Progress became a theme in European thought in about 1750. The thinkers of the Enlightenment wanted to replace the Biblical account of time (Genesis, Creation, Fall, Redemption) with a myth which put Man, not God, at the centre of the story. The narrative of human progress was understood to be both a material and a moral process; not just changing our technologies, but altering our instincts, and for the better.

Any idea why "thinkers of the Enlightenment" is used in the above para? How the 2nd line related with the first line of the paragraph.