Revolution, Counter-Revolution, and Christianity

CR101 Radio - Podcast Network · Aug 5, 2025 · 11m

The French Revolution, beginning in 1789, marked a violent rejection of Christianity and traditional order, ushering in the Reign of Terror and a lasting faith in revolution through bloodshed. While the subsequent counterrevolution sought to restore the old order, it failed because it lacked a living Christian faith—offering only the form of godliness, not its power. Thinkers like Emerson and Carlyle abandoned orthodox Christianity, replacing God with man and history, while conservatism and revolution alike became humanistic and anti-Christian. Churches, often infused with humanism…