Return of the Strong Gods, R.R. Reno
Return of the Strong Gods, R.R. Reno
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Return of the Strong Gods
Nationalism, Populism, and the Future of the West

Author: R.R. Reno

Narrator: Rick Adamson

Unabridged: 7 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/29/2020


Synopsis

After the staggering slaughter of back-to-back world wars, the West embraced the ideal of the "open society." The promise: By liberating ourselves from the old attachments to nation, clan, and religion that had fueled centuries of violence, we could build a prosperous world without borders, freed from dogmas and managed by experts.

But the populism and nationalism that are upending politics in America and Europe are a sign that after three generations, the postwar consensus is breaking down. With compelling insight, R. R. Reno argues that we are witnessing the return of the "strong gods"—the powerful loyalties that bind men to their homeland and to one another.

Reacting to the calamitous first half of the twentieth century, our political, cultural, and financial elites promoted open borders, open markets, and open minds. But this never-ending project of openness has hardened into a set of anti-dogmatic dogmas which destroy the social solidarity rooted in family, faith, and nation. While they worry about the return of fascism, our societies are dissolving.


About R.R. Reno

R. R. Reno, the editor of First Things, a journal of religion and public life, serves on the board of advisers of the Edmund Burke Foundation, the sponsor or the 2019 National Conservatism Conference. After earning his doctorate in religious studies from Yale, he taught theology at Creighton University for twenty years. His books include Genesis: A Theological Commentary, Fighting the Noonday Devil, and Resurrecting the Idea of a Christian Society. He lives with his wife in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Murtaza on December 25, 2021

The early-20th century is a nightmare from which Europe and the United States have never fully recovered. Immediately after World War II, to stall away nightmares of death camps and nuclear bombs, a programmatic effort was undertaken by sociologists and economists to disenchant the West of its stron......more

Goodreads review by Alan on August 09, 2020

This one was a bit of a chore. Thank God it was short, 166 pages; it felt longer. The first two thirds of the book were particularly weighty and rather dry. I do, though, feel it is an extremely well argued and important work of political philosophy and sociology by one of the most intelligent autho......more

Goodreads review by Pavol on November 03, 2024

A far-right intellectual tries to diagnose the fault of liberalism, fails. He is obsessed with the harmful effects of openness, "weakening", and disenchantment that liberal consensus allegedly brought after WW2. His language betrays fascist fears straight out of Littell (and Theleweit) - "weakenings......more

Goodreads review by Ben on January 18, 2025

Very good!......more

Goodreads review by Dan on March 14, 2025

R.R. Reno’s Return of the Strong Gods: Nationalism, Populism, and the Future of the West (2019) is a forceful critique of the postwar liberal consensus that, in his view, has left the Western world adrift. Reno argues that after the devastation of World War II, Western elites embraced an ideology of......more