Theological Origins of Modernity

18 introduction
modernity. Confronting this question, however, means considering again
the question of the relation of reason and revelation. If modernity is the
age in which we defi ne our own being in terms of time, and time in terms
of our own being as historicity, we can only come to terms with ourselves
by coming to terms with our temporality. Temporality, however, becomes
meaningful for us against the background of eternity. To understand the
question that modernity thus poses for us, we must consequently consider
the question of the theological origins of modernity. Th is book is an attempt
to raise that question.