The Year of Our Lord 1943

Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis

By: Alan Jacobs

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear the Allies would win the Second World War. Around the same time, it also became increasingly clear to many Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. A war won by technological superiority merely laid the groundwork for a post-war society governed by technocrats. 

These Christian intellectuals - Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others - sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world.  

In this audiobook, Alan Jacobs explores the poems, novels, essays, reviews, and lectures of these five central figures, in which they presented, with great imaginative energy and force, pictures of the very different paths now set before the Western democracies. 

The Year of Our Lord 1943 is the first audiobook to weave together the ideas of these five intellectuals and shows why, in a time of unprecedented total war, they all thought it vital to restore Christianity to a leading role in the renewal of the Western democracies.

©2018 Alan Jacobs (P)2018 HighBridge Company

Incisive and Timely

There are of course many accounts and perspectives on what ails our contemporary society. The one thing all seem to have in common is the view there is, in fact, something that ‘ails’ our society. Like many, I have my favorite explainers that salve my soul helping me make sense of the moment. Knowledge is power, right? Maybe. Or perhaps “understanding” only gets us so far. Jacobs’ account of Lewis, Weil, Maratain, Auden and Eliot and the striking ways their ideas converged in and around 1943, shows extraordinary intellects at the height of their exploratory power—and shows the limits of such explanation and vision. His (Jacobs’) views on all of them is unquestionably positive, but he also demonstrates effectively what they could not see in their diagnoses and proscriptions for the modern world. They all envisioned a new world post-wwII that would also see new horizons in Christian humanism. Jacobs expertly shows their genius, foresight and blind spots. The book is not cynical, but rather incisive about how their grappling with their moment is so illuminating for our own moment. He wraps up the book in masterly fashion with a brief meditation on the prophetic (my words, not his) Jacques Ellul and his situating of Christianity in the modern world. The last fifteen minutes of the book are so remarkable that they alone are worth the price of the book.
I read a decent bit in this genre (Christian social analysis?) and have found this book to be a surprisingly standout amongst the myriad others. 5/5.

Details

I love learning about the historical figures that I know affected the world we live in

Good book. Want a human reader though

I think the book is good and well-written, but did not enjoy the very obviously non-human "reader" - the reading was often halting and added unusual and unnecessary pauses, emphases, and pronunciations that were pretty much continuous throughout the reading and made it difficult to follow the authors point and therefore frustrating to listen to. Please pay a real human being to read this book.

Alan Jacob Does It Again

This important subject - Christian Humanism and its impact on culture - is surprisingly interesting. And Jacobs performed his literary-historical research and presentation without any back-shadowing whatsoever. The number of critical scholars that he engages and their works is impressive all by itself. He has performed an admirable service for education and culture alike.

Needed Now More than Ever

Excellent examination of the key figures and ideas. Shockingly and scarily relevant to today’s intellectual task.