Introduction to Etienne Gilson, The Terrors of the Year Two Thousand

Etienne Gilson (ReCONSIDERATIONS Historical (and often neglected) texts in the Catholic intellectual tradition with contemporary comment and reflection Armand A. Maurer, C. S. B. Introduction to Etienne Gilson. The Terrors of the Year Two Thousand The essay you are about to read is unique among the works of Etienne Gilson. His official bibliography lists some 830 monographs and articles.' As you read through its pages you become aware ofthe wide range oftopics on which Gilson has written.You will find very many works on philosophy and its history from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. There are also writings on theology, history, literature, language, evolution, politics, war and peace, journalism, mysticism, morals, art, and music.The essay on TheTerrors ofthe Year Two Thousand does not fit neatly into any of these classifications. It stands alone as written in the literary genre ofprophecy. LOGOS 2-.1 WINTER 2ooo 14LOGOS Written shortly afterWorldWar II and first published in 1 949,2 Gilson looks back on the terrifying events ofthe first halfofdie century : the brutal wars that ravaged Europe and Asia, the extermination of countless millions of innocent people by the Nazis and Marxists, the spectacular achievements of science with their potential for human disasters, the rise ofatheism and materialism with the overturning of traditional and Christian values. He recalls that the medieval monk, Raoul Glaber, reported wars, famine, and pestilence preceding the last years ofthe first century, and the panic among the people in expectation ofthe end ofthe world.Whatever truth there may be in this account, Gilson assures us that he can recount far more terrifying events as die world approaches its second millennium , foreboding even more dreadful disasters. The reader ofthe present essay cannot fail to note a new tone in Gilson's voice. We are used to the calm, clear, and measured statements in his odier works. These qualities are not lacking here, but now it is as though the terrors he is describing and forecasting heighten the pitch ofhis voice and give it an urgency not found in his other works. What he is describing is so utterly frightening that he cannot write without a note of fear and dismay, as he contemplates the terrors besetting a world that is now moving to its third millennium. When we read the prophets of Israel we encounter a similar voice of dread and destruction, of fear and alarm. The prophets forecasted and described the eventual devastation of Israel by its enemies, the slaughter and exile ofits people, and the leveling ofits temple. All these terrors came upon the people because they had broken the covenant withYahweh and worshiped false gods on the high places.They prostituted themselves by turning away from the true God of their ancestors. But despite these calamities, the prophets never lost confidence thatYahweh was still with them and that he would (in the words of the prophet Baruch) "bring you everlasting joy with your salvation" (Bar. 4:27—29). Amos, the INTRODUCTION TO ETIENNE GILSON prophet ofdarkness and doom, spoke his last words ofsalvation and not destruction (Amos 9:11—14). But it was the great prophet Isaiah who foretold the source of that salvation, when he declared that"a child is born to us, and a son is given to us" (Isa. 9:6). Gilson remains in this prophetic tradition when, after reporting the disasters ofthe twentieth century and linking them to the abandonment ofreason and God, he finds hope for the coming millennium in the knowledge that "a Saviour is born to us," and in "the promise of peace which rang out, nearly two thousand years ago, in the skies of Bethlehem." The prophets of Israel were mainly concerned about their own nation, a tiny people on the globe, though especially beloved by God. Gilson's perspective is the entire world in the twentieth century , ravaged by war and inhumanity on an unprecedented scale. He sees even science, the greatest boast of the century, despite its precious gifts to humankind, posing dire threats for the entire globe. More calamitous still are the assaults on the mind, our most cherished possession. No longer tuned to truth, but freed to destroy the past and to...