The core of the West is to be found in its peoples, geography, ideas, and faith. It was born in Western Europe, out of the ashes of the Western Roman Empire; a civilization that, as Rome before it had done to Greece, integrated the older civilization into its own unique synthesis. And the Western synthesis is this: Catholic faith, Greek ideas, and Germano-Roman culture.
Following from this, those of Western European heritage are Western to a large degree—even if they are not Catholic. For as the eminent Dawson pointed out, the height that Western civilization achieved in the Middle Ages has so infused a spiritual concern in Western man that it “can never be entirely undone expect by the total negation or destruction of Western man himself.”1 This is not to say that it is impossible for a Western European to reject their Western identity, just as it cannot be accurately stated that it is impossible for anyone outside that background to become Western to any extent. The issue must be looked at in degrees, not in exact figures.
Thus when the subject of the Western Canon is arrived at, the same criteria must be applied if we are to rejuvenate our culture and our civilization. Many of the accretions that academics have added to the Canon must therefore be discarded, while the great forgotten texts of this synthesis must be restored. Hence the reason for this Canon, which is by no means exhaustive—it is to be regarded as a work in progress.
Classical Antiquity (700 BC-313 AD)
Late Antiquity (313 AD-565 AD)
The Middle Ages (565 AD-1492 AD)
Early Modern (1492 AD-1789 AD)
Middle Modern (1789 AD-1914 AD)
Late Modern (1914 AD-Present)