Will Western civilisation really collapse?

I was very struck by the title of Douglas Murray’s recent article in The Spectator, “France is a warning – our civilisation is not immortal.”

Murray is right, of course; civilisations are not immortal. They come and they go. They rise and then they fall. The fall of a civilisation can be sudden or slow. Or even “gradually and then suddenly”, to misuse a famous quote ^[1].

The book of Daniel and falling kingdoms

I’ve been doing some serious study of the book of Daniel in the last several years, culminating in the publication of a commentary published by Wipf and Stock (2026). The title is Daniel: Lessons for Living in a Post-Christian Culture. I think most of us would agree that our culture is now post-Christian. Marriage has been redefined, abortion decriminalised, church attendance is low, and Christianity is routinely mocked in our schools, colleges and media outlets. What is more, several Christians have lost their jobs for expressing their Christian faith, and others have been arrested, and sometimes imprisoned.