Voegelin [1901–1985] has rightly been called a “professors’ professor.” He combines an encyclopedic knowledge of politics, philosophy, religion, history, and anthropology with a theoretical competence and vocabulary comparable to that of Whitehead and Polanyi.

A striking example of the resulting spiritualization of truth is to be found in Voegelin’s interpretation of the biblical Exodus. Voegelin has presented a detailed analysis of the Exodus, dealing with issues of composition, form and content ( Voegelin, 2001 , pp. 176–231).

He provides several examples of the latter: between time and timelessness, order and disorder, truth and untruth, the open and the closed soul. The goal is that persons live in the tension of conscious participation in reality, with lives enhanced by experiences of the “constants” of order.

Using Western civilization as an example, Voegelin argues that meaning “in” history can be discovered in the breakthrough (leap in Being) of the Greek philosophers, particularly Plato, and through Judaic-Christian eschatological thought, particularly Paul.

Hughes and Embry’s Introduction outlines the ‘Key Elements of Voegelin’s Philosophy,’ and I will follow their six key elements, expanding them briefly with illustrations from the Reader.