Great Nano Ages of Modern Church History

The 2000 year history of the Christian church has been divided by historians into convenient epochs. Each is marked by certain characteristics that distinguish it from other periods.

For example, in the book “Church History In Plain Language,” historian Bruce Shelley identifies six major eras:

The Age of the Apostles
The Age of Catholic Christianity
The Age of the Christian Roman Empire
The Age of the Reformation
The Age of Reason and Revival
The Age of Ideologies

This works pretty well up until about 1995, when church history speeds up dramatically, especially in the US. In fact, today we see major shifts happening in the church about every 2-3 years. Let’s call them nano-epochs.

Here’s how I would identify the nano-epochs of recent church history:

The Age of The Prayer of Jabez
The Age of The Left Behind Series
The Age of Harry Potter
The Age of The Passion
The Age of The Purpose Driven Life
The Age of The Da Vinci Code

If the short-lived passion surrounding “The Passion” movie is any indication, the release of the Da Vinci Code film may already herald the end of this current epoch.

What’s the next nano-epoch of the Church? Your guess is as good as mine, although, if the trend holds, it’s highly unlikely to have anything to do with Christianity.