Division, Decadence, and Renewal

On January 22, 2021 in partnership with The Trinity Center, The Institute for Human Ecology, and the Harvard Christian Alumni Society, we were delighted to welcome author and New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. In Douthat’s book, The Decadent Society, he provides an enlightening diagnosis of our modern condition which, he says, has been characterized by decadence. Douthat argues that many of today’s discontents and derangements reflect a sense of futility and disappointment—a feeling that the future is not what was promised. Almost a year after its original publication, Ross reflected on what the events of the past year have revealed about our condition and how we might serve as agents of renewal in a divisive and decadent time.