At its beginning, every age has been “modern.” We speak of “pre-” and “post-” Modern ages.
Hopefully, we can choose and rejoice in what we are intended to be in any age as the gift of being is something that transcends all ages even while dwelling within them..
When we see the “Modern age” in this light we can again rediscover what we really are.
The central truth that the “Modern age” does not acknowledge is that its own existence along with that of the world itself is first a gift.
We do not cause what it is to be ourselves in the first place.
When we find only our own “truth,” however, we do not really find or know ourselves.
We find no “truth” but that of our own confection.
But we also find the proposition that what exists is only what we make.
This book proposes to “see” these classical and revelational roots within their Modern forms.
It strove to divest itself of its theological and metaphysical backgrounds, only to find that the central themes from this tradition recur again and again, most often under political or even scientific forms.
The “Modern age” had often considered itself relativist, or secular, or skeptical.
Moreover, what is true will appear in different guises, as will what is false.
This proposition is central to this book.
If we find what is really true in any age, it will be true in all ages.
But to be up-to-date is to be out-of-date.
We are likewise tempted to identify what is most up-to-date with what is true.
At its beginning, every age has been “modern.” We speak of “pre-” and “post-” Modern ages
