In re-reading one of my favorite histories of the turbulent 16th century (review forthcoming), I became struck at the stark similarities between the general state of Western Civilization in the early 16th century and today, and I view those similarities to be somewhat ominous. After all, the 16th century proved to shatter the unity of Western Christendom and lead to a destructive century of inflation and massive wars and rebellions as an oppressed populace struggled against its fate.

What was the fundamental problem of the 16th century? For one, morality in the society crumbled, as societal elites scorned morality, thought of monogamy as hopelessly passe, and cultivated depravity. If that sounds similar to the state of our own cultural elites today, that’s because it is. Then it was lyrical poets making odes to adultery, and now it is our singers and actors doing the same to any number of sins. Then it was Catholic priests and monks who were the most depraved, and not much has changed nowadays, though I suppose one could add those who start charities to prey on disadvantaged and fatherless children, with people like Jerry Sandusky as the pederast pied pipers of State College and other cities.

Just like in the 16th century there is a seething mood of discontent as pampered and privileged elites seem out of touch with the great mass of people who feel their opportunity denied and their standard of living decline while others profit from the corrupt largesse of governments. Such discontent has already, in several countries, led to an overthrow of governments and the establishment of deeply religiously conservative regimes. Don’t think that can’t happen elsewhere. The mood looks grim, and so far governments aren’t getting the memo that the days of the entitlement gravy train look to be over, and the train is looking to be derailed at any time. That’s a scary place to be for anyone.

In addition, this age (like the early 16th century) is an age that glories in its free-thinking, in its secular humanism, in the belief that God is dead. He wasn’t dead in the 16th century and He’s still not dead today, whatever may be thought by the corrupt intellectuals of that time and this one, who glory in their learning even as they prove themselves fools (see Psalms 14 and 53). In addition, there are antiquated and bogus scientific worldviews under deep threat that are being promoted by an insecure priesthood–the Ptolemeic system then, evolution now. The more things change in our intellectual fashions, the more they stay the same.

What made the 16th century so dangerous was that it was a time of crisis, when deep-seated problems rose to the surface, problems of authority, legitimacy, morality, and philosophy, and could no longer be dealt with by rational discourse but had to be dealt with by iron and blood, as arguments were settled in stacked courts, in imprisoned and massacred enemies and heretics, and in brutal civil wars. Those days look to be here again as our society appears to be mired in very deep and ugly crises for which there is no peaceful solution possible apart from surrender. And I’m not willing to go down without a fight, and from the looks of it no one else is either. And so we will fight, just like we did 500 years ago.

As human beings we like to think that we have progressed beyond the savagery of the past, but we are generally sadly mistaken. When we teach that men are mere monkeys, and that morality is obsolete, and that people are free to do whatever they imagine, without restriction, we invite the worst parts of our natures free reign. The consequences and repercussions of that can only be deeply tragic. Any time a society becomes mired in decadence and corruption, be it the 1500’s, or the ancien regime in the late 1700’s, or be it today, there will be a butcher’s bill to quickly follow. You have to pay the piper when you call the tune. I wish we would learn at some point, though, so that we could save ourselves much misery, but human beings are immensely slow learners, as a search through the melancholy course of human history is quick to make plain.