ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the possibility that the radical changes outlined in the preceding discussions may equal the import of what is often called the Axial Age, the period from about 800 to 200 bce when a huge wave of new religious conceptuality emerged and forged itself into the several major world religions that have dominated the last few thousand years of human history. If such is the case, a New Sacred Canopy, that is, a new sense of cosmic order, can be expected to develop long-term, under which both religion and society will reorganise themselves, hopefully to better effect than under past sacred canopies. This chapter goes on to highlight how the NRTs have been and will continue to be open to varying interpretations, some of which are likely to yield more beneficial results than others. Though the promise of the historical developments discussed is considerable, it could also falter through a failure of moral purpose. Discussion concludes with a bit of imaginative guesswork, that is, speculation concerning some of the more positive directions our religious future could take should the emerging patterns reach fruition.
