George Grant wrote the foreword to this book and if anyone has listened to or seen his Modernity lectures through Gileskirk, many of the themes contained herein are going to sound familiar. This foreword is typical George Grant, which is always a good thing.
Grant begins with a statement concerning the oddity of naming the period between the fall of the western Roman Empire and the rise of the Renaissance the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, or even medieval. The naming convention reflects pure Enlightenment thought concerning this time period. Read a little Voltaire and you can figure where the terminology came from. Interestingly it only came from those Enlightenment gurus who were hostile to Christianity. Artists like Van Eyk, Michelangelo and scientists like Newton and Bacon were not as harsh toward the previous thousand years or Christendom.
Grant makes a point, as do Wilson and Jones, of calling the period Christendom. It makes a difference. The dominant ideology in place during the thousand years between say AD 500 and AD 1500 was Christianity. This is reflected in its art, architecture, culture, feasting, economics, theology, politics, everything. It was not always reflected perfectly, we do live in a fallen world.
Looking at and considering what Christendom still has to say to Modernity is what the book is about. The rest of the essays reflect that theme in very remarkable ways.
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