I HAVE long wondered what epoch I live in.

I'd read and learnt about the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, Modernism ... What name would history give to our slice of time?

My curiosity has been sated: it seems I live in the ‘Post-Truth’ society. Defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’ — post-truth was the Oxford Dictionary's word of the year in 2016.

Our struggle with the nature of objective truth is not one peculiar to our time, our advanced culture and our frenetic media-saturated lives. 'Post-truth' is really just a reframing of Pilate's equally infamous question: 'What is truth?' (John 18:38).

The question has refracted throughout the canons of literature, philosophy and film, appearing over and over again — but rarely is it preceded by the statement of Jesus that sparked it: “In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act,” wrote George Orwell. No statement more so than Jesus’; in it, he proclaims that there is not only such a thing as objective truth, but that He is its voice. Or, as He puts it elsewhere: '[He is] the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him]' (John 14:6).

In the western world today, there is a kind of comfy discomfort in the term post-truth; we have solidarity in decrying the faithlessness of politics, and then feel justified in our behaviour. There is philosophical high ground in scoffing alongside Pilate.

Jesus calls us to a higher standard than this. The truth isn't just radical — it is transforming, redemptive and awe-inspiring. Jesus longs for us to discover that and to discover Him. He calls us to delve into the words of His Father, learn the truth, and carry it as a beacon into our truth-starved world.

Anna Thayer, Andover Baptist Church