Vigo Auguste Demant (d. 1983) was one of those in the Christendom Group who most influenced Christian sociology and Church life. Confronted with various manifestations of the crisis of European civilization in the first half of the 20th c. his constant emphasis was on the “true nature and end of man” and the concept of “human life as a whole”. This included understanding man above all as a spiritual being who needs to stay in contact with God as his Creator and Redeemer. Thus, it is secularization which damages man and his social environment most. Demant’s firm conviction was that European societies must rediscover their “common humanity” transcending the earthly reality in order to reintroduce God’s order in their individual and social life. However different the early 21st c. social and cultural context may be, Canon Demant is truly worth revisiting.
