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==Origin==
[[Greek]], [[literally]] ''[[opportunity]]''.
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s mid 20th Century]
==Definition==
*1: a propitious [[moment]] for [[decision]] or [[action]].
==Description==
'''Kairos''' (καιρός) is an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek ancient Greek] word [[meaning]] the right or opportune [[moment]] (the supreme moment). The ancient Greeks had two words for [[time]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos chronos] and ''kairos''. While the former refers to [[chronological]] or [[sequential]] time, the latter signifies a time between, a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the [[word]]. While ''chronos'' is [[quantitative]], ''kairos'' has a [[qualitative]] nature. Kairos also means weather in both ancient and modern Greek. The plural, καιροί (kairoi (Ancient Gk. and Mod. Gk.)) means ''the times''.
In [[rhetoric]], ''kairos'' is "a passing instant when an opening [[appears]] which must be driven through with [[force]] if success is to be [[achieved]]."
''Kairos'' was central to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophists Sophists], who stressed the rhetor's [[ability]] to [[adapt]] to and take [[advantage]] of changing, contingent circumstances. In ''Panathenaicus'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isocrates Isocrates] writes that educated people are those “who manage well the circumstances which they encounter day by day, and who possess a [[judgment]] which is [[accurate]] in meeting occasions as they arise and rarely misses the expedient [[course]] of [[action]]".
''Kairos'' is also very important in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle Aristotle]'s scheme of [[rhetoric]]. Kairos is, for Aristotle, the [[time and space]] [[context]] in which the [[proof]] will be delivered. Kairos stands alongside other contextual elements of rhetoric: ''The Audience'', which is the [[psychological]] and [[emotional]] makeup of those who will [[receive]] the proof; and ''To Prepon'', which is the style with which the [[orator]] clothes the [[proof]].
In the [[New Testament]] ''kairos'' means "the appointed time in the [[purpose]] of God", the time when God [[acts]] (e.g. Mark 1.15, the kairos is fulfilled). It differs from the more usual word for time which is ''chronos'' (kronos).
In the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox Eastern Orthodox] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Catholic Eastern Catholic] churches, before the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Liturgy Divine Liturgy] begins, the Deacon exclaims to the [[Priest]], "Kairos tou poiesai to Kyrio" ("It is time [kairos] for the Lord to act"); indicating that the time of the Liturgy is an [[intersection]] with [[Eternity]].
In ''The Interpretation of History'', neo-orthodox Lutheran theologian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich Paul Tillich] made prominent use of the term. For him, the ''kairoi'' are those [[crises]] in history (see Christian [[existentialism]]) which create an [[opportunity]] for, and indeed demand, an existential [[decision]] by the human subject - the coming of Christ being the prime example (compare [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Barth Karl Barth]'s use of ''Geschichte'' as opposed to ''Historie''). In the ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos_Document Kairos Document]'', an example of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology liberation theology] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_under_apartheid South Africa under apartheid], the term kairos is used to denote "the appointed time", "the crucial time" into which the document or text is spoken.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos]
[[Category: Philosophy]
[[Category: Religion]]
==Origin==
[[Greek]], [[literally]] ''[[opportunity]]''.
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s mid 20th Century]
==Definition==
*1: a propitious [[moment]] for [[decision]] or [[action]].
==Description==
'''Kairos''' (καιρός) is an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek ancient Greek] word [[meaning]] the right or opportune [[moment]] (the supreme moment). The ancient Greeks had two words for [[time]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos chronos] and ''kairos''. While the former refers to [[chronological]] or [[sequential]] time, the latter signifies a time between, a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the [[word]]. While ''chronos'' is [[quantitative]], ''kairos'' has a [[qualitative]] nature. Kairos also means weather in both ancient and modern Greek. The plural, καιροί (kairoi (Ancient Gk. and Mod. Gk.)) means ''the times''.
In [[rhetoric]], ''kairos'' is "a passing instant when an opening [[appears]] which must be driven through with [[force]] if success is to be [[achieved]]."
''Kairos'' was central to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophists Sophists], who stressed the rhetor's [[ability]] to [[adapt]] to and take [[advantage]] of changing, contingent circumstances. In ''Panathenaicus'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isocrates Isocrates] writes that educated people are those “who manage well the circumstances which they encounter day by day, and who possess a [[judgment]] which is [[accurate]] in meeting occasions as they arise and rarely misses the expedient [[course]] of [[action]]".
''Kairos'' is also very important in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle Aristotle]'s scheme of [[rhetoric]]. Kairos is, for Aristotle, the [[time and space]] [[context]] in which the [[proof]] will be delivered. Kairos stands alongside other contextual elements of rhetoric: ''The Audience'', which is the [[psychological]] and [[emotional]] makeup of those who will [[receive]] the proof; and ''To Prepon'', which is the style with which the [[orator]] clothes the [[proof]].
In the [[New Testament]] ''kairos'' means "the appointed time in the [[purpose]] of God", the time when God [[acts]] (e.g. Mark 1.15, the kairos is fulfilled). It differs from the more usual word for time which is ''chronos'' (kronos).
In the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox Eastern Orthodox] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Catholic Eastern Catholic] churches, before the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Liturgy Divine Liturgy] begins, the Deacon exclaims to the [[Priest]], "Kairos tou poiesai to Kyrio" ("It is time [kairos] for the Lord to act"); indicating that the time of the Liturgy is an [[intersection]] with [[Eternity]].
In ''The Interpretation of History'', neo-orthodox Lutheran theologian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich Paul Tillich] made prominent use of the term. For him, the ''kairoi'' are those [[crises]] in history (see Christian [[existentialism]]) which create an [[opportunity]] for, and indeed demand, an existential [[decision]] by the human subject - the coming of Christ being the prime example (compare [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Barth Karl Barth]'s use of ''Geschichte'' as opposed to ''Historie''). In the ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos_Document Kairos Document]'', an example of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology liberation theology] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_under_apartheid South Africa under apartheid], the term kairos is used to denote "the appointed time", "the crucial time" into which the document or text is spoken.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos]
[[Category: Philosophy]
[[Category: Religion]]
