About the Book
This book is a learned essay at the intersection of politics, philosophy, and religion. It is first and foremost a diagnosis and critique of the secular religion of our time, humanitarianism, or the "religion of humanity." It argues that the humanitarian impulse to regard modern man as the measure of all things has begun to corrupt Christianity itself, reducing it to an inordinate concern for "social justice," radical political change, and an increasingly fanatical egalitarianism. Christianity thus loses its transcendental reference points at the same time that it undermines balanced political judgment. Humanitarians, secular or religious, confuse peace with pacifism, equitable social arrangements with socialism, and moral judgment with utopianism and sentimentality. With a foreword by the distinguished political philosopher Pierre Manent, Mahoney's book follows Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in affirming that Christianity is in no way reducible to a "humanitarian moral message." In a pungent if respectful analysis, it demonstrates that Pope Francis has increasingly confused the Gospel with left-wing humanitarianism and egalitarianism that owes little to classical or Christian wisdom. It takes its bearings from a series of thinkers (Orestes Brownson, Aurel Kolnai, Vladimir Soloviev, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) who have been instructive critics of the "religion of humanity." These thinkers were men of peace who rejected ideological pacifism and never confused Christianity with unthinking sentimentality. The book ends by affirming the power of reason, informed by revealed faith, to provide a humanizing alternative to utopian illusions and nihilistic despair.
About the Author :
Daniel J. Mahoney holds the Augustine Chair in Distinguished Scholarship at Assumption College, where he has taught since 1986. He is a specialist in French political philosophy, anti-totalitarian thought, and the intersection of religion and politics. His books include The Liberal Political Science of Raymond Aron (1992), De Gaulle: Statesmanship, Grandeur, and Modern Democracy (1996), The Conservative Foundations of the Liberal Order (2010), and The Other Solzhenitsyn: Telling the Truth about a Misunderstood Writer and Thinker (2014). He is executive editor of Perspectives on Political Science and book review editor of Society. In 1999, he was awarded the Prix Raymond Aron.
Review :
“Written with passion and clarity, The Idol of Our Age identifies the false moralism that threatens to shipwreck the West. Not satisfied to lament, Mahoney rouses us to defend our political heritage rooted in reason and truth.”
—R. R. Reno, editor of First Things
“Daniel Mahoney is one of those true intellectuals whose wide reading feeds into and is fed by his experience of life. The world he lives in is a world illuminated by books, and one in which books are also put to the test. Few writers today are so aware of the pervasive influence of ideas, especially among those who have no ability to grasp them. In this study of the religion of humanity, propagated by Auguste Comte, but now the source of a thousand escape-routes from the burden of responsible existence, Mahoney shows the great damage done by forgetting that man is made in God’s image. His devastating criticisms of the self-congratulatory sentimentalism of Pope Francis are backed up with refined studies of thinkers who today are unjustly neglected, partly because they saw what is at stake in the religion of humanity: the American Catholic convert Orestes Brownson, the Russian social thinker Vladimir Soloviev, and the Hungarian phenomenologist Aurel Kolnai—all three of them at odds with the humanism of their day. Those thinkers do not agree about the alternative to humanitarian ways of thinking, but, as Mahoney shows, they are united in their belief that being human consists in the search for something higher than the human. I recommend this book to all who share that belief, and who want to know exactly why it should be adhered to.”
—Roger Scruton, writer and philosopher
“With rare clarity, The Idol of Our Age exposes the degree to which a post-political, post-Christian humanism has acquired quasi-religious status in contemporary Western societies to the detriment of authentic political life. Like a Paul Revere of the spirit, Daniel Mahoney sounds an alarm that should be heeded by all who are concerned about maintaining the indispensable cultural conditions for common life in a decent polity.”
—Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University
“Christ said: ‘Ye are the salt of the Earth, love your enemies.’ The new humanitarian religion says: ‘Ye should be the sugar of the Earth, you have no enemies.’ This spiritual diabetes affects Christians, too, and deprives them of any possibility of action. The new idol is all the more dangerous that it apes Christian charity and tries to replace it. As a diagnosis, and proposal of a cure, Dr. Mahoney draws upon the insights of Orestes Brownson and the great Russians Soloviev and Solzhenitsyn, as well as the little-known Hungarian Aurel Kolnai. By unmasking the ‘Religion of Humanity’ as the soft version of the old enemy of mankind, Dr. Mahoney gives us a precious help for us to exorcize it.”
—Rémi Brague, professor emeritus of philosophy, University of Paris, University of Munich
