Historical science often presents Christianity with some uncomfortable questions. It stresses the Church's opposition to modernity, the consequences of the autonomy of science, changes in family structure and the evolution of the concept of holiness. However, history can also help Christianity to relate affirmatively to the present. This chapter aims to show how this is viable, with a focus on healthy relativism, the mature Christian and their potential contributions to the thought and practice of believers.

Modernity

The historian's work demonstrates the great changes that have taken place in recent times; what we call ‘modernity’. This term actually originates from the medieval ‘modern times’ (tempora moderna), designating a period of which there is faithful memory; either personally or through first-hand testimony. This period encompassed the recent past, taking into account approximately the previous one hundred years. Modernity has now come to signify a world view and a way of organizing society that profoundly shaped Western history. It is a process that began in the last few centuries of the urban Middle Ages and has continued to the present, with strong global repercussions.

This process includes the economic changes that gave rise to capitalism. It also encompasses Humanism, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, liberal movements and the American, French and Russian revolutions. The result of this process is secularization, the non-denominational state, the separation between the public and private sectors, nation-states, industrialization and a post-industrial society.