http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_history#Significant_developments[quote]Modern history, also referred to as the modern period or the modern era, is the historiographical approach to the timeframe after the post-classical era (known as the Middle Ages).[[/quote]
In the Pre-Modern era, many people's sense of self and purpose was often expressed via a faith in some form of deity, be that in a single god or in many gods.[5]
In contrast to the pre-modern era, Western civilization made a gradual transition from premodernity to modernity when scientific methods were developed which led many to believe that the use of science would lead to all knowledge, thus throwing back the shroud of myth under which pre-modern peoples lived