It is one of
the rich ironies of history that the U.S., a country founded upon republican principles, should have become so hierarchical and status - conscious, while Canada, which remains a monarchy, should be so relatively egalitarian.
Reinhold Niebuhr made a more sustained contribution in such works as The
Irony of American
History.18 Teilhard de Chardin offered a different perspective in The Phenomenon
of Man.19 Van Leeuwen develops a
rich and fruitful approach in Christianity in World
History.20