Introduction: Moments of the Theologico-Political

mo•ment Noun. Pronunciation: \'mo-m;mt\. Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin momentum, movement, particle sufficient to turn the scales, moment, from movere, to move. Date: Fourteenth century. 1 a: a minute portion or point of time: INSTANT b: a comparatively brief period of time 2 a: present time b: a time of excellence or conspicuousness 3 : importance in influence or effect 4 obsolete: a cause or motive of action 5 : a stage in historical or logical development 6 a: tendency or measure of tendency to produce motion especially about a point or axis b: the product of quantity (as a force) and the distance to a particular axis or point 7 a: the mean of the nth powers of the deviations of the observed values in a set of statistical data from a fixed value b: the expected value of a power of the deviation of a random variable from a fixed value synonym: see IMPORTANCE -Merriam-Webster's Dictionary