Sometimes it seems like there's never been a more tumultuous, chaotic period in history than our lives today.

But a single year in the late 18th century saw a number of influential transformations, even revolutions, that changed the trajectory of the Western world.

By understanding how those events influence today's cultural landscape,

Christians today can more effectively bear witness to God's truth in a post-Christian age.

In his new book, Remaking the World, Andrew Wilson highlights seven major developments from the year 1776,

explaining their relevance to social

changes happening all around us today. And today, we're excited to share with you the complete

first chapter of the audiobook, read by the author. Let's get started.

Chapter 1, Roots, the Presence of the Past.

In 1776, at Weyanoch on the James River in Virginia, Mary Armistead married her fiancée, John.

With all that was going on in America that year, it didn't make headlines.

She was only 15 and John was nearly 30, but age gaps like that were fairly normal in the 13 colonies.

In many ways, they were a classic example of rich Virginians at the time.

Mary was the only daughter of wealthy parents and stood to inherit the beautiful family estate on the edge

of Chesapeake Bay, while John had attended William and Mary College, shared a room with Thomas

Jefferson, started practicing as a lawyer, and then served a stint in the Continental Army before

being appointed as a judge. Together, they had eight children. Unusually, in an age of high infant mortality, all eight of them survived into adulthood.

Although John became governor of Virginia, the chances are that most of us would never have

heard of the family, were it not for their sixth child, born in 1790, and also named John.

He was a frail boy, wafer thin and prone to bouts of diarrhea with which he struggled his whole life.

But he followed his father into law and local politics

and gradually climbed through the ranks until on April 4, 1841,

...