The house next door is empty and for sale or rent. I suspect you would tire soon of listening to me pontificate. ;^)

Sometimes I think i should move next door to you just to absorb your insights. Thanks for posting here.

amos,
I’m reading a bookr for class right now entitled The Price of Glory about the battel of Verdun in WWI. In the intro he talks about how it was easy to view the military leaders as animals and in WWII how it was a much better way to have total war fought with tanks and planes. He then mentions how easy it is for the West to forget about Stalingrad and Leningrad and the massive amout of troops thrown into the maw. War hadn’t really changed; perception had. I think that falls into line with what you are saying about the past and how it is viewed.

Sorry, maybe a stretch, but I like examples.

-mike

Ok, so I just looked up the official definition, which states “Of or relating to recent times or the present: modern history.” It implies that it isn’t necessarily the absolute present moment.

“Schools of thought” still annoy me though. As Mike mentions, classification of schools of thought can never really apply singularly to a person. Another thing about them is that they’re so presumptive and condescending about former schools of thought or for lack of a summary term, “the way people perceived life in the past.” I think its dangerous of us to think that we are absolutely better that people who lived in the past solely on the fact that they are in the past and we get the last word, since we in. (being the ones still living. ) thats a big subject though, one that will likely be misunderstood without additional explanaition. An explanation, that is, that I don’t have time to get into here..

The term Post-Modern has been coined to indicate that many see the Modern era begun with the humanism of the Renaissance to be over. This name did not begin with faithful Christians but in the political sphere where the stresses of Globalism are undermining the nation-state system, the political crown jewel of Modern times. Yet, the term quickly jumped the fence into religion because religion is a cultural function.

The Ancient period is marked by the Fall of Rome, Medieval time is from then til the breakout point of the Medici family and the startling work of da Vinci and Galileo with concurrent moves of increased learning in multiple fields.

The name for what we are now is “Modern” if one sees that as a continuing period of time, or conversely, the time period needs to be renamed as whatever this is after that, if one thinks modernity is ended.

If we are in a significantly different time period which has yet to be named than Modern, then Post-Modern states it clearly if blandly.

For Christians, we find ourselves arguing over semantics when it is quite evident the world culture is rapidly changing and also the perspectives of Christians. Praise God, that the Truth of Jesus revealed in Scripture and His desire to be one with us as a function of faith and not religion will never change as the culture turns. However, I suspect that church traditions that do reflect Modern culture are in much danger of collapsing under the scrutiny of post-modern thought. Praise God for that, as well.

The same thing with denominations.

-mike

i always hated classifying schools of thought back in the old college days..