 |
 Echoing G. K. Chesterton,
Joseph Sittler said, “We must not love our country for a reason. We
should love our country because she is our country, our place.” Sittler
was a thoughtful observer of the American scene, commenting on current
events through the lenses of our history and our culture. He lived
during a time of rapid change, remarkable discoveries, and agonizing
conflicts, and understood the effect these things had on the human mind
and spirit. In speaking about some of the problems facing twentieth
century Americans — environmental degradation, the proliferation of
nuclear weapons, racism, the neglect of the poor and disenfranchised —
Sittler often quoted these lines (with various attributions), “ We have
been dispatched by God and by history on an errand into the wilderness
to create in this place a city on a hill, a light in the wilderness,”
and observed that we have betrayed this notion as a people.
A sample of materials on The American
Scene available from the Archives
-
Bicentennial Reflections (Augustana Church,
Chicago),
Audiotape (7/4/76)
-
Time, Space, and the American Experience, Audiotape (8/13/69)
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