Europa: agonía del sesentayochismo, ¿retorno del cristianismo?

Abstract

The current situation of European society is still deeply marked by the aftermath of the "cultural revolution " of the 60s. This paper discusses examines, first, a number of social features in which this influence is discernible: secularization, birth rate decline, decay of the family, relativism, etc. The second section presents the contemporary cultural crisis as the ultimate stage of an evolution that opened up in the 17th century, when a new secular-rational ethics (etsi Deus non daretur) -designed to supersede traditional Christian ethics- was proposed by Grotius and other scholars. The third section analyzes the essential contribution Christianity could make to the (still hypothetical) cultural-moral revival of Europe (via an ethics veluti si Deus daretur), focusing particularly on the dialogues Joseph Ratzinger held with Jürgen Habermas and Marcello Pera.