Are We Really in Decline?

Where is history headed?

How any one of us answers this question says a lot about our sensibilities, our teleology, and our hope. And while narratives of decline abound this 2024, they diverge significantly in terms of what precisely people think is declining, as well as how one should respond. Even among confessing Christians, for whom the Sunday School answer is typically something like “God’s reign,” there are unspoken disagreements regarding how we understand the scope of Christ’s purpose in coming to earth. What kind of future did Jesus actually inaugurate? How might debating this clarify the walk for his followers in these times of tumult and civilizational fragility?