Western Civ's Report Card (It's not pretty...)
I just finished another Scott Hahn masterpiece... First Comes Love. Phenomenal book. A fresh new look at The Fall of man and God's plan for the "new Adam" (i.e., the Christ) to make things right.
I wanted to share a subsection of Chapter 2 entitled "Model Homes." You don't have to follow the news too closely to realize family values are under attack in an unprecedented fashion. It's always good to take a step back and look at the big picture. This section sent a little shiver down my spine.
Social scientists have developed many models for understanding this family arrangement. The one I've found most useful is that of Carle C. Zimmerman of Harvard University, who spoke of ancient families as "trustee families."
In his monumental work Family and Civilization , Zimmerman explained: "The trustee family is so named because it more or less considers itself as immortal, existing in perpetuity, and never being extinguished. As a result, the living members are not the family, but merely 'trustees' of its blood, rights, property, name, and position for their lifetime."
The trustee family envisions the family primarily in religious terms. It's not the nuclear family, or even the extended family, but all the members of the family in the past and the future as well as in the present generation. A sacred bond unities members in the present generation with the ancestors who gave them life; the same bond unites them with their future descendants, who will perpetuate the family name, honor, and worship.
This is hardly what most folks today mean when they speak of the family. Modern households tend to fall under Zimmerman's categories of the "domestic family" or the "atomistic family." The domestic family describes a household based on the marital bond: husband, wife, and their children. In such an arrangement, family members emphasize individual rights along with family duties. In atomistic families, however, individual rights are exalted far above family bonds, and the family itself exists for the sake of the individual's pleasure.
Hahn goes on to outline Zimmerman's differences between these three historical stages of the family:
Trustee-Family Societies
1. Family is a mystical reality.
2. Marriage is a sacred covenant.
3. Children considered a blessing from "the gods."
4. Father is "the patriarch, priest-king who must serve his ancestors as well as his offspring."
5. Sexual immorality is a criminal act.
Domestic-Family Societies
1. Family is a moral tradition.
2. Marriage is a contract.
3. Children are indispensable economic agents.
4. Father is "the authoritarian chief executive of society's fundamental economic unit."
5. Sexual immorality is an individual sin.
Atomistic-Family Societies
1. Family is a cocoon, out of which you escape.
2. Marriage is a convenient means of companionship.
3. Children are an "economic liability, an expense, and an obstacle to personal fulfillment."
4. Father is "a pathetic figure who must be left behind in order for an individual to grow."
5. Sexual immorality is "a private matter, a choice, an alternative lifestyle."
Hahn concludes:
Zimmerman points out that only societies based on the trustee family have been able to rise to the level of civilizations. Yet none of these societies were able to maintain the trustee arrangement forever. At some point in the history of every civilization, its people begin to live according to the domestic-family model. The period of domestic-family dominance, though, is usually short-lived, a transitional phase before the atomistic family takes place. When the atomistic family becomes a society's dominant model, then family duties are widely viewed as impediments to individual fulfillment. The atomistic family - marked by widespread divorce, unrestrained sexual activity, and population decline - usually signifies a civilization in its ultimate decline.
So. Let's see. Contemporary Western Civ:
Marriage = convenient companionship? Check.
Children = liability? Check.
Father = pathetic figure? Check. (See Homer Simpson and every other doofus father on TV.)
Widespread divorce? Check.
Unrestrained sexual activity/alternative lifestyles? Check. Check.
Population decline? Check.
Yikes.
My friend Greg is trying to get me to focus more on hope, so I'll highlight the word usually... "usually signifies a civilization in its ultimate decline."
What I want to know from Prof. Zimmerman is this: Are there any examples of atomistic-family societies that woke up in time to reverse the trend?
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