Hilaire Belloc

Europe and The Faith Hilaire Belloc

Europe and the Faith is Hilaire Belloc's work written in 1920 shortly after the end of World War I, in which he lost a son. Belloc examines the rise of Europe and the European peoples as children of the Catholic Church. He looks at the Fall of the Roman Empire, the survival of Classical Roman civilization through the Church as it Christianized and made the Empire anew as Christendom. In addition he looks at the causes for the Fall of Christendom and the Church, the need for a revival of the European peoples and the Church so that she and European man can fulfill his God-given mission. Belloc first notes that "Europe is the Church, and the Church is Europe" and then goes on to state that "Europe is the Faith, the Faith is Europe." Edited by Dr. William G. von Peters, he has added a Foreword and Afterword to help the reader understand Belloc's premises in light of our current age.