A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World

A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World, by Carl Anderson, HarperOne, 2009.

 

Carl Anderson serves as the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, and his book reflects his deep concern for Catholicism and its role in the public sphere. A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World is an overview of various aspects of contemporary culture; as well as a call to action for the faithful to find some way to make their world a better place.

 

The book takes its title from the works of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who claim that if the societal, intellectual, and spiritual malaises affecting the world are to be confronted and rectified, the best tool to solve these problems is love.  There is no thorough, all-encompassing plan to reform all of society and government in this book, but Anderson’s advice is simple.  Fixing the world must start with individuals making a conscious effort to love. Unlike many “self-help” books that seek to make readers improve themselves for their own fulfillment, A Civilization of Love asks its readers to improve themselves for the sake of everyone around them.

 

A Civilization of Love is in the same vein as many other Catholic call-to-action books, such as Fr. James Keller’s You Can Change the World.  Much of what is said in this book has been put forward in numerous other works that call for faithful Christians to engage and challenge the culture, but that does not mean that this book is redundant.  This book is separated from similar works due to its unshakeable sense of optimism.  Many other writers, when approaching subjects such as government corruption, the unsettling effects of secularization gone mad in Europe, and widespread apathy towards social decay; lapse into a “the end is near” mentality that depresses rather than inspires.  Anderson certainly isn’t fueled by Pollyanna-like levels of optimism.  He realizes that the world is plagued by daunting, even despair-inducing problems.  Nevertheless, giving up hope should never be an option, and the best way to repel despair is to take personal action in the right direction.  In the words of Socrates, “Let him that would move the world first move himself.”

 

One of the more intriguing features of this book consists of the questions that Anderson includes at the end of each chapter.  These allow the book to serve as a spiritual exercise as well as an informational and instructional resource.  After reading each chapter, readers need to ask themselves hard questions.  For example, at one point Anderson asks his readers to think of a time when they have not treated someone else with as much love and respect as that person deserves, and ask why that happened and what one might do in order to prevent that from happening again.  In another case, the reader is asked to think of a person he dislikes, and attempt to explain the reasons for that loathing and how these feelings affect his behavior.

 

It’s very easy to simply skim through these questions, or just give perfunctory or even dishonest answers to them.  This is a fairly short book, but if one is going to reap the full benefits from it, one should spend as much time mulling over the five or six questions at the end of each chapter as one does reading the chapter itself.  There isn’t too much in this book that a reader who is fairly well-read in recent history and Church current events doesn’t already know, but added attention to the spiritual exercises in this book will allow this commonplace information to take on new and intriguing relevance.

 

Some chapters give short thrift to subjects that really need more space in order to better address the intriguing ideas and implications they provoke.  In one titled “A Dignity That Brings Demands,” Anderson discusses the enduring legacy of two of the Nobel Prizewinners for 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre (Literature) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Peace).  These two very different men and their worldviews are both presented as challenges to the Catholic worldview, Sartre for his atheistic existentialist philosophy, and King for his use of American Protestantism as a means of social change.

 

Anderson speaks highly of both Sartre and King, which is surprising in the former case.  Anderson may conceivably be impressed by Sartre’s literary skills while being far less receptive to his intellectual worldview– it’s certainly possible to admire a gift for writing while disliking the message behind the words.  Nevertheless, the deeper implications of Sartre’s work and their pernicious (from a Catholic perspective) effect on academia and broader society and culture are largely ignored here.  Sartre is presented merely as highly intelligent man whose worldview diverges sharply from traditional Catholicism.  If Anderson wanted to provide a more thorough presentation of what the faithful need to do in order to build a more loving civilization, a fuller critique of Sartre’s philosophy and fiction needs to be presented.  (For a more in-depth criticism of Sartre’s legacy and its attacks on Christian culture, check out the essay on Sartre in Architects of the Culture of Death, by Donald DeMarco and Benjamin D. Wiker.)

 

Despite the religious differences between Anderson and King, the former’s deep respect and admiration for the latter is easy to understand.  One particularly thorny question lies in Anderson’s contention that the blend of King’s Protestantism and social justice campaigning really poses a challenge for Catholic culture.  There are plenty of Catholic activists who have similarly campaigned against social ills, and further exposition is necessary in order to see if there really is any validity to the argument that Protestant social justice movements really challenge Catholic ones, or if they simply give a slightly different theological basis to moral motivation.

 

Most of the other chapters take various issues, subjects, and situations; posit on the problems facing humanity at length, and then suggest paths for improvement.  Injustices in the law, causes of suffering, and projections for the future fill the book; and they are coupled with various Catholic responses and attitudes for how to deal with such unpleasant subjects.

 

Probably the most inspirational portion of this book comes from its presentation of ordinary individuals who noticed problems and decided to take a shot at fixing them.  In today’s culture, good deeds only seem to get recognized when multimillionaire celebrities donate a hefty check or a good photo opportunity’s worth of volunteerism.  Anderson cites a handful of examples, such as a couple who take in young unwed mothers, and another family who mortgaged their home in order to fund an organization that digs much-needed wells in order to provide water to drought-plagued farmers in Central America.  These do-gooders have helped dozens of people, but they receive no widespread recognition or acclaim, nor do they seem to want it.  The examples in this book hint that doing God’s work often comes at a personal cost.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta abandoned her comfortable job at a school in order to care for the sick and destitute.  An unstated moral is that doing really good work is generally not pretty or glamorous, and rarely brings about any widespread recognition.  It does, however provoke much less tangible rewards.  After all, people need to realize that things aren’t always about them.

 

This book, read thoughtfully, intelligently, and honesty, may be used as guide for gauging one’s moral behavior.   Those who are disinclined to concur with Catholic social teachings and doctrines are less likely to be swayed by Anderson’s rhetoric, but if one is willing to consider Anderson’s blueprints for a better tomorrow, A Civilization of Love might prove to be a useful tool for helping readers understand their own natures better, the problems they face, and what needs to be done in order to improve oneself and the wider world.

 

–Chris Chan