DOMINION
The Making of the Western Mind
By Tom Holland
Little Brown. 594 pages. £16.99
ISBN 978 1 408 706 954
We had a written note through our letterbox from the young woman who lives next door. She was kindly offering that, in this time of Coronavirus, if we needed anything we should contact her and she gave us her mobile number. She is a one-parent family with a lot on her plate, but nevertheless was reaching out to us. It was really sweet of her.
Why is such caring in the British psyche? Some would say it’s just the better side of human nature. But the historian Tom Holland questions that in his latest book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind. He would say it has much more to do with the pervasive influence of Christianity.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …