Apologetics
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 60, No. 2 – Spring 2018
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
Edited by Jonathan Chaplin and Gary Wilton. New York: Routledge, 2016. xvi + 290 pages. Hardcover, $155.00.
The European Union can trace its roots to a time when the continent was war-torn, bankrupt, reeling from the wounds of mass genocide, and watching as the two great powers of the post-war world divvied up European territory as the spoils of war. The European peoples had tremendous motivation to create something new, a social order that would discourage conflict and enable the cooperative rebuilding of a shattered culture. It is impossible to look at Europe today, regardless of the observer’s position on the wisdom and desirability of European integration, and fail to recognize the remarkable successes of the member states in recovering from a devastating war and, for half of the continent, a generation of oppressive Soviet domination. The contributors to this volume trace the influence of the Christian faith on the formation and evolution of the European Union and describe the impact of the faith on several current issues facing the continent. The book could not be timelier, as Europeans are wrestling with their European and national identities in an era when the continent’s governments are facing the strain of a refugee crisis, Euroskepticism, and Islamic terrorism.
Part 1 of the volume begins with an examination of the deep religious convictions of Robert Schuman, the “Father of a United Europe,” and how his commitment to Catholic social teaching shaped his vision for integration. The following chapters flesh out a wider view of the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox perspectives and discuss the contributions of Christian theology in the realms of economics, social order, and European identity. Part 2 seeks to address the ways that the faith has impacted particular policies within the EU or ways that faith considerations could improve on these policies, including religious freedom, public faith, monetary policy, environmentalism, and science. The editors of this book are to be commended for honestly and effectively illuminating the ways in which the structure, process, and goals of European integration have been impacted by Christian thinking. Further, the volume is stronger for the contributors’ diversity of perspectives from within the Christian tradition.
While each chapter is strong and penned by contributors that are undoubtedly qualified to speak to the areas that they address, there are a few weaknesses. First, every contributor approaches the question of faith as if it is a force for good. There are those taking part in the conversation who would disagree. While the historical record is a matter of fact, a voice critical of faith in public life could have provided some contrast to this common assumption. Second, the contributors all live and work in EU member states in the north and west of Europe. The Orthodox perspective is explicitly addressed, and this necessarily brings with it an element of the cultural uniqueness of Eastern Europe, but the East contains those member states that have joined the EU most recently. Many of those states are still recovering economically, culturally, and spiritually from the years spent under Communism, which sought to replace Christian and other religious values with state-sponsored atheism. The perspective of those who were born and educated under such regimes, whose home countries currently suffer most from problems such as unemployment and brain-drain and whose governments can least afford many of the policy requirements relating to supranational regulations, is vital in any discussion involving the future of the European Union, especially when the moral implications of integration are at issue.
Notwithstanding this critique, God and the EU is an immensely helpful volume without a single weak article in the collection. This is not an introductory work, so those readers without some familiarity with the EU may not find it approachable in its entirety. For those in the fields of theology concerned with the role of religion in public life, this book is worth consideration. Americans too often fail to appreciate the significance of Europe in many different arenas, and American Christians often think of the continent as spiritually dead and well past its claim to be the center of the Christian world. While religion is and has been in steep decline in Europe, this book points out many ways in which principles derived from the faith have been used to guide and shape a social order, an issue about which all Christians would be well served to reflect.
