The Historiography of a Civilization's Implosion and Decay
~When Nations Die: Ten Warning Signs of a Culture in Crisis~ is an historical journey which manifests the perils of a culture in collapse. George Satayana once said, "Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them." Nelson has sketched a succinct historical sketch, drawing from the reservoir of historical experience to unravel the mysterious fate of nations throughout human history. It's findings are not surprising. He builds on the foundations of conservative Russell Kirk, in _The Roots of American Order_. Kirk posited that the roots of "culture" come from the "cult." In other words, culture (cult-ure) is based upon some form of religious or spiritual worldview. In the West, the prevailing religious worldview has been Christianity, since its advent two-thousand years ago. When the traditional beliefs of a nation decay, the nation gradually dies. "In ancient Greece, the first symptoms of disorder were a general loss of respect for tradition and the degradation of the young. Among the early symptoms was the decline of art and entertainment. The philosophers and pundits distorted the medium of communication. Rhetoric became combative and intolerant; intellectuals began to deride and attack all the traditional institutions of Hellenic society."
Jim Nelson Black sees ominous parallels to our own country. He says, "As I have looked back across the ruins and landmarks of antiquity, I have been stunned by the parallels between those societies and our own. For most of us the destruction of Carthage, the rise of the Greek city-states, and the Fall of Rome are mere ghosts of the past, history lessons long forgotten. And such things as the capture of Constantinople, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the collapse of the kingdoms of France and Spain, and the slow withering decline of the British Empire are much less clear and less memorable. Most of us do not remember much from our history lessons about the French Enlightenment or, for that matter, the issues that led to the American Revolution. But this is the legitimate background of our own place in history, it is vital that we reconsider the nature of life in those earlier times. For within those eras and movements are the seeds of the troubles we face today." Can anyone doubt that America is not treading down the same path of the Romans?
"Rome itself fell prey to the very lawlessness that it had exploited in conquering so many other nations. In the latter days of the Roman Empire, the law had little effect. Even the imposition of tyranny in the last years could not stop the collapse of law and order. When the Roman peace was no longer possible, the nation fell. The Dark ages, which spread over Europe for the next thousand years, was the result of the loss of order and balance in the world. No single nation and no empire could offer any transcendent system of authority. Only the Christian church was positioned to give meaning and purpose to the lives of the people."
--Jim Nelson Black, When Nations Die, p. 38
When nations die, and that they do, we see certain recurring patterns:
"Among the social symptoms we should recognize are a general increase in lawlessness throughout the culture; the loss of economic discipline and self-restraint; rising bureaucracy, government regulation, and taxes; and a decline in the quality and relevance of education. Among cultural factors, we see a weakening of the foundational principles that contributed to the greatness of the nation, a loss of respect for established religions, and an increase in materialism. Important spiritual indicators include a rise in immorality, the lure of alien gods, and a decline in the value of human life. These two symptoms of cultural dysfunction are unmistakable signs of decay that may be discovered in great societies from antiquity to the present--symptoms that, in sufficient combination, indicate the impending demise of any culture."
--Jim Nelson Black, When Nations Die, p. xviii
"It appears to me that our culture labors in an advanced state of decadence; that what many people mistake for the triumph of our civilization actually consists of powers that are disintegrating our culture; that the vaunted 'democratic freedom' of liberal society in reality is servitude to appetites and illusions which attack religious belief; which destroy community through excessive centralization and urbanization; which efface life-giving tradition and custom."
--Russell Kirk
I'm glad the author's not my university professor
The dust jacket states that the author teaches at the "university level". If so, he should know that in 146 B.C. Rome was still a republic, not an empire. I stopped reading at page 36 where he stated that Rome was an empire at that time. As the Romans might have said: "falsus in unius, falsus in omnibus."
An attempt to sell this book
I read the other reviews and am pleased with them. I read Jim's book and am pleased with it. I only add a log on the fire for potential customers...buy it. It is simple to read, clear, and Jim has done his homework. The bibliography at the end of the book is worth the purchase alone. Jim covers the distinctives of moral, social, and theological collapse. Thanks Jim, working the bibliography beyond your fine work. (By the way, I always use first names, never last and never titles, including John at the Vatican. I call Jesus Jesus, I call John John. As Augustine said, "Humility, humility, humility".)
An eye-opener!
This book accurately documents the sad state that this nation (USA) is in. It is almost depressing to see where we've fallen from. It is a clarion call for Christians in America to wake up and strive for faithfulness, before God sets us on the shelf completely.When reading this book, it is interesting (and scary!) to compare our present state with that of other nations that have fallen throughout history. Rome comes immediately to mind. We are on the downward slope, picking up speed.
Is it too late for America?
"When Nations Die" proclaims the obvious. America is currently on the wrong track and many indications suggest that we are careening out of control headed for a crash. Some will dismiss this scholarly book as "right-wing fanaticism," but common sense demands that we look a little deeper. Why have so many great empires collapsed throughout history? Is it just a coincidence that several traits existed in every mighty nation that took a fall? When Pope John Paul speaks of our current "Culture of Death," he could just as easily reference the latter stages of the Roman Empire or the heydays of Carthage. When many complain of the excesses of big government with its rapacious taxation policies, they could apply that charge to most of the other chronicled nation states. In ancient civilizations the evil practice of sacrificing newborns to the gods was commonplace, and today in America inconvenient babies are killed in their mother's wombs with the government's imprimatur.
Even less obvious example abound. The popular diversity and multiculturalism fads annoy most of us, but too often we dismiss them as silly diversions rather than look to the perils they truly pose. In every once great nation laid low, there were forces working to create class wars and split people apart based on artificial considerations similar to our current "group rights" campaigns. The breakdown of the family, which goes hand-in hand with sexual licentiousness, is equally indicative of past imploded civilizations. Nero's impudent concupiscence could compete with Bill Clinton's any day.
While all decent people in our era are appalled at Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" and much of the other gory garbage ejaculated by Hollywood's poison factories, ancient Rome regularly fed Christians to the lions in front of hordes of howling spectators. (Fortunately, Tinsel Town's tiny brain cells haven't figured out how to get away with that yet.) We currently have prime-time sitcoms populated by sex-crazed sybarites; they had public orgies like the one depicted and vociferously defended by Hollywood's legion of janissaries in "Eyes Wide Shut."
I do have two minor criticism of this work. At times I felt it could have been better organized; in a few cases topics seem to weave in and out. Secondly, I think this version's appendix is incomplete because its abrupt end leaves the reader hanging.
Still, it a badly needed wake-up call. Jim Nelson Black agrees that there is still time for America to turn back from its dangerous course, but as Americans we must all decide if that is what we truly want.
I read this book a few months ago and wrote the above review which for some reason never accepted when I tried downloading it. Since that time we have seen the government of a so-call liberal president have federal forces execute a nazi-caliber raid and kidnap a small child from innocent U.S. citizens. Sadly it may be time to add America's name to the list of nations that have died.
(7 reviews)
