Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 Modern man is the man of the 20th century, and he is the first to have to consider what the future of man will be. The question of man's future is not just relevant for modern man, but for all men of the 20th century. #2 The first stage in the development of Western man spans the time from approximately 1500 B. C. until the beginning of the Christian age. This stage is characterized by man's great turn from idolatry to humanistic religion. The second stage is reflected in the notion of a historical redemption, such as found in the message of prophetic messianism. #3 The Kingdom of God is not a change of this world, but the establishment of a new, spiritual world that transcends this world. The message of the Gospel, the Good News, is led historically into the current of the Catholic Church. #4 The Renaissance continued the messianic-prophetic vision in a new form: utopia. The good society was supposed to stand at the end of time, but the Renaissance utopia saw the good society standing at the end of space, somewhere in an as-yet-undiscovered part of the earth.