Can Christianity Save the West? Holland versus Starkey

British historian David Starkey, throws gauntlet at the feet of the Dominion thesis stans

The popular British classicist Tom Holland's book Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World explores what he sees as the profound and continuing impact of Christianity on Western civilization. His main argument is that many of the values and principles that are commonly considered both self-evident and secular today—such as human rights, equality, and the importance of caring for the poor—actually have deep roots in Christian teachings.

Holland starts by examining the ancient world, highlighting how radically different it was before Christianity. For example, the Roman Empire was built on values of power, conquest, and hierarchy, where the weak were disregarded or oppressed. In contrast, Christianity introduced the idea that every person has inherent worth, a revolutionary concept at the time.

One key aspect of Holland's thesis is that Christianity's influence has permeated various aspects of society over the centuries. Even as people have moved away from organized religion, the moral and ethical framework established by Christianity continues to shape our laws, politics, and cultural norms. For instance, the idea of universal human rights, which is a cornerstone of modern democratic societies, can be traced back to the Christian belief in the intrinsic value of every human being.

The book has sparked interest because it challenges a standard narrative that modern Western values are purely secular and separate from religious influence. Furthermore, in an increasingly secular and diverse society, Holland's thesis offers a salve to nervous citizens with a religious disposition who fret about the decline and supposed coming fall of the West. Many read his book and come away with a feeling that the success of the West belongs to Christianity and that a revival and restoration of that legacy can be the future unburdened by the secular hegemony that has been the present.

David Starkey, however, challenges the idea that Christianity is all that important to the political development of the West. Starkey is a British historian and television documentarian known for his work on the history of the British monarchy and his shockingly outspoken public persona that once saw him dubbed the rudest man in Britain. He specializes in Tudor history and is an expert in the evolution of the English constitution. In disagreeing with the thesis of Dominion in response to a question from Harrison Pitt, the senior editor of The European Conservative, about the importance of the spiritual outlook of Western political leaders, Starkey declares:

There is a current heresy and it seems appropriate to use a religious term, which is Tom Holland, which in his book Dominion which tries is to argue that the essential source of Western politics and Western values is Christianity. This seems to me to be self-evident nonsense. That for most of the history of the Church, the Church has been the institution which has been sustained and has advocated absolute monarchy including the papacy.

Starkey then spends the interview debating this point with Pitt. See below for what appears to be the next stage in the debate on what makes the West, the West.