The Pudding That Proves

“According to a popular mythology in more conservative circles, the nineteenth century was a time of strong traditional values, when it was actually a monkey house of radicalism. The traditional values, such as they were, were the harvest of what had been planted in previous centuries — vestiges of Christendom. But the crop that was being sown in the era is the one we are harvesting now. The fact that this was occurring was apparent at that time to foresighted individuals, but there were not many of them. Apostate utopias were still at the blueprint stage, or to change the metaphor drastically, the pudding that proves had not yet been eaten” (The Paideia of God, p. 115).