MODERNITY, MODERNISM, AND RELATED DEFINITIONS:
various terms conveying essentially the
same idea. The most important of these are: (1) Modern or which is new as opposed to that
which is ancient, that which is innovative as opposed to that which is TRADITIONAL; (2)
Modernism which is an explicit and self-conscious commitment to the modern in
intellectual, cultural and theological affairs; (3) Modernization or a program committed
to remaking SOCIETY, the political order and theological beliefs in support of the new;
(4) Modernity or the quality and condition of being modern. All religious TRADITIONS have
experienced the effects of modernity although they have been most noticeable in
CHRISTIANITY where they have been associated with SECULARIZATION and explicit attacks of
TRADITIONAL BELIEFS and VALUES in the name of SCIENCE.
