Book excerpt

“The denial of Christ’s position in the affairs of mankind is a comparatively recent phenomenon: we may assign to the eighteenth century the beginning of that hostile movement against the supremacy of the Redeemer. The whole of the nineteenth century and after has been the glorification of a civilization that boasts its independence of Christ, its complete self-sufficiency; in no wise will it acknowledge indebtedness to the Son of God for any of its achievements. This almost universal self-sufficiency of the political world has become a grave temptation for believers themselves. So we find everywhere instances of the apologetic attitude of Christians, of the feeling of inferiority at least in sentiment and imagination, which takes many forms, from the speculative to the devotional.”

— from Dom Anscar Vonier, The Victory of Christ (Burns, Oates & Washbourne, Ltd., 1934)