"The remarkable characteristic of the crises of today is their continuity"—David
Burnett King.
British author Anthony Sampson has written three "anatomies of Britain" in
recent decades. His latest conveys a sense of urgency. Even the title tells
us his focus has shifted into a higher gear: a crisis mode.
The Essential Anatomy of Britain: Democracy in Crisis includes
a chapter with an obvious warning to the British government to get its
house in order. No such chapter appeared in the first two editions.
Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, wrote: "Today's prophets, I realized
with some sadness, are often not religious leaders but a small group of
academics who, breaking free of disciplinary specialisation, have surveyed
our age from the broadest of perspectives and brought back a report of
imminent danger" (Faith in the Future, 1995, p. 65).
Prophetic voices have sounded warnings for some time, pointing to the
ominous signs on the world scene. Some foretell a crisis that will signal
a massive change in our world.
This is clearly reflected in the titles of several other recent books.
American author James Dale Davidson and his British counterpart, William
Rees-Mogg, titled their book The Great Reckoning. Historian Eric
Hobsbawm used the title The Age of Extremes.
American author and educator David Burnett King notes in The Crisis
of Our Time that "there exists a profound feeling of unease …We
are passing through some sort of crisis, riding out a sea change that
will somehow make the future very different from our past" (1988, p.
17).
The plain truth is that we may be fast approaching a transition between
two distinct ages, the age of man and the age to come of which Jesus
Christ spoke (Matthew 12:32).
