My picture of man is fashioned by the spiritual heritage of classical and Christian tradition. I see in man the likeness of God; I am profoundly convinced that it is an appalling sin to reduce man to a means (even in the name of high-sounding phrases) and that each man’s soul is something unique, irreplaceable, priceless, in comparison with which all other things are as naught. I am attached to a humanism which is rooted in these convictions and which regards man as the child and image of God, but not as God himself, to be idolized as he is by the hubris of a false and atheist humanism. These, I believe, are the reasons why I so greatly distrust all forms of collectivism.

Now nothing is more detrimental to a sound general order appropriate to human nature than two things: mass and concentration. Individual responsibility and independence in proper balance with the community, neighborly spirit, and true civic sense — all of these presuppose that the communities in which we live do not exceed the human scale…. There is no doubt that what… sounded to many people like fruitless nostalgia for a lost paradise is today a lone voice competing, without hope, against a hurricane.

…Thus we are led to a political view whose conservative ingredients are plainly recognizable in our predilection for natural law, tradition, corps intermédiaires, federalism, and other defenses against the flood of modern mass democracy. We should harbor no illusions about the fateful road which leads from the Jacobinism of the French Revolution to modern totalitarianism.

… Surely, noone who is at all honest with himself can fail to be struck by the shocking dechristianization and secularization of our culture. We may try to seek comfort in remembering that this is not the first time Christianity has ceased to be a living force. As long ago as the eighteenth century, it looked, mainly in France but to some extent also in England, as if the Christian tradition and Christian faith had irretrievably lost their hold…. Although, in contrast to the situation in the eighteenth century, a minority takes its faith more seriously than ever and gathers around the equally steadfast churches, the dominating and prevailing opinion is completely atheistic. And since men obviously cannot live in a religious vacuum, they cling to surrogate religions of all kinds, to political passions, ideologies, and pipe dreams — unless, of course, they prefer to drug themselves with the sheer mechanics of producing and consuming, with sport and betting, with sexuality, with rowdiness and crime and the thousand other things which fill our daily papers.

These passages are taken from the first chapter of A Humane Economy, by Wilhelm Röpke.  I received it yesterday and have only read through the first chapter, but it is already living up to the expectations I had for it from the high praise it has received from folks like Michael Novak and Israel Kirzner, inter alia. I will be posting brief passages to review and discuss, and I welcome commentary on the book as well as my thoughts on the matter.