“We are to-day in the midst of a revolutionary epoch fully as thorough as that of the Renaissance and Reformation.”

—  Walter Rauschenbusch

Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.2 The Social Aims of Jesus, p. 45
Context: We are to-day in the midst of a revolutionary epoch fully as thorough as that of the Renaissance and Reformation. It is accompanied by a reinterpretation of nature and of history. The social movement has helped to create the modern study of history. Where we used to see a panorama of wars and strutting kings and court harlots, we now see the struggle of the people to wrest a living from nature and to shake off their oppressors. The new present has created a new past. The French Revolution was the birth of modern democracy, and also of the modern school of history.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 18, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We are to-day in the midst of a revolutionary epoch fully as thorough as that of the Renaissance and Reformation." by Walter Rauschenbusch?
Walter Rauschenbusch photo
Walter Rauschenbusch83
United States Baptist theologian 1861–1918

Related quotes

Jânio Quadros photo

“Unless we make revolutionary reforms, some day — in some unknown serra — some unknown Fidel Castro will rise up in Brazil.”

Jânio Quadros (1917–1992) Brazilian politician

To his cabinet
"One Man's Cup of Coffee," Time Magazine profile (June 30, 1961)

Giuseppe Mazzini photo

“The epoch of individuality is concluded, and it is the duty of reformers to initiate the epoch of association. Collective man is omnipotent upon the earth he treads.”

Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872) Italian patriot, politician and philosopher

Watchword for the Roman Republic (1849)

“About the scientific revolution: it “outshines everything since the rise of Christianity and reduces the Renaissance and Reformation to the rank of mere episodes.””

Herbert Butterfield (1900–1979) British historian

The origins of modern science, 1300-1800, Bell (1949).

Roberto Mangabeira Unger photo

“We can, we must, jumble up the categories of reform and revolution, preferring change that, though perforce piecemeal, may, in its cumulative effect, become revolutionary.”

Roberto Mangabeira Unger book The Self Awakened: Pragmatism Unbound

Source: The Self Awakened: Pragmatism Unbound (2007), p. 143

Helena Roerich photo

“The New Epoch... will bring the renaissance of woman. The Epoch of Maitreya is the Epoch of the Mother of the World. It is remarkable to observe the rapid rise of the women of India. There one can see women occupying the posts of ministers and other responsible positions. Many women of India are excellent speakers. The Indians readily elect women, because they have faith in the common sense of their wives. But, of course, there are also opponents of the liberation of woman.”

Helena Roerich (1879–1955) Russian philosopher

23 April 1938

Daniel De Leon photo

“We Socialists are not reformers; we are revolutionaries. We Socialists do not propose change forms. We care nothing for forms. We want a change of the inside of the mechanism of society, let the form take care of itself.”

Daniel De Leon (1852–1914) American newspaper editor

Revolution
Reform or Revolution (1896)

Mortimer J. Adler photo

“…an adequate reform of public education in our school system cannot be accomplished by anything like a quick fix. We suspect that anyone who thinks otherwise cannot fully understand the shape of an adequate reform or all the obstacles to be overcome in achieving it.”

Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) American philosopher and educator

Source: Reforming Education: The Opening of the American Mind (1990), p. 314

Leon Trotsky photo

“The proletariat can only achieve power by relying upon a national upsurge an national enthusiasm. The proletariat will enter the government as the revolutionary representative of the nation, as the recognized national leader in the struggle against absolutism and feudal barbarism. In taking power, however, it will popes a new epoch, an en epoch of revolutionary legislation, of positive policy, and in this connection it cannot at all be sure of retaining the role of the recognized expressor of the will of the nation.”

Leon Trotsky book Results and Prospects

Results and Prospects (1905)

L. Ron Hubbard photo

“On the day when we can fully trust each other, there will be peace on Earth.”

L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) American science fiction author, philosopher, cult leader, and the founder of the Church of Scientology

A New Slant on Life (1998).

Emily Brontë photo

“And from the midst of cheerless gloom
I passed to bright unclouded day.”

Emily Brontë (1818–1848) English novelist and poet

Stanza vi.
A Little While, a Little While (1846)
Context: Still, as I mused, the naked room,
The alien firelight died away;
And from the midst of cheerless gloom
I passed to bright, unclouded day.

Related topics