Vying for civilization’s soul

Many conservatives, Christian or otherwise, sense that we are living through a consequential turning point. Os Guinness writes of a “civilizational crisis” in which the constitutive commitments of America and Western civilization—such as liberty, sexual sanity, and human dignity—are in danger of dissipating forever. Civilizations and nations can claim no eternal security. They can fall, as have previous empires, from Egypt to Rome to the USSR.

Lions & Scavengers Ben Shapiro

In Lions & Scavengers: The True Story of America and Her Critics (Threshold Editions, 256 pp.), Ben Shapiro concurs that the principles and ideals that have shaped Western civilization are under siege and we must summon the courage to preserve them and to fight evil. Shapiro, 41, an Orthodox Jew and a media-savvy commentator, co-founded the large conservative news and entertainment company The Daily Wire in 2015. He hosts the most popular conservative podcast in America and is a New York Times bestselling author. Shapiro combines the battle-tested instincts of a world-traveling activist and the bravado of a broadcaster (who hurls epithets at leftists) with the mind of a scholar (even if he leaves some quotes unattributed). Despite its subtitle, the book is not a history of America but an examination of its ideals.

Shapiro sets up a battle between two opposite forces vying for supremacy over America and civilization. The Lions preserve and advance America and Western civilization according to their Judeo-Christian worldview and manner of life, but they are in jeopardy of being overwhelmed by a group he calls the Scavengers, who undermine it and destroy it. Shapiro identifies two mindsets, broadly conceived, that play out in politics and culture.

Each chapter begins with Shapiro recounting his involvement in an event that frames his discussion. He begins in London, where he witnesses massive pro-Hamas protests just a few weeks after the savage Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which left 1,200 Israelis dead and many others wounded or taken hostage.

For Shapiro, those who support the terrorism of Hamas are the epitome of the Scavenger. These and their kindred hate the West for its success and blame the failure of other countries on Western exploitation. How could anyone be brought to the place where he celebrates the murder, torture, and rape of civilians, simply because they are Jews? This book explains that erroneous and egregious perspective.

The worldview of the Scavengers differs radically from that of the Lions. Lions are hunters (prizing innovation), warriors (willing to defend what is good), and weavers (preserving the social fabric through sacred tradition). They fear God. Scavengers are envious, concerned with power dynamics over justice. They believe in their own victimhood and easily resort to violence to correct perceived wrongs. They deny God.

Most books that explain ideological, moral, and political conflicts employ rather dry terms with little imagery, drama, or narrative. Shapiro avoids this by personifying the essential conflict over civilization as two kinds of animals locked in mortal combat. He does not speak so much of political left and right but of two opposing approaches to reality. He uses vivid and poetic imagery throughout.

“The Lion understands that the universe is constructed by a set of rules that he can discern; he thrills in his capacity to choose, knowing that it lifts him above the beasts; he embraces his moral duties in the world, revels in his responsibilities.” Although Islam is monotheistic, Shapiro does not include it in the Lion camp, presumably because of its stand against leonine principles. He claims that America, honoring the best of Western ideals, was built by Lions. But in the face of Scavengers, the Lions may seek cover and lose their roar. “The Scavenger is driven by a burning impulse to escape his own failures and shortcomings by blaming others. The Scavenger believes that his own failure is the fault of the stars, of the fates … but mostly of the Lions.”

The Lions believe in a free society with free markets in which success and failure are possible. This contrasts with the Scavenger mentality, which favors a controlled society operating on envy, where the rich are rich because the poor are poor and the rich must be made to redistribute their wealth. Similarly, the Scavengers are anti-Semitic, since they wrongly believe the success of the Jews comes at the expense of other peoples and nations. Thus, the Jews are hated, and any attack against them is legitimate, including the horrors of Oct. 7, 2023.

Dividing the field into two categories risks oversimplification, but it highlights a real antithesis in the world of ideas, which have life-and-death consequences. Christians know that there is a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness. Thus, such binary judgments are not out of line. To avoid Manichaeism, Shapiro writes, “For if we all have two impulses beating within us—the Spirit of the Lion and the Spirit of the Scavenger, vying for supremacy—then the failure of the Lions is the success of the Scavenger.” Shapiro is not speaking of the saved and lost in religious terms, but rather of those who discern the basic shape of reality and act in alignment with it and those who don’t. His concern is more the survival of America and the West as opposed to who will inherit the kingdom of God. We should be concerned with both, of course, and Shapiro is generally an astute (if often acerbic) guide on politics and culture.

This book mixes paragraphs of documented argumentation with one-word paragraphs, fired off in staccato fashion. It passionately denounces what Paul Johnson called “the enemies of society” in strident and starkly binary terms. Shapiro combines a fiery personality and tongue with razor-sharp intellect. He both quotes Shakespeare and refers to Bernie Sanders as “a putrescent Marxist pimple on the posterior of the body politic.” Christ exhorts us to love our enemies, but there is little evidence of Ben Shapiro loving his. Of course, as John Senior, author of The Death of Christian Culture (Arlington House 1978), wrote, loving your enemies doesn’t mean pretending they are your friends.

Shapiro is Jewish, but he appeals to the New Testament as well as the Old in explaining and defending the worldview of the Lions. Most Christians, I wager, will recognize ­themselves in the person of the Lion and will be roused by Shapiro’s arguments. Without Jesus as Lord, however, all political philosophy and all calls for ­preserving and increasing the good in society will fall short—an eternity short.