Editing Mircea Eliade (section)

====Christianity and the "salvation" of History====
Mircea Eliade sees the [[Abrahamic religion]]s as a turning point between the ancient, cyclic view of time and the modern, linear view of time, noting that, in their case, sacred events are not limited to a far-off primordial age, but continue throughout history: "time is no longer [only] the circular Time of the [[Eternal Return (Eliade)|Eternal Return]]; it has become linear and irreversible Time".<ref>Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 65</ref> He thus sees in Christianity the ultimate example of a religion embracing linear, historical time. When God is born as a man, into the stream of history, "all history becomes a [[theophany]]".<ref>Eliade, ''Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries'', p. 153</ref> According to Eliade, "Christianity strives to ''save'' history".<ref name="Eliade p.170">Eliade, ''Images and Symbols'', p. 170</ref> In Christianity, the Sacred enters a human being (Christ) to save humans, but it also enters history to "save" history and turn otherwise ordinary, historical events into something "capable of transmitting a trans-historical message".<ref name="Eliade p.170"/>

From Eliade's perspective, Christianity's "trans-historical message" may be the most important help that modern man could have in confronting the terror of history. In his book ''Mito'' ("Myth"), Italian researcher [[Furio Jesi]] argues that Eliade denies man the position of a true protagonist in history: for Eliade, true human experience lies not in intellectually "making history", but in man's experiences of joy and grief. Thus, from Eliade's perspective, the Christ story becomes the perfect myth for modern man.<ref name="Jesi, p.66-67">Jesi, pp. 66–67</ref> In Christianity, God willingly entered historical time by being born as Christ, and accepted the suffering that followed. By identifying with Christ, modern man can learn to confront painful historical events.<ref name="Jesi, p.66-67"/> Ultimately, according to Jesi, Eliade sees Christianity as the only religion that can save man from the "Terror of history".<ref>Jesi, pp. 66–70</ref>

In Eliade's view, traditional man sees time as an endless repetition of mythical archetypes. In contrast, modern man has abandoned mythical archetypes and entered linear, historical time—in this context, unlike many other religions, Christianity attributes value to historical time. Thus, Eliade concludes, "Christianity incontestably proves to be the religion of 'fallen man{{'"}}, of modern man who has lost "the paradise of archetypes and repetition".<ref>Eliade, ''The Myth of the Eternal Return'', p. 162</ref>