different roles in their societies, they were viewed as equal in the eyes of their gods and of God when Christianity came to dominate Europe. An illustration of this is to go into medieval churches and note that when a king was interred, the tomb of his queen was an equal distance from the alter.

That women were respected in Western society is perhaps one reason why the women's "liberation" movement (if you can call it that) arose in the West and nowhere else. Many in the manosphere blame male supplication for the rise of feminism, but the roots go much deeper and are rooted in ancient Germanic customs.

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