over time, and thus he imposes a meaning on the text that was never there. A good example might be the term liberty. Living at the start of the twenty-first century in a liberal democracy, I am inclined to understand this word in terms of self-determination, lack of government interference in my life, the right to live and work where I choose, the right to vote, the right to spend my money as I wish, the right to pursue whatever religion I want, etc. In other words, the term is a hallmark of the