"What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"

-Tertullian

The diagram below illustrates the general thesis of From Plato to Nato:

It seems many of the disputes among intellectuals today recapitulate tensions between the various strands of Western culture. In From Plato to Nato the classicist David Gress sketches out how liberal intellectuals, inspired by the Enlightenment, read Jerusalem and Teutoburg (the Germanic element) out of the Western tradition so that Athens could shine brightly as the font of Democracy and Liberty. And yet, after the exchange with Spengler, I am beginning to wonder if today the neoconservative intellectuals in alliance with the evangelical movement in the United States wish to wash away Athens & Teutoburg from the family tree of Western culture.

In any case, where do you stand? Personally, I have a bias for Athens (and Rome) over Tuetoberg and Tuetoberg over Jerusalem, but in the end, I have to admit that the three are so comingled that for me it becomes difficult to ascribe a particular quality to one that is exclusive of the others.