End and Beginning: On the Generations of Cultures and the Origins of the West

514 Pages·1981·21.15 MB·English

by  Franz Borkenau, Richard Lowenthal (Ed.)

Franz Borkenciu
€ND fiND B€GINNING
On the Generations of Cultures ond the Origins of the West
Richard louuenthal, Cditor
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/endbeginningongeOOOObork

End and Beginning
European Perspectives
A Series of the Columbia University Press

End and Beginning
On the Generations of Cultures
and the Origins of the West
ii /i
Franz Borkenau
Edited with an Introduction by
Richard Lowenthal
New York Columbia University Press
fF«„1
J
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Borkenau, Franz, 1900-1957.
End and beginning:
(European perspectives)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Civilization, Occidental. 1. Lowenthal,
Richard, 1908- II. Title. III. Series
CB245.B66 909'.09821 81-1789
ISBN 0-231-05066-6 AACR2
ISBN 0-231-05067-4 (pbk.)
Columbia University Press
New York Guildford, Surrey
Copyright © 1981 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Cloth bound editions of Columbia University Press books are
Smyth-sewn and printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Contents
Preface vii
Editor’s Introduction 1
Part I. Culture Cycles and Culture Generations 31
1. Thinking Beyond Spengler 33
2. Toynbee and the Culture Cycle 47
3. The Antinomy of Death and the Culture
Generations 64
4. From Minoan to Greek Mythology 96
5. The Philosophical Background: Beyond Space
and Time 121
Part II. Contributions to the Origin of the West 131
Linguistic Prelude
1. The Rise of the I-Form of Speech 133
Germanic Mythology—a Mirror o f Cultural Change
2. The Mythical Starting Point (fragment] 202
3. Historic Layers in the Siegfried Saga 215
4. The Archetypes in the Siegfried Myth 238
5. The Gods of the Ancient Germans 255
The Emergence of Western Christianity
6. Pelagius, the Irish and the African Church 289
7. The Beginnings of Western Monasticism [fragment]
328
vi Contents
8. Boniface and the Anglo-Irish Impact on
the Frankish Churches 357
9. Rome’s Break with Byzantium as Shown
in Christian Painting 365
Confluence: End and Beginning
10. Primal Crime and “Social Paranoia” in the
Dark Ages 381
11. Stages on the Road to Western Civilization 392
12. Postscriptum: The Chanson de Roland 417
Part III. Reflections on Present and Future 435
1. After the Atom: Life out of Death or Life in Death?
[1947] 437
2. Will Technology Destroy Civilization? [1951] 449
3. Toynbee and the Future of the Jews [1955] 460
Appendix I: The Sources and Their Handling 471
Appendix II: Books by Franz Borkenau 475
Index 477