Kulturen og det hellige

This Danish publication confronts one of the most urgent questions of its time: what is the true foundation of culture? Written in the aftermath of profound global upheaval, the author argues that we can no longer take culture for granted or merely celebrate its superficial achievements. Instead, we must dig deeper, returning to the fundamental roots from which culture springs. The text challenges the pre-war generation's naive faith in inevitable progress, technological advancement, and moral improvement—a belief shattered by the catastrophic events of recent decades. The author examines how earlier generations read history as a triumphant narrative of human advancement, confident that horrors like medieval torture belonged safely to the past, only to discover that their own era would write far more gruesome chapters. This work seeks a new understanding of culture grounded in hard-won experience rather than abstract optimism, one that acknowledges the essential connection between culture and the sacred. By wrestling with these fundamental questions, the author offers readers a path toward reconstructing cultural life on more honest and resilient foundations.