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Contemporaneity cancels out the difference between historical witnesses of past events and those living much later giving the latter a sense of direct presence.1Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments Events that are far apart in profane time are closely linked. For example, the celebration of Saint Chrispin’s Day brings us closer to Saints Chrispin and Crispinian and to the the Battle of Agincourt.

Good Friday 1998 is closer in a way to the original day of the Crucifixion than mid-summer’s day 1997.
-Charles Taylor, A Secular Age


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