John Carroll

Humanism built Western civilisation as we know it today. Its achievements include the liberation of the individual, democracy, universal rights, and widespread prosperity and comfort. Its ambassadors are the heroes of modern culture: Erasmus, Holbein, Shakespeare, Velázquez, Descartes, Kant, and Freud. Those who sought to contain humanism’s pride within a frame of higher truth—Luther, Calvin, Poussin, Kierkegaard—could barely interrupt its...

Jesus is the man who made the West. What kind of man was he? Is he relevant to a modern world shaken by crises of meaning? The churches have mainly projected him as Jesus the carer and comforter, Jesus meek and mild, friend of the weak. This is Jesus the Good Shepherd, who preaches on sin and forgiveness. He is...

Greek Pilgrimage: In Search of the Foundations of the West is a meditation on classical Greece, journeying through its great sites, monuments, and cultural works. On the way, it examines the country's pivotal role in the foundation of the modern world. We who are born into the West are all Greeks. Here lie our roots. The ancient Greeks invite us...