En bok som får fina ord tillägnad sig av Crisis Magazine är ”Before Church and State: A Study of Social Order in the Sacramental Kingdom of St. Louis IX, av Dr. Andrew Willard Jones, som beskriver en tidsepok vi gärna vill se som mörk och dyster, men som i själva verket var annorlunda och som vi med våra ideologiska glasögon, post-upplysningen, har svårt att förstå.
”Dr. Jones is far from idealizing the medieval past, but he does present a vision of Christendom beyond the oversimplified charts that box in our vision. We get a glimpse of the real Christian order. When properly understood, this Christian order is very appealing and refreshing.”
Detta stycke fattade mitt intresse:
”Networks of consilium et auxilium brought together individual ‘rights and obligations, powers and uses,’ into a single ‘organism,’ by forging personal, reciprocal relationships similar to that of kin and true friends. To grant someone consilium et auxilium meant to freely bind oneself to help another, to make another’s interest one’s own. These networks, when activated, were able to mobilize immense material and social resources. They operated inside the peace and respected the rights and duties that sustained it.”
Kultur & Religion 