Sign of the times is a phrase strongly associated with Roman Catholicism in the era of the Second Vatican Council. It was taken to mean that the Church should listen to, and learn from, the world around it. In other words, it should learn to read the 'sign(s) of the times'. This phrase, though it comes from the Gospel of Matthew was used in a somewhat novel way by Pope John XXIII when he convoked the council, in the statement Humanae Salutis. It came to signify a new understanding that the Church needed to attend more closely to the world if it was to remain faithful to its calling, and marked a significant shift in theological method. The phrase has continued to be used in papal encyclicals by every pope since then.
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Famous quotes containing the words sign and/or times:
“A good businessman never makes a contract unless he’s sure he can carry it through, yet every fool on earth is perfectly willing to sign a marriage contract without considering whether he can live up to it or not.”
—Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)
“... these great improvements of modern times are blessings or curses on us, just in the same ratio as the mental, moral, and religious rule over the animal; or the animal propensities of our nature predominate over the intellectual and moral. The spider elaborates poison from the same flower, in which the bee finds materials out of which she manufactures honey.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)