Publication Date
Spring 2011
School
Helms School of Government
Major
Government: International Studies
Primary Subject Area
Political Science, General
Keywords
Liberty, Freedom, Western civilization, Judeo-Christian heritage, Christianity, Spiritual Crisis, Pitirim Sorokin, Sensate culture, Self-government, Private property, Limited government, Representative government
Disciplines
Political History | Political Theory | Politics and Social Change
Recommended Citation
Shin, Jin Seock, "The West's Feet of Clay: Transmuting the Pillars of Liberty from Gold into Dross" (2011). Senior Honors Theses. 214.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/214
Abstract
This study seeks to support the centrality of the Judeo-Christian heritage to the growth and sustenance of liberty, a form of individualism limited by moral values. The pillars of liberty—self-government, private property, representative government, and limited government—reflect the structural contributions made by the Judeo-Christian heritage. Unfortunately, much of Western civilization suffers from a spiritual crisis, which has introduced and exacerbated fractures in the pillars. Pitirim Sorokin’s social and cultural analysis of Western civilization provides a framework to better understand the fractures evident in the history of liberty in Europe and America, and developed in each pillar of liberty—fractures that reaffirm liberty’s dependency upon the Judeo-Christian heritage.
