,,the ,,next ,,step ,,in ,,religion     
,,an ,,essay ,,toward ,,the ,,coming    
,,renaissance    ,,by  ,,roy ,,wood     
,,sellars1 ,ph4,d4  ,author of ,critical
 ,realism1 ,the ,next ,step in          
,democracy1 etc4     ,new ,york  ,,the  
,,macmillan ,,company  #aiah  ,all      
rights reserved     ,,copyright1 #aiah  
,,by ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company   ,set 
up and electrotyped4  ,published1       
,august1 #aiah     ,,to  ,,helen        
,,stalker ,,sellars  ,,this ,,book ,,is 
,,dedicated     ,,foreword  ,the purpose
 of this book is positive and           
constructive1 although it may not at    
first appear such to the reader whose   
inherited beliefs are freely challenged4
  ,but let the reader ponder the fact   
that the deepest spiritual life has     
always concerned itself with the        
appreciation and maintenance of values4 
,he who acknowledges1 and wishes to     
further1 human values cannot be said to 
be irreligious or unspiritual4  ,the    
center of gravity of religion has been  

openly changing for some time now from  
supernaturalism to what may best be     
called a humanistic naturalism4  ,the   
history of this change is traced in many
 of the chapters of the book4  ,there   
have been many steps forward in the     
past1 for every age must possess its own
 religion1 a religion concordant with   
its knowledge and expressive of its     
problems and aims4  ,the sincerity and  
adequacy with which this necessary task 
is done measures the spiritual greatness
 of the particular age4  ,i have called 
the book ,the ,next ,step in ,religion  
because the time is ripe for one of the 
great steps forward4  ,the setting of   
religion must be adjusted to man's      
knowledge4  ,let it not be feared that  
man's spiritual life will be injured    
thereby4  ,rather will it be made saner1
 healthier and more creative4  ,the     
first phase of religion reflected man's 
helplessness and fear4  ,he peopled his 
surroundings with conscious powers1     
sometimes adverse1 sometimes friendly1  

but always jealous4  ,man became their  
slave4  ,as man became less of a savage1
 these gods of his fancy became nobler4 
,but they still acted like magnets to   
draw his attention away from his own    
problems4  ,the coming phase of religion
 will reflect man's power over nature   
and his moral courage in the face of the
 facts and possibilities of life4  ,it  
will be a religion of action and        
passion1 a social religion1 a religion  
of goals and prospects4  ,it will be a  
free man's religion1 a religion for an  
adult and aspiring democracy4  ,a book  
must in the main carry its own          
credentials4  ,but there may be those   
who will wish to carry the quest further
 and deeper4  ,to those interested in my
 share in this larger work ,i may       
mention my ,critical ,realism and ,the  
,next ,step in ,democracy4  ,r4 ,w4     
,,sellars4  ,ann ,arbor1 ,michigan1     
,august #e1 #aiah4     ,,contents       
,,chapter                               
,,page      ,i  ,,suggestions 4 4 4 4 4 

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4     
#a    ,,ii  ,,the ,,age ,,of ,,myth 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4   
#ac   ,,iii  ,,stories ,,of ,,creation 4
 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4    
#cj    ,,iv  ,,magic ,,and ,,ritual  4 4
 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4    
#dd     ,v  ,,the ,,origins ,,of        
,,christianity 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
 4 4   #eh    ,,vi  ,,the ,,prophet ,,of
 ,,nazareth 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 
4 4 4   #gb   ,,vii  ,,the ,,evolution  
,,of ,,christianity 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 
4 4 4 4   #hd  ,,viii  ,,the ,,conflict 
,,between ,,science ,,and ,,theology 4 4
 4 4 4 4 4 4   #ih    ,,ix  ,,the       
,,limits ,,of ,,personal ,,agency 4 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #aaj     ,x  ,,do
 ,,miracles ,,happen8 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #abc    ,,xi  ,,the
 ,,soul ,,and ,,immortality  4 4 4 4 4 4
 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #ach   ,,xii      
,,the ,,problem ,,of ,,evil 4 4 4 4 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #aec  ,,xiii 
,,religion ,,and ,,ethics 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #afi   ,,xiv   
,,the ,,church ,,as ,,an                
,,institution--,,the ,,catholic ,,church
 4 4 4 4  #ahg    ,,xv  ,,the ,,church  
,,as ,,an ,,institution--,,protestantism
 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #aih   ,,xvi  ,,the     
,,humanist',s ,,religion 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #baa     #a  ,,the  
,,next ,,step ,,in ,,religion           
,,chapter ,i  ,,suggestions  ,more than 
people are consciously aware1 a new view
 of the universe and of man's place in  
it is forming4  ,it is forming in the   
laboratories of scientists1 the studies 
of thinkers1 the congresses of social   
workers1 the assemblies of reformers1   
the studios of artists and1 even more   
quietly1 in the circles of many homes4  
,this new view is growing beneath the   
old as a bud grows beneath its covering1
 and is slowly pushing it aside4  ,while
 the inherited outlook1 still apparently
 so strong1 is losing effectiveness and 
becoming a thing of conventions and     
phrases1 the ideas and purposes which   

are replacing it possess the vigor and  
momentum of contact with the living     
tendencies and needs of the present4    
,mankind grows away from its traditional
 beliefs as inevitably as does the boy  
or girl from childhood fancies1 and     
often with much the same lack of        
realization4  ,but the time is certain  
to come to both when the change is      
pressed home and there is need for      
interpretation and serious              
self-communing4  ,at such a time1       
kindly--yet uncompromising and          
veracious--explanation of the nature and
 implications of the crisis is the      
course dictated by wisdom4  ,nothing can
 be more cruel1 disorganizing1 and1 in a
 way1 insulting than the attempt to #b  
harmonize what cannot in the long run be
 harmonized4  ,the agony is then sure to
 be long drawn out and the strength of  
soul1 given by fearlessness1 is lost4   
,i feel that the first law of           
personality is spiritual courage4       
,actions and methods founded on a doubt 

of this primary law lead to a blunting  
of the fine edge of the self1 an injury 
greater than which can scarcely be      
conceived4  ,in this day of testing1    
when so few have been found lacking in  
courage and the capacity for            
self-sacrifice1 it seems peculiarly     
fitting that spiritual values and       
beliefs be boldly thrown into the arena1
 there to prove themselves4  ,in the    
years after the ,great ,war1 mankind    
must build its life afresh and it will  
be wisest to see that the foundation is 
a sound one4  ,and1 as a matter of      
social psychology1 ,i doubt that a      
people which is unwilling to look       
carefully to the framework of its social
 and spiritual edifice can build a noble
 mansion4  ,mechanical efficiency and   
cleverness will not be enough for this  
task of spiritual creation4  ,we must   
find lasting values around which to     
build a humane life4  ,and this1 also1  
is a kind of warfare4  ,some have       
expressed to me a doubt whether ,america

 is prepared for this effort at         
reconstruction of a basic1 yet          
intangible1 sort4  ,i have hopes1       
although not blind ones4  ,i refuse to  
take the vulgarities and ignorances of  
popular evangelists as completely       
diagnostic of ,america's soul4  ,in the 
following pages1 which are devoted to a 
clear statement of the new view of man  
and nature which1 in its essentials1 has
 come to stay1 ,i shall act according to
 this law of personality1 to wit1       
spiritual courage4  ,i shall explain the
 spiritualized naturalism to which we   
are ascending in the same spirit that   
the scientist presents his              
facts--impersonally1 calmly1 and simply4
  #c ,such1 at least1 is my purpose and 
desire4  ,what ,i write here is in its  
way a confession of faith4  ,the values 
and loyalties which ,i shall proclaim as
 true1 redemptive and invigorating are  
those which my own life and concrete    
reflection have selected4  ,in them ,i  
see the possibility of high spiritual   

attainment4  ,the new view of the       
universe is founded upon1 influenced by1
 and has for its necessary setting1 the 
exact knowledge which the various       
special sciences1 mental as well as     
physical1 have been accumulating4 ,this 
knowledge is rounding into something of 
the nature of a whole whose             
interpretation does not admit of doubt4 
,incomplete in detail though his        
knowledge be1 man is no longer in the   
dark as to the main features of the     
world and his own origin and destiny4   
,he knows that he is an inhabitant of a 
small planet in one of the many solar   
systems of the stellar universe1 that he
 is the product of an age-long evolution
 in which variation and survival have   
been the chief methods of advance1 that 
his mind as well as his body has its    
natural ancestry4  ,while it will always
 remain a wonder1 so to speak1 that     
there is a universe in which and to     
which we awaken1 it is equally certain  
that the only sensible thing to do is to

 seek to find out its character and     
laws4  ,is it not like exploring the    
chambers and corridors of a house in    
which one shall live for a stated       
period8  ,as a matter of fact1 man has  
always been curious about his world4    
,yet before he hit upon the proper      
methods of investigation1 he could only 
guess and dream about it1 under the sway
 of hopes and fears which too easily    
threw themselves like gigantic shadows  
before him4  ,the fire of his untrained 
intelligence was feeble and             
unpenetrating and1 so1 distorted the    
world which it #d dimly revealed4  ,the 
result was what must be called the older
 religious view of the world--a view    
which saw personal and super-personal   
agency at the heart of things4  ,this   
primitive interpretation of the world we
 shall be led to criticize1 but1 in so  
doing1 we shall be the servants of truth
 and of a more adult spirituality4  ,it 
is not surprising that the patiently    
acquired knowledge1 obtained by science1

 philosophy and a matured human wisdom1 
has been found to conflict with the     
first interpretation of the world4  ,the
 recognition of this conflict dates back
 now some centuries--the warfare between
 science and religion also has its      
history--but each generation has seen   
the addition made of some new element to
 the clash which is leading man to a new
 view of the world4  ,what is striking  
about the present situation is the      
increase of the positive elements in the
 outlook which is forming in men's      
minds4  ,in the past1 the traditionalist
 had some justification in speaking of  
the opposed ideas as largely negative4  
,what positive doctrine there was in the
 physical science which theology had to 
meet1 to its discomfort1 had only an    
indirect bearing upon life4  ,but the   
nineteenth century was the witness of a 
distinct revolution in this regard4  ,i 
do not refer merely to the fact that the
 idea of evolution was applied to man4  
,that was prophetic and strategic rather

 than revolutionary4  ,it symbolized the
 passage of science from the periphery  
to the center1 from the outlying regions
 of the universe to man's very self4    
,all the time1 however1 a new           
perspective had been arising in man's   
interests and values4  ,the             
possibilities and needs of this life    
were replacing the dream of another life
 in #e another world4  ,a busy concern  
with the things of this world was       
everywhere evident4  ,man was seeking to
 master his environment4  ,during the   
first stage of this revolution1 the     
industrial and political changes were   
the most prominent4  ,a change in the   
instrumentalities of life1 physical1    
economic and political1 occupied men's  
thoughts to a larger degree than ever   
before4  ,but as the nineteenth century 
circled to the twentieth1 deeper notes  
became audible4  ,humanitarianism1      
constructive reform1 social democracy   
became the watchwords of the day4 ,i do 
not think that it has yet been clearly  

realized how completely these new aims  
and interests fit in with the results of
 science and yet pass beyond them to the
 service of human values4  ,the truth   
seems to be that1 by an imperceptible   
process1 new values and hopes have been 
replacing the traditional ones1 and that
 these values and aims both find        
themselves in harmony with the new      
knowledge and rest upon it4  ,in spite  
of the conflict between the rising view 
of man and nature and the traditional   
religious conception1 there is yet1 ,i  
believe1 a profound continuity in the   
genuinely spiritual achievements of     
humanity4  ,it is a pity to be so ridden
 by the new that the noble in the old is
 forgotten4  ,tenderness and love1      
however obscured at times by formalism  
and bigotry1 owe much to their nurture  
by ,christianity4 ,hence1 the deeper and
 truer interpretation of all past       
movements regards them as varying       
expressions of humanity's growth in     
social and mental stature4  ,there is1  

in other words1 no real discontinuity in
 human history4  ,the only difference   
is1 that the dynamic of social          
conditions and intellectual heritage has
 varied4  #f  ,but this acknowledged    
continuity does not preclude that       
presence of genuine and effective       
newness which is revolutionary in its   
effects4 ,the perspective1 intention1   
and elements of religion are about to   
alter4  ,in the following pages1 ,i     
shall argue that the attachments of past
 religion were determined by a          
mythological1 and essentially magical1  
idea of man's environment4  ,such       
attitudes and expectations as prayer1   
ritual1 worship1 immortality1           
providence1 are expressions of the      
pre-scientific view of the world4  ,but 
as man partly outgrows1 partly learns to
 reject1 the primitive thought of the   
world1 this perspective and these       
elements will drop from religion4  ,that
 this alteration has1 in surprisingly   
large measure1 already taken place can  

be seen from the following excerpts from
 the writings of the best known         
,american authority on ,church ,history3
 ,traditional ,christian ideas1 in fact1
 are undergoing extensive transformation
 as a result of the new social emphasis4
  ,the individualism of evangelicalism1 
with its primary concern for the        
salvation of the individual soul1 is    
widely discredited4  ,the old ascetic   
ideal is everywhere giving way to the   
social4  ,instead of holding themselves 
aloof from the world ,christians are    
throwing themselves into it and striving
 to reform it4  ,holiness in the        
traditional sense of abstinence from sin
 is less highly valued than it was4     
,the test of virtue is more and more    
coming to be the social test4  ,the     
virtuous man is he who makes his        
influence tell for the improvement of   
society4  ,personal probity and         
uprightness1 dissociated from the active
 service of one's fellows1 is frequently
 regarded to-day as 'mere morality' was 

by the ,evangelicals4  ,as virtue had   
value to them only in union with and    
subordination to piety1 so without the  
spirit of service #g personal morality  
seems to many a modern social reformer a
 mere empty husk4#a  ,obviously1 the    
center of religious gravity has altered 
tremendously from what it was in the    
,victorian ,age4 ,we are on the brink of
 a new period1 the period of a          
realistic1 and yet spiritual1 social    
democracy4  ,but1 ,i will be asked1 do  
you advocate a religion of humanity8    
,that is an old effort weighed in the   
balance and found wanting4  ,comte's    
reform was1 in a way1 premature4        
,society had not developed enough to    
give his effort a concrete basis4  ,but1
 more than this1 his mistake was that he
 did not see that the elements of       
religion1 as well as its perspective1   
must be altered4  ,humanity is not an   
object to be worshiped4  ,the very      
attitude and implications of worship    
must be relinquished4  ,in their place  

must be put the spiritually founded     
virtue of loyalty to those efforts and  
values which elevate human beings and   
give a quality of nobility and          
significance to our human life here and 
now4  ,the positive note of the present 
work can now be given in a few words3   
,religion is loyalty to the values of   
life4  ,the idea of the spiritual must  
be broadened and humanized to include   
all those purposes1 experiences and     
activities which express man's nature4  
,the spiritual must be seen to be the   
fine flower of living1 which requires no
 other sanctions than its own inherent  
worth and appeal4  ,we must outgrow the 
false notion that religion is           
inseparable from supernatural objects1  
and that the spiritual is something     
alien to man which must be forced upon  
him from the outside4  ,the spiritual is
 man at his best1 man loving1 daring1   
creating1 #h fighting loyally and       
courageously for causes dear to him4    
,religion must be concrete instead of   

formal1 and catholic in its count of    
values4  ,wherever there is loyal       
endeavor1 the presence of the spiritual 
must freely be acknowledged4  ,it would 
seem to follow that religion will have  
objects only in the sense of purposes to
 fulfill4  ,it will no longer have need 
of a special view of the world4  ,the   
religion of the past has had much to say
 about salvation4 ,salvation was only   
too often something which happened to a 
man from outside4  ,it was something    
capricious and uncontrollable like      
sudden fortune4  ,let us see what the   
religion of the present with its more   
realistic conception of life has to say 
about salvation4  ,i have written in the
 book as follows3 ,only that soul is    
saved which is worth saving1 and the    
being worth saving is its salvation4    
,salvation is no magical hocus-pocus    
external to the reach and timbre of a   
man2 it is the loyal union of a man with
 those values of life which have come   
within his ken4  ,whatever mixture of   

magic1 fear1 ritual1 and adoration      
religion may have been in man's early   
days upon this earth1 it is now         
increasingly1 and henceforth must be1   
that which concerns his contact with the
 duties and possibilities of life4      
,such salvation is an achievement which 
has personal and social conditions4  ,it
 is not a label nor a lucky number for  
admission into another world1 but       
something bought and paid for by effort4
  ,it is like character and education1  
for these are but special instances of  
it4  ,the personal conditions of        
spiritual life are sanity1 health1 and a
 capacity to be fired by consuming      
purposes4  ,no one can be greatly saved 
who has not a #i soul capable of being  
touched in some measure by what is      
sterling and significant4  ,but one of  
the discoveries of democracy is the wide
 distribution of this sensitiveness4    
,the spiritual is not something painful1
 but it is something which concerns the 
quality of human life4  ,the social     

conditions of salvation are just as     
necessary4  ,they are the presence of   
institutions and arrangements which give
 opportunity to the individual to       
develop himself4  ,the individual must  
have a certain amount of leisure and a  
chance for a vital education4  ,he      
should have some contact with beautiful 
things and the stimulus of association  
with great causes4  ,a healthy and sane 
society makes possible healthy and sane 
individuals4  ,it is especially         
desirable that society put its emphasis 
on the right things4  ,if it is         
permissible to speak of society's       
salvation1 we would say that it consists
 in the wise relation of means to ends1 
the subordination of the economic side  
of life to the moral1 intellectual and  
artistic activities4  ,a society which  
does not order itself in this way is    
called materialistic2 and such a society
 is certain to contain numberless       
individuals who live at a far lower     
spiritual level than they should4  ,it  

is the very nature of religion to       
condemn this falling short of loyalty to
 the finer values of life4  ,we have    
said that religion must be catholic in  
its count of values4 ,moral souls may   
still be comparatively starved souls4   
,one of the great mistakes religion has 
made in the past has been this very lack
 of sympathy for values of all kinds4   
,for this very reason1 religion has     
often displayed a certain narrowness and
 harshness4  ,its loyalty has frequently
 been a one-sided loyalty which prided  
itself on its asceticism4  ,but the day 
of an irrational asceticism has passed4 
,intensity #aj is good1 but intensity   
and breadth are better still4  ,a humane
 religion will preach loyalty to many   
values1 harmonized together by the work 
of a concrete reason and a living art4  
,when religion did not consider itself  
of this world1 it was passive and       
acquiescent toward many features of     
human life4  ,but a truer idea of the   
nature of the spiritual1 united with a  

decay of the old supernaturalistic      
sanctions1 will change all that4        
,religion will become active and        
militant1 intensely concerned with      
everything human1 a loyal enthusiasm for
 all the significant phases of life4    
,it will cease to be a matter of taboos1
 of ritual1 of rather conventional      
routine and become a spirit of vigorous 
search for whatever elevates and        
ennobles human beings in their day of   
life4  ,into the service of such a      
religion reason and art will gladly     
enter4  ,but this interpretation of     
religion has its obverse side4  ,it is  
in part directed against the age-old1   
supernaturalistic perspective which has 
done so much to render religion a       
hindrance to the growth of spirituality4
  ,the growth of my own thinking has led
 me to see1 ever more clearly1 the harm 
done in this day and age by that        
emphasis on sanctions for conduct which 
are not justified by the vital and      
concrete needs of human life4  ,the     

appeal to tradition and authority       
abstracted religion from that fresh     
contact with the movement of events     
which makes the great causes of history 
so vivid and appealing4  ,this          
abstraction divided the spiritual life  
of man against itself and led to        
inefficiency and confusion4  ,what the  
world needs to-day is a rational        
enthusiasm for human values4  ,the      
thought of another world with its       
melodramatic last judgment encouraged   
individualism1 withdrew #aa attention   
from social problems and aspirations1   
made the conception of the spiritual    
anmic and vague4  ,the official         
spirituality of the ,church lacked the  
happy stimulus of a social setting4     
,bad as this division of man's spiritual
 life against itself was1 it was not    
all4  ,man had been taught to despise   
reason1 almost his highest quality4     
,the consequence was1 that reason passed
 into the service of the mere technical 
arrangements of life4  ,man rationalized

 nature and left himself irrational1 as 
can be seen in the ,great ,war4         
,because religion ignored reason and    
slighted many sides of man's nature1 it 
paid the penalty of abortiveness4  ,it  
is not a mere accident that             
,christianity has been so helpless in   
the present crisis4  ,in times of       
darkness1 it is natural for the         
individual to seek ways of escape from  
the crushing load which has fallen upon 
him4  ,the student of the history of    
religion knows that the most popular way
 of escape has been in terms of         
spiritualism and supernaturalism4  ,but 
the thinker knows that this is a search 
for a sedative rather than a remedy4    
,moreover1 the growth of human knowledge
 has made such a refuge more strained   
and artificial than it used to be4      
,those few men of standing in the       
physical sciences who have lent the     
prestige of their name to fields in     
which they have little competence have  
done a grave disservice to mankind4     

,man must conquer his problems2 he      
cannot find salvation in a cowardly     
flight from them4  ,the teaching of this
 book is that supernaturalism has       
prevented man from finding himself1 and 
that the spiritual task of the present  
generation is a re-interpretation of the
 spiritual to take in all the           
significant features of human life4 ,we 
want a religion of present use1 a       
religion #ab not concerned with         
mythological objects and hypothetical   
states of existence but with the tasks  
and needs of human beings in society4   
,will not the next step in religion be  
the relinquishment of the supernatural  
and the active appreciation of virtues  
and values8  ,it is my hope that the    
present sincere discussion will assist1 
in some small measure1 the coming of    
such a religion4    #a ,mc,giffert1 ,the
 ,rise of ,modern ,religious ,ideas1 p4 
#bgb4     #ac  ,,chapter ,,ii  ,,the    
,,age ,,of ,,myth  ,we must1 perforce1  
admit that our ancestors awoke to       

consciousness of themselves and their   
surroundings at a time when they knew   
practically nothing1 as we understand   
knowledge4  ,theirs was a world of      
sights and sounds1 a world of woods and 
streams1 of moving things1 of growing   
things1 of things to be eaten1 of things
 good and evil4  ,it was a driving1     
fearful1 fascinating world4             
,unconsciously and inevitably1 man      
interpreted his surroundings in terms of
 his own eager1 childish life4 ,force   
and desire peeped from every corner4    
,the sky was not very high above him for
 it seemed to touch the mountain tops2  
and yet he could never hope to climb    
there4  ,but he could see very well that
 it was inhabited4  ,and was it not a   
wonderful place1 since the heat and     
light of the sun and the warm1          
fructifying rain came from it8  ,and    
what were the clouds that floated across
 it like huge birds or strange1 gigantic
 creatures8  ,even the lush grass of the
 spring-time seemed full of a hidden    

life4  ,everywhere was force and        
will--the power for good and harm4      
,perhaps only an imaginative child1 or  
an adult with something of the poet's   
gift1 can appreciate vividly the type of
 world in which these early men found   
themselves4  ,the city-dweller of to-day
 lives in a subdued #ad and mechanically
 controlled region whose every clank and
 rattle speaks of routine and order4    
,the myth-making faculty of the         
street-urchin has little to feed        
upon--all is so obvious and open to     
inspection4  ,the ordinary lad1 again1  
is so soon filled with the              
conventionalized views of his elders    
that the hand of fancy soon ceases to   
write upon his soul or give a touch of  
wonder to familiar things4 ,there can be
 no doubt1 therefore1 that a conscious  
effort is required before a man of      
to-day can give even a fleeting glimpse 
at the capricious1 magical1 animated1   
and intensely personal world of his     
distant ancestors4  ,and yet the guesses

 and surmises of these earlier men were 
the source of more of his beliefs than  
he would care to admit4 ,in these pages 
we shall see how much of mythology still
 lingers with us4  ,mythology is a      
product of the social group1 of clans   
and tribes and peoples1 and is of slow  
growth4  ,story added itself to story1  
this feature to that4  ,hence it was    
often a work of art1 though of          
unconscious art4  ,it was an expression 
of the life of groups who had gods and  
totems4  ,it was inextricably bound up  
with the whole savage outlook upon      
nature2 and yet only recently has this  
setting been adequately appreciated4    
,until the middle of the nineteenth     
century1 knowledge of mythology was     
practically limited to the poetized     
mythology of the ,greeks and ,romans4   
,and so1 because it was found in the    
poets1 it was thought of as an          
artificial product1 as a series of      
stories invented and embroidered by the 
fancy of bards and narrators4  ,but the 

wider knowledge due to exploration      
changed this narrow approach4  ,the     
discoveries of travelers in the         
,americas1 ,africa1 and ,oceania gave   
pause to this too #ae civilized and     
superficial theory of myth4  ,gradually1
 a more realistic view arose4  ,the idea
 of evolution gave a genetic way of     
approach and made investigators aware of
 the slowness of human advance4  ,the   
next steps followed quickly4  ,social   
psychology replaced the individualistic 
and overly rationalistic psychology of  
the early nineteenth century4  ,all the 
phenomena of primitive society were seen
 to be the products of relatively       
non-reflective groups who felt and      
stumbled their way into rituals and     
beliefs4  ,as the material accumulated1 
comparative methods were applied in the 
field4  ,the result has been astounding4
  ,in place of the romantic conception  
of primitive life1 which made the savage
 essentially a civilized child1 a       
grimmer picture unfolded itself4        

,fetichism1 shamanism1 magic1 human     
sacrifice1 totemism1 ritualism1 all were
 found combined and interactive in a    
scheme of life alien to our own         
enlightened outlook4  ,in such an       
atmosphere it was that mythology arose4 
,it arose as an account of acts and     
beliefs1 and1 as these were purified and
 deepened1 it1 also1 advanced in purity 
and depth4  ,yet1 always1 there remained
 the trace of the savagery from which it
 had sprung4  ,while primitive religion 
and mythology are not identical1 they   
are closely bound up with one another4  
,both rest upon animism1 totemism and   
magic as these are brought into relation
 with man's needs and fears4  ,religion 
is chiefly an affair of sentiment and   
cult1 actively guided by belief in      
superhuman powers capable of helping and
 hurting man4  ,mythology1 on the other 
hand1 consists of the stories told about
 these dynamic powers as they are more  
and more personified and given a history
 and a name4  ,and such stories are     

naturally #af built up around acts whose
 significance has been forgotten1 or    
around dramatized interpretations of    
processes in nature4  ,myths are        
explanations of acts and events and     
names which aroused curiosity and       
therefore demanded some explanation4    
,it was only after modern anthropology  
had unearthed the characteristic beliefs
 of primitive man that many myths became
 intelligible4  ,a few examples will    
make this relationship clearer4         
,totemism is a sort of cult rendered to 
animals and plants which are regarded as
 akin to the tribe4  ,it must be        
remembered that primitive man was not   
nearly so convinced of his superiority  
as is modern man4 ,wolves and bears and 
foxes are strong and cunning1 and seem  
to him to have a power and knowledge    
even superior to his own4  ,strange as  
it appears to us to-day1 savages quite  
often assign their origin to some animal
 and regard that animal as the possessor
 of a force which is valuable to his    

kin4  ,this cult of totemistic animals  
and plants is at the base of the tales  
of metamorphosis which we read in       
,classic literature or in our own fairy 
tales4  ,beauty and the ,beast is an    
example of this transformation1 which   
our ancestors looked upon as quite      
natural2 while the savage tales of the  
werewolf go back to the same outlook4   
,the serpent in the ,garden of ,eden is 
another instance of the same cycle of   
ideas4  ,the application of our present 
knowledge of totemism to mythology has  
been very enlightening4  ,students of   
,greek literature used to wonder why all
 the gods had birds and animals as      
companions4  ,as a matter of fact1 these
 animals were once sacred totems4  ,the 
eagle and the swan were gradually       
displaced by ,zeus1 the sky deity4  ,but
 so gradual was #ag this displacement   
that the animals became attributes of   
the younger deity1 while he was thought 
to change himself at times back into the
 totem animal4  ,the story of ,leda and 

the swan can1 in this way1 be easily    
understood4  ,many myths are            
explanations of rites which were no     
longer understood4 ,such myths are      
called tiological4  ,they are answers to
 questions which worshipers were bound1 
sooner or later1 to ask4  ,the myth of  
,prometheus1 the ,titan who stole the   
fire from heaven to succor men1 was     
connected with the use of eagles on the 
front of temples to ward off lightning4 
,originally1 the story concerns the     
punishment of the eagle1 but is later   
attached to ,prometheus4  ,it is1       
according to ,reinach1 the development  
of the following nave dialogue3 ,why is 
this eagle crucified8  ,it is its       
punishment for having stolen the fire   
from heaven4  ,other examples of        
tiological myths are the ,phaethon      
legend1 the story of ,hippolyte1 and    
some of the stories told about          
,heracles4  ,another source of myth is  
to be found in the sacrifice of         
animal-gods who are supposed to possess 

a secret strength4  ,such animal-gods   
are not anthropomorphized in early      
times4  ,they are simply regarded as    
seats of vital power or mana4  ,we must 
bear in mind the fact that savage man   
would not have been shocked by          
,darwinism as ,bishop ,wilberforce was4 
,no distinction worth mentioning was    
made between men and animals in those   
ancient days4  ,english-lore1 writes    
,andrew ,lang1 has its woman who bore   
rabbits4  ,the religions of ,greece and 
of ,asia ,minor had rites and myths     
which introduced the sacred bull4  ,in  
,mithraism1 a religion which almost won 
against ,christianity1 the sacrifice of 
the bull and the consumption of its #ah 
blood and flesh in a communion feast    
were prominent features4  ,again1 in the
 rites of ,dionysus ,zagreus1 a bull was
 torn to pieces and eaten4  ,from this  
arose the myth of ,dionysus ,zagreus as 
a son of ,zeus and ,persephone changed  
into a bull and eaten by the ,titans4   
,he is born again under the name of     

,dionysus1 yet carries horns on his     
forehead1 evident signs of his animal   
origin4  ,thus different strata of      
religion and belief meet and blend and  
necessitate the growth of explanatory   
myths4  ,but we must not allow the newer
 recognition of the part played by      
misinterpretation in the development of 
myths to obscure the genuine role of    
nave reflection upon the phenomena of   
nature4  ,yet the savage imagination was
 limited by the experience at its       
command4  ,the ,homeric hymn to ,helios 
looks on the sun as a half-god1 almost a
 hero1 who had once lived on earth4     
,still more nave are legends which make 
it a beast which has once been trapped4 
,myths arise to account for eclipses1   
the waxing and waning of the moon1      
sunset1 etc4  ,the explanation of the   
rainbow as a sign of a covenant between 
,yahweh and ,noah1 is an excellent      
example of a nature-myth introduced as a
 part of a legend4  ,there are many     
other sources of myths4  ,around all    

striking events1 such as the first      
punishment of homicide1 legends arise4  
,bellerophon and ,ixion are compelled to
 flee into exile4  ,again1 the facts and
 ritual of death are a fruitful center  
for the working of the imagination4     
,the sheol of the ,hebrews is first the 
grave2 and only later does it become    
even the shadowy underworld which is    
pictured in ,isaiah4  ,but our purpose  
is not to present an exhaustive #ai     
analysis of the types of myth which     
early man wove about the world in which 
he found himself4  ,what it is important
 to grasp is the slow growth from an    
almost animal state of ignorance to a   
more enlightened1 moral1 and socially   
ordered life4  ,this evolution took     
time1 and such progress as was made was 
always in danger of being overthrown by 
the hardening of myth and cult into a   
strait-jacket of superstition and       
hysterical fear4 ,this danger was always
 great just because reason could secure 
no firm foothold upon reality4  ,man's  

life was one of constant fear4  ,he felt
 himself assailed by evil spirits and   
surrounded by taboos and laws1 to       
violate which meant disaster4  ,when we 
glance over history1 we find only two   
things which have shown promise of power
 to raise man out of this slough of     
fear1--ethical monotheism and reason4   
,how far is this a genuine antithesis8  
,may it not be that the real strength   
and freeing power of ethical monotheism 
is due to the reason which created it   
and speaks through it8  ,upon one set of
 myths of extreme importance for        
religion we have1 however1 scarcely     
touched4  ,yet the study of this group  
and its explanation has been a signal   
triumph for the science of comparative  
religion4  ,it is a great pity that the 
general public knows1 as yet1 so little 
about the researches made by scholars   
into the wide-spread ritual of communion
 and purification1 by means of which the
 participant becomes one with his deity 
and is even assured of salvation and    

immortality4  ,the interesting fact is1 
that1 here again1 we find ideas which   
are essentially primitive and magical   
given a new setting4  ,what was once    
social1 and largely a ritual concerned  
with the re-birth of vegetation in the  
,spring1 becomes personal1 and a symbol 
of the resurrection of a #bj believer in
 another world4  ,in its first form and 
motivation1 this set of ideas turns     
around the tribe's material needs4      
,only with the growth of                
self-consciousness is it applied to the 
individual4  ,why did this type of      
ritual arise8  ,and why was it          
celebrated with such fervor8  ,these    
questions lead us into the very heart of
 early religion4 ,religion was the      
expression of man's very real need1 in  
the light of his view of the world as   
the seat of spiritual agencies4  ,the   
extraordinary security of our modern    
life in times of peace makes it hard for
 us to realize1 except by a definite    
effort of the imagination1 the constant 

precariousness1 the frightful proximity 
of death1 that was usual in these weak  
ancient communities4  ,they were in fear
 of wild beasts2 they were helpless     
against floods1 helpless against        
pestilences4  ,their food depended on   
the crops of one tiny plot of ground2   
and if the ,savior was not reborn with  
the spring1 they slowly and miserably   
died4  ,and all the while they knew     
almost nothing of the real causes that  
made crops succeed or fail4  ,they only 
felt sure it was somehow a matter of    
pollution1 of unexpiated defilement4    
,it is this state of things that        
explains the curious cruelty of early   
agricultural works1 the human           
sacrifices1 the scapegoats1 the tearing 
in pieces of living animals1 and perhaps
 of living men1 the steeping of the     
fields in blood4  ,to men at this stage1
 religion is the most natural of        
attitudes4  ,it is the child of animism1
 of magic1 of ignorance and of need4    
,but to explain the origin of an        

attitude is not to explain it away4     
,may it not be that these sentiments can
 be given another setting and other     
objects8  ,while all races have passed  
through this myth-making #ba stage1     
certain races have been more gifted1 or 
else more favored by the circumstances  
of their development4  ,a vivid         
imagination1 a relatively complex       
society with different traditions1 a    
diversified landscape1 an inviting      
climate1 and a leisurely1 yet vigorous  
life were necessary to the highest      
efflorescence of this poetic power to   
weave human motives into nature and into
 the conduct of supernatural powers     
conceived after the manner of men4      
,these conditions were fulfilled to a   
remarkable degree among the ,greeks1    
whose mythology constantly surprises us 
by its richness1 variety and delicacy4  
,as the years rolled by1 every striking 
aspect of nature or of traditional      
ritual was interpreted in terms of the  
passion1 plan or caprice of some being1 

different from1 yet by no means alien   
to1 man4  ,the daring and beauty of the 
legends woven by this race and the      
immensity of their range have made them 
the admiration and wonder of other times
 more given to reflection than to       
phantasy4  ,the childhood of the race   
was productive in a memorable fashion   
which has made art and literature       
forever its debtors4  ,in our admiration
 for ,greek mythology1 we must not      
forget that other races and nations wove
 stories to account for human life and  
to interpret those features of nature   
which aroused their fear1 love or       
wonder4  ,our own ,northern mythology   
had its beauties and wild reaches of    
imagination which made it1 in certain   
regards1 a fit rival of that of the     
,mediterranean4  ,the story of ,balder1 
the joyous and kindly god whom all      
things loved1 is evidently the mythical 
form of the passing of summer sunshine  
and the coming of winter with its       
darkness and gloom4 ,we must always     

remember that our remote ancestors      
interpreted their world concretely1 #bb 
and mainly in terms of human life1      
because they had no abstract ideas at   
their command4  ,psychical and physical 
concepts were interfused in their minds3
 prose and poetry1 fact and figure      
combined together without that feeling  
of disharmony which is so distinctive of
 the modern mind4  ,nature welcomed     
personification1 and to read the        
conflict of light and darkness1 warmth  
and cold1 in terms of human struggles   
and hates was the inevitable course for 
human thought to take4  ,the simple     
grandeur of many of these tales of the  
gods comes from the poignancy of life   
itself4  ,those events in nature which  
affected man intensely received an      
intense meaning4  ,we1 who have         
conquered nature in large measure1 or   
can so predict her convulsions as to    
escape the first shock of her rude      
forces2 we1 who think of her processes  
as ruled by impersonal laws1 cannot     

appreciate the directness and unveiled  
immediacy of those ancient dramas which 
man saw around him4  ,darkness is for us
 the absence of light1 not a mysterious 
and threatening presence which fills the
 sky while the kindly god of day sleeps4
  ,light consists of vibrations in ether
 emitted from a tremendously hot1       
material substance instead of being a   
beneficent force under the control of a 
radiant being4  ,but other races than   
the ,aryan were less inclined to        
embellish and humanize nature4  ,the    
imagination worked less freely to add to
 the visible aspect of things4  ,the    
consequence of this thinness of reaction
 was1 that the mind rested in things as 
they appeared1 although it could not    
desist from assigning to them capacities
 and powers which were superhuman4      
,nature was at least instinct with will1
 even while this vaguely stirring will  
did not clothe itself in definite forms4
  ,man believed #bc himself surrounded  
by forces which affected him for good   

and evil2 he felt himself immersed in an
 ocean of life1 yet he could not discern
 any forms back of that which he saw    
with his bodily eyes4 ,perhaps these    
other races had less of the dramatic in 
their composition1 less of that genial  
delight in far-fetched analogies and the
 free play of ideas4  ,as time passed1  
the first stage of mythology with its   
simple naturalism and its relative lack 
of imaginative elements gave way to a   
more human stage4  ,myths of the next   
world came to the front1 and man became 
more and more concerned with his        
salvation in an afterlife4  ,comparative
 religion has proven how widespread was 
the belief in some sort of immortality4 
,the ,orphic cults in ,greece1 the      
,osiris and ,isis cult in ,egypt1 the   
worship of ,attis and ,adonis in ,syria1
 the purification and communion         
ceremonies of ,mithraism1 all turned    
about the idea of a secret means of     
salvation4  ,a common set of ideas      
developed in the ,mediterranean basin   

and found expression in liturgies and   
phrases of a striking similarity4  ,the 
god dies and is resurrected2 the virgin 
goddess gives birth to a son2 the       
members of a religious community eat of 
their god and gain strength from the    
sacred meal4  ,the ,church ,fathers were
 aware of these similarities and sought 
to explain away their resemblances with 
the ,christian ritual by means of the   
theory that the ,devil had blasphemously
 imitated ,christian rites and          
doctrines4  ,research has shown that    
this theory of parody is entirely       
unhistorical4  ,the fact is1 that       
,christianity borrowed its ritual from  
the cults among which it grew up4  ,for 
instance1 the belief in the death and   
resurrection of a savior-god was very   
#bd prevalent in ,tarsus1 ,paul's own   
city4  ,the ,attis mysteries were       
celebrated at a season which            
corresponded to the end of our ,lenten  
period and the beginning of ,easter4    
,they were preceded by fasting and began

 with lamentations1 the votaries        
gathering in sorrow around the bier of  
the dead divinity2 then followed the    
resurrection1 and the risen god gave    
hope of salvation to the mystic         
brotherhood1 and the whole service      
closed with the feast of rejoicing1 the 
,hilaria4  ,there can be little doubt   
that this whole cycle of ideas          
represents a development of the         
primitive ritual of eating the sacred   
animal or plant in spring in order to   
foster the re-birth of man's            
necessities4  ,from this germ sprang    
reflective ideas of atonement and       
communion and immortality4  ,along with 
the growth of the mysteries went the    
introduction of more ethical standards  
of conduct4  ,ritual purity suggested   
the idea of spiritual purity4  ,this    
ethicizing of myth is very apparent in  
,greece4 ,by the time of the dramatists1
 moral judgments had become more severe1
 and the gods were looked upon as       
guardians of the moral law2 and yet this

 view was tragically thwarted by much of
 the old tradition4  ,the savage        
inheritance and the later moral idealism
 found themselves in conflict4  ,the    
consequence was the gradual weakening of
 the older myths and the welcoming of   
new cults4  ,ethical growth is usually  
in large measure unconscious4  ,man     
reads ideas into the world around him   
before he becomes conscious that they   
are his own4  ,his own development is   
thus reflected in the pantheon with     
which he has peopled nature4  ,zeus is  
at first the thunderer and the          
cloud-gatherer2 finally he represents   
#be justice and those kingly qualities  
which social growth stresses4  ,poets   
and philosophers refine away the grosser
 myths which shock the taste of a more  
advanced social level4  ,when we compare
 the conceptions of ,euripides1 of      
,plato1 of ,cleanthes1 of ,marcus       
,aurelius1 with the conduct of the      
,homeric gods1 we realize the distance  
traveled by the mind of man along       

ethical lines4 ,man is now a builder of 
ideals4  ,yet the cosmic setting for    
these ideals is virtually unchanged2 the
 framework of man's universe has        
remained much the same4  ,it is at heart
 a realm of personal agents with which  
man is in communication4  ,in all the   
nations which advanced in civilization1 
this transformation within mythology    
makes itself felt4  ,ormuzd1 the        
,persian god1 passes from a             
personification of the sunlight in its  
battle with darkness to a spiritual     
deity who is the guardian of all the    
virtues4  ,indra1 the ,vedic god1 is    
likewise at first the sky through which 
the clouds move1 and is later conceived 
as the creator and sustainer of the     
world4  ,the same process reveals itself
 in ,egyptian mythology for we pass from
 ,ra1 the sun deity1 to ,neph and ,pthah
 who represent creative energies and to 
,osiris1 the god of truth and goodness4 
,thus there is in mythology a universal 
movement1 from the visible aspects of   

nature as personified1 to supernal      
beings back of nature1 protecting what  
is thought of as highest and noblest in 
human conduct4  ,the setting remains    
constant while new wine is poured into  
the old bottles4  ,the truth of the     
matter is that man grew faster ethically
 than he did intellectually4 ,philosophy
 and science were far harder to achieve 
than glimpses of justice and kindness4  
,the very growth of society in numbers  
forced man to adapt his conduct to a #bf
 social life and to have regard to his  
neighbors4  ,the ideals advocated by    
,confucius1 ,buddha1 ,plato1 ,hosea and 
,jesus are as noble as our own4  ,but   
advance in knowledge and its            
presuppositions is more revolutionary   
and extraordinary because more          
artificial and more alien to the        
psychological prejudices of the mass of 
the people4  ,ethics1 like religion1    
remained for ages peacefully within the 
mythological setting which primitive man
 unconsciously constructed4  ,we have   

purposely omitted prior reference to the
 development of religion among the      
,hebrews because their religion has been
 so important for our own civilization4 
,the mythological element in it was     
relatively small for various reasons2   
yet this is true only if we have regard 
to fable and sthetic tale4  ,their world
 was one of personal agency just as it  
was for other races4  ,but the ,hebrews 
made a fresh start long after they had  
isolated themselves from the general    
,semitic stock4  ,their migration from  
their ancient home could not help but   
wither the more local myths1 and this   
tendency was renforced by the adoption  
of a new god1 ,yahweh1 the ,god of the  
,kenites4  ,yahweh was a god of the     
lightning who thundered from ,mount     
,sinai1 and he was a god of battles1    
just as was ,thor1 the thunder-god of   
the ,scandinavians4 ,this war god       
naturally obtained their allegiance     
during the years of conflict with the   
,canaanites1 and gained in prestige as  

time elapsed4 ,the ,canaanites had their
 local ,baal cults and myths1 and these 
were associated with agricultural       
festivals and with that worship of      
fertility which was so wide-spread among
 the ancients4  ,the followers of       
,yahweh1 on the other hand1 were hillmen
 and shepherds and their rites were     
closely connected with sacrificial      
observances4  #bg  ,as time passed1 the 
two races mingled and the tendency was  
toward an amalgamation of their         
respective cults4  ,but a storm of      
protest set in1 led by the prophets and 
the simpler1 less concretely            
naturalistic religion prevailed4  ,the  
very simplicity of the cult of ,yahweh  
made it a fitting basis for that ethical
 development which we associate with the
 names of ,amos1 ,hosea1 ,isaiah and    
,jeremiah4  ,only an ignorance of the   
ethical deepening of other religions can
 excuse the belief that this ethical    
development was absolutely unique4      
,probably it is the aspect of national  

monotheism1 or henotheism1 as it should 
more accurately be called1 which        
impresses so many1 whereas this feature 
was an historical accident4  ,to claim  
that the ,hebrew development was unique 
and therefore supernatural is to assume 
that the relatively unique must be      
supernatural4  ,but such an assumption  
has no foundation in experience1 for    
differences in the development of       
nations are the rule rather than the    
exception4  ,shall we say that ,english 
constitutional development is           
supernatural because no other nation    
achieved such a form of government by   
itself8  ,shall we assert that ,greek   
art was supernatural because it was     
unique8  ,is it not evident that the    
wish has been father to the thought in  
this case8  ,all early peoples have     
looked upon themselves as chosen and    
upon other peoples as gentiles and      
barbarians4  ,we have accepted this     
prejudice of the ,hebrews because we    
have adopted a modified form of their   

religion with its racial traditions4    
,but while conditions in ,palestine were
 not favorable to the flowering of a    
rich and delicate mythology1 it would be
 false to deny the presence of a        
mythological motive in the ,hebrew      
outlook4  ,the whole story of the #bh   
intimate relations of ,yahweh to his    
people and to their ancestors is through
 and through mythological4  ,milton's   
epic was made possible by the folklore  
incorporated in the ,bible4  ,there are 
many traces in the ,bible of a common   
,semitic tradition in spite of the      
reactions which it underwent4  ,recent  
,semitic scholarship has made it evident
 that ,babylonian beliefs had penetrated
 to this kindred people4 ,there are     
sun-myths and tales of semi-divine      
heroes4  ,after the exile1 under the    
influence of ,persia and ,babylonia1    
there arose a belief in demons and      
angels as powers at work in the world   
for good and evil4 ,these mythical      
creatures passed into the outlook of the

 ,western mind by way of ,christianity1 
and offered fruitful material for art   
and poetry1 and for the gradual         
blossoming of new myths around the      
,christian epic of the universe4        
,milton and ,dante unfold the inner     
meaning of life in terms which cannot be
 understood apart from beliefs which    
have their ultimate roots in primitive  
conceptions of the world4  ,christian   
mythology1 like ,greek mythology1 has   
its sthetic value1 but it is a mistake  
to assume that this value is removed    
when the old credence has departed4  ,to
 appreciate the beauty of ,botticelli's 
,venus1 it is not necessary to believe  
that ,venus arose from this sea-foam2 in
 like manner1 to enjoy ,christian art it
 is not required that we accept the     
literal truth of its symbols4  ,indeed1 
it seems to me very doubtful whether    
many educated people to-day take the    
minor characters of the ,christian      
pantheon very seriously4  ,we would be  
more than surprised to hear angelic     

messengers chanting in the heavens above
 us4  ,only because they are bound up   
with a system of attitudes and values   
dear to men1 are these mystic beings    
given that half-belief which #bi        
prevents them from falling into that    
limbo to which dragons and griffins and 
nymphs have descended4  ,that this will 
be their ultimate fate is certain4  ,in 
,protestant countries1 in which moral   
values control religion and sensuous    
elements exercise little attraction1    
these figures have already retreated far
 into the background4  ,yet the average 
religious mind likes to dally with the  
thought of them1 much as the child1 who 
no longer believes in fairies1 still    
wishes to indulge in make-believe when  
the everyday world becomes too bare and 
well-ordered4  ,the age of myth1 then1  
corresponds to a nave extension of human
 characteristics to natural phenomena4  
,the world becomes a drama to which man 
holds the key in his own life4  ,he     
feels himself surrounded by mysterious  

forces and agencies1 far surpassing his 
own puny strength1 and inevitably       
conceives them in analogy with his own  
activities4  ,they differ not so much in
 how they work as in what they do4  ,in 
this way1 the gods were born into the   
world--and once born man has been unable
 to free himself from them4  ,as he has 
grown in mental and moral stature1 he   
has unconsciously reflected into them   
this increased knowledge and these      
higher ideals4  ,and the process1 once  
begun1 has continued to the present4    
,not until he has outgrown old fears and
 relinquished unwarranted hopes will    
these beliefs lose their power4  ,then  
and not till then1 will reason be able  
to supplant mythology by knowledge4     
#cj  ,,chapter ,,iii  ,,stories ,,of    
,,creation  ,in stories of creation we  
have the imagination of primitive man at
 work1 trying to answer questions which 
it was no more prepared to answer than a
 child of seven is in a position to     
understand higher mathematics4  ,the    

savage has an answer for every question 
because he has no idea of the difficulty
 of the problems involved4  ,a name or a
 story will completely satisfy him      
because he is uncritical4  ,now the     
stories of creation1 or cosmogonies1 as 
they are technically called1 are        
peculiarly interesting because they give
 us an insight into the concrete terms  
which the imagination was forced to use 
in its attempt to picture the past and  
the origin of things4  ,moreover1 we can
 trace the changes these nave stories   
underwent as man's experience broadened 
and he was able to think more           
abstractly4  ,we can become acquainted  
with the materials with which the       
poet-priest of the pre-scientific past  
worked to build himself a marvelous and 
soul-satisfying tale2 and we are able1  
as history unrolls1 to watch myth       
gradually pass into theology4  ,the     
desire to explain how nature came to be 
and how man arose was well-nigh         
universal4  ,everywhere we find accounts

 of a distant past when the gods walked 
on earth4  ,egyptians1 ,hindoos1        
,greeks1 ,japanese1 ,polynesians1       
,hebrews and ,american ,indians had     
tales of the origin of things to tell4  
,this desire to account for #ca origins 
is not hard to understand4  ,the same   
psychological tendency is at work to-day
 and gives zest to the theory of        
evolution4  ,why did the ,descent of    
,man awaken such a storm throughout the 
,western ,world if not because it shook 
the story of man's first coming1 which  
had been handed down from generation to 
generation since the mists of antiquity8
  ,man wants to know about himself1 how 
he came here1 and whither he is going4  
,the vogue of the ,rubaiyat of ,omar    
,khayyam is in large measure due to the 
haunting sense of man's ignorance of his
 place in the world4  ,who set the stage
 and placed the puppets on it8          
,primitive man always answered his      
questions in terms of ,beings like      
himself1 although more powerful and     

longer lived4  ,all agency was for him  
personal agency4  ,and there are1 even  
now1 a surprisingly large number of     
people who can think in no other terms4 
,the universe is for them the playground
 of spirits who work their will upon it4
  ,matter and energy and the slow growth
 of years are ideas which strike them   
cold4  ,their view of the universe is   
dramatic and even melodramatic2 it is   
personal1 mythical4  ,let us glance at  
some of these attempts to account for   
the world4  ,we shall not find them very
 coherent or deep1 but we shall always  
find them instructive for the light they
 throw upon man1 himself1 and the limits
 set to his theories about origins by   
the concrete agency to which he perforce
 appealed4  ,we shall then realize how  
natural were the questions which man    
asked and which he sought to answer1 and
 how impossible it was for him to offer 
any other solutions than those          
imaginative ones which grew up in       
folk-lore and which have been developed 

and re-cast in the various religions4   
,no early race had the idea of an       
absolute beginning4  #cb ,the attempt   
made was simply to carry things back to 
different conditions1 to a less         
developed state of things1 and then to  
trace the larger steps by means of which
 the later world1 as they saw it1 came  
about4  ,those races which had little   
power for abstract thinking and had     
achieved few impersonal ideas kept very 
near to concrete phenomena and explained
 their own origin in terms of a mythical
 ancestor1 or animal magician1 while    
they left the earth and the sky very    
much as it was4  ,the ,iroquois         
,indians1 for instance1 believed that   
their original female ancestress fell   
from heaven4  ,there was no land to     
receive her1 but it suddenly bubbled up 
under her feet and waxed bigger1 so that
 ere long a whole country was visible4  
,other branches of the tribe held that  
otters and beavers hastened to dig up   
enough earth from beneath the water to  

provide her with an island on which to  
dwell4  ,the ,athapascans of            
,northwestern ,canada asserted that a   
raven1 whose eyes were fire1 whose      
glances were lightning1 and the clapping
 of whose wings was thunder1 descended  
to the ocean4  ,instantly1 the earth    
arose and remained floating on the      
surface of the waters4  ,it was from    
this ,being that the tribe traced its   
descent4  ,we must remember how near    
akin are animals and men at this stage  
of human development4  ,once throw      
oneself into the atmosphere of myth and 
it is not difficult to comprehend how   
such stories grew up4  ,but we are more 
interested in tracing the development of
 stories of creation from primitive     
types to subtler and more abstract      
forms2 and a collection of savage       
folk-lore on the subject would1         
therefore1 be of little value4  ,let us 
pass1 then1 to the accounts given by    
races which have played a part in       
history4  #cc  ,the ,egyptian account is

 as follows3 ,in the beginning was the  
primitive ocean1 a wild waste of waters4
  ,from this tossing chaos sprang land  
and sky1 and it was from their embrace  
that other things arose4  ,the general  
idea present in this account was        
probably derived from the ,nile floods  
or from glimpses of the ocean4  ,the    
lifting of the watery mists which are   
seen rising each morning from the ,nile1
 the parting of them from the earth and 
the raising of them to the sky was a    
work variously attributed to ,ra 7the   
sun7 or ,shu 7the atmosphere74          
,gradually the ,egyptians developed     
ideas of various deities all of whom    
derive from objects and activities in   
nature4  ,to these were then assigned   
the work of creation4  ,at first this   
work was thought of as a shaping or     
fashioning in a literal sense4  ,ptah1  
the ,great ,artificer1 shapes the sun   
and moon eggs on his potter's wheel2    
,osiris1 the god of vegetation1 formed  
with his hand the earth1 its waters1 its

 air1 its plants1 all its cattle1 all   
its birds1 all its winged fowl1 all its 
reptiles1 all its quadrupeds4  ,is this 
view very far different from the account
 given in the so-called second story of 
creation beginning with verse four of   
,genesis8  ,there it is written3 ,and   
the ,lord ,god formed man of the dust of
 the ground1 and breathed into his      
nostrils the breath of life2 and man    
became a living soul4  ,somewhat later  
developed the more priestly1 or         
theological1 account2 just as it did for
 the ,hebrews4  ,creation was then      
conceived more mystically as an act of  
will issuing in a word of command4  ,we 
should remember that1 for primitive     
thought1 words were not mere verbal     
signs1 useful to man as means of        
communication1 but were conceived1 more 
realistically and navely1 as essential  
parts of things1 bound up with their    
existence4  #cd ,this same fact will    
explain much of the ritual of magic4    
,when ,god says1 ,let there be light1   

light is selected and1 as it were1      
coerced into existence by the name4  ,as
 time passed man became reflective and  
critical4  ,he had nothing essentially  
new to offer1 yet he felt dissatisfied  
with the crude imagery of tradition4    
,step by step with the growth of        
society1 we always find the passage from
 creation myths built around the idea of
 spontaneous generation to the idea of a
 god who molds men as a potter does his 
clay1 and thence to a fiat in which the 
creative will of a supernatural and     
transcendent deity finds expression4    
,there is a remarkable similarity in    
creation stories1 just as we would      
expect4  ,the same few motives repeat   
themselves with local variations4  ,the 
oldest of the ,greek myths of creation  
are to be found in ,homer and ,hesiod4  
,for ,homer1 ,oceanus is the father of  
the gods1 while ,tethys1 called the     
suckling or nursing one1 is the mother4 
,back of these august1 generative       
powers1 however1 lies ,night whom even  

,zeus is afraid to offend4  ,we must    
remember that darkness is a presence for
 early man1 as real as water or air1 and
 that man feared it as mysterious and   
threatening4  ,always we must put aside 
the knowledge which science has given us
 and sink down into this vague world of 
the past1 filled with tremendous shapes 
and forces4  ,hesiod's view is best     
given in his own words3    ,from chaos  
were generated ,erebos and black ,night1
   ,and from ,night again were generated
 ,ether and ,day1   ,whom she brought   
forth1 having conceived from the        
embrace of ,erebos4  ,here we have the  
same sexual motive at work as among the 
,egyptians2 a motive which1 as we should
 expect1 #ce is well-nigh universal4    
,during the sixth century there was an  
efflorescence of creation myths among   
the ,greeks4  ,these are associated with
 the name of ,orpheus1 and are commonly 
classed together as ,orphic cosmogonies4
  ,soon after1 philosophic speculation  
began to come into its own and the      

,greeks left off telling tales4         
,burnet1 a famous student of ,greek     
culture1 asserts that history teaches   
that science has never existed except   
among those peoples which the ,greeks   
have influenced4  ,but we shall leave   
the ,greeks for the present2 it may be  
that we shall meet them1 and their      
influence again4  ,the ,hindoos passed  
from crude views to more abstract and   
refined concepts just as the ,egyptians 
and ,greeks did4  ,in the ,vedic period1
 there are many contradictory statements
 about the creation of the world and of 
the gods4  ,heaven and earth are spoken 
of as the parents of the gods1 and at   
the same time the gods are said to have 
built1 or woven1 the whole world4  ,when
 we remember that there was little      
distinction at first between nature and 
the gods1 we are not surprised at this  
contradiction4  ,moreover1 as one writer
 suggests1 this contradiction seems only
 to have enhanced the mystery of the    
conception4  ,when religion enters1     

logic is not always desired4  ,another  
conception which we find in ,hindoo     
thought is that of a world-egg4  ,this  
analogy is so natural that we are not   
surprised to discover it4  ,let us      
glance at one of the accounts given in  
the ,satapatha ,brahmana3 ,in the       
beginning this universe was water1      
nothing but water4  ,the waters desired1
 ',how can we be reproduced8'  ,so      
saying1 they toiled1 they performed     
austerity4  ,while they were performing 
austerity1 a golden egg came into       
existence4  ,being produced1 #cf it then
 became a year4  ,wherefore this golden 
egg floated about for the period of a   
year4  ,from it in a year a male came   
into existence1 who was ,prajapati4444  
,he divided this golden egg4444  ,in a  
year he desired to speak4  ,he uttered  
'bhur1' which became this earth2        
'bhuvah1' which became this firmament2  
and 'svar1' which became that sky4444   
,desiring progeny1 he went on worshiping
 and toiling4  ,he conceived progeny in 

himself2 with his mouth he created the  
gods4444  ,this account of the creation 
is characteristic of ,hindoo thought as 
it passes from the frank admiration of  
nature1 which distinguishes the ,vedic  
period1 to what more nearly approaches  
theosophic speculation4 ,yet there is no
 genuine break with the animism of      
primitive times4  ,the waters are       
thought of as desiring1 that is1 they   
are held to be alive and vaguely        
conscious4  ,the belief that words are  
inseparable from things should again be 
noted4  ,bhur becomes the earth1 and    
svar becomes the sky4  ,in the course of
 time1 ,hindoo thought became more      
abstract and sophisticated without      
having achieved any method which would  
lead to tested knowledge4  ,an analogy  
may make clearer to the reader the      
vicious intellectual situation4         
,imagine the subtle minds of the        
,medival scholastics1 without the       
material furnished them by the ,greek   
philosophy1 and obliged to exercise     

themselves upon magic1 myth and legend4 
,the very energy and subtlety of their  
intellects would lead them into all     
sorts of phantasmagoria4                
,theosophy--and a large share of what is
 called theology--is simply a refining  
and subtilizing of mythology4  ,the more
 difficult and abstract the thought1 the
 more significance #cg it is assumed to 
possess4  ,the penetrative and exploring
 power of mere untested speculation is  
taken for granted4 ,words throw a spell 
over the mind because nothing of a more 
positive character is before it to      
counteract their charm4  ,even to-day we
 all know of people who like to employ  
such terms as force1 and unity1 and     
spirit1 and will4  ,the very vagueness  
of the words exercises a fascination    
which smothers the slight demand for    
explanation4  ,just as the ,jews of the 
,dispersion spoke of ,wisdom as the     
first-born creature of ,god and gave    
this abstraction an objective existence1
 so the ,hindoo poets and theosophists  

explained the world in terms which seem 
to the scientifically trained mind      
subjective and irrelevant4  ,for all its
 apparent profundity1 such an outlook   
represents a lower stage than that which
 science has reached4  ,subtlety is not 
enough2 it must be a servant to the     
right methods of investigation4         
,dialectic and imaginative vividness    
cannot give truth to ideas not adapted  
to explain the sort of a world we live  
in4  ,those creation stories developed  
by the ,hebrews with the aid of the     
,babylonians have had most influence on 
,western thought and1 therefore1 deserve
 considerable attention4  ,the motives  
and mental processes at work are1       
however1 essentially those which we have
 already examined4 ,unfortunately1 we   
have only hints here and there in the   
,old ,testament of the more primitive   
traditions which were worked over and   
built upon by the priests and prophets4 
,moreover1 the ,yahweh religion seems to
 have been adopted quite late and to    

have made easy a break with the older   
tales4  ,probably few readers of the    
,bible1 who have not made a systematic  
study of ,semitic literature1 are aware 
that ancient strands of #ch folk-lore   
are scattered through it4  ,in ,psalm   
#gd1 for instance1 there is a good      
instance of primitive views3 ,thou didst
 divide the sea by thy strength2 ,thou  
breakest the head of ,leviathan in      
pieces4444 ,thou didst cleave fountain  
and flood4  ,in ,job1 likewise1 there   
are references to these deeds of ,yahweh
 in the far past4  ,very few casual     
readers ask themselves who ,rahab and   
the ,flying ,serpent and ,leviathan     
were4  ,now investigation has shown that
 we have1 in these references to the    
deeds of ,yahweh1 fragments of the      
,babylonian myth of creation4 ,these    
creatures are monsters whom ,yahweh     
makes captive before he orders the      
original chaos into a cosmos4  ,in doing
 this1 he is a counterpart of ,marduk1  
the ,babylonian creator4  ,these        

monsters1 like the gods who conquer     
them1 are only personified forms of     
phenomena in the heavens above and the  
earth beneath4  ,let us now consider the
 stories of creation given in ,genesis4 
,it is not widely enough known that     
there are two distinct accounts which1  
although they are externally combined1  
can easily be separated even in the     
,english translation4  ,the oldest      
version begins with chapter two1 verse  
five4  ,this version is called the      
prophetic account4  ,it assumes that the
 world already exists and concerns      
itself only with man's appearance1 the  
institution of marriage1 and the general
 features of man's life4  ,god forms man
 out of the dust of the ground1 as a    
potter molds his clay1 and breathes into
 him the breath of life4  ,he places him
 in a garden to dress and keep it4  ,but
 the incidents which follow are so      
familiar to every one that there is no  
need to repeat them4  ,scholars have    
pointed out that this account is very   

similar to that current in ,babylonia4  
,the motives are like those found in the
 ,gilgamish and ,adapa #ci myths4  ,the 
differences in general tone and in      
geographical details can readily be     
explained by the later date--about the  
eighth century--and the character of the
 ,palestinian landscape4  ,those who    
read ,hebrew will note the difference in
 vocabulary between the second chapter  
in ,genesis and the first1 while those  
who are confined to the ,english        
translation should especially note that 
the two words1 ,lord and ,god1 are      
combined in the prophetic account4      
,there are many nave1 and obviously     
primitive1 touches in this creation     
story which give it a quaint charm4     
,only those1 however1 who are themselves
 nave in their outlook upon the world   
can dream of taking it as other than    
folk-lore4  ,i must confess that it is a
 mystery to me that so many fairly      
educated men can take it as anything but
 what it so obviously is1 a creation    

myth4  ,the creation story1 told in the 
first chapter1 is called by scholars the
 priestly account4  ,it is post-exilic  
and1 so1 relatively late4  ,the         
foundation consists of mythical ideas   
which go back to the mists of antiquity4
  ,from these were derived certain terms
 which are scarcely translatable into   
,english4  ,the reader has been further 
confused by a poetic and inexact        
rendering of many ,hebrew phrases4  ,the
 spirit of ,god is literally the wind of
 ,god1 an idea which probably is        
historically connected with the         
,babylonian tale of how ,marduk uses the
 wind as his instrument in his fight    
against ,tiamat1 the monster of the     
deep4  ,tiamat has become ,tehom1       
translated as the deep4  ,in spite of   
the lapse in verse #bf1 into the        
language of polytheism1 the priestly    
account represents a late theological   
level in which creation is conceived as 
the passage of will and word into       
existence4  ,the effect is #dj majestic 

and intensely dramatic in its           
simplicity4  ,yet how else can critical 
thought portray creation8  ,an          
omnipotent1 personal ,god is necessarily
 conceived as one who has the power to  
call things into being4  ,to ask how he 
does this is meaningless1 for it ignores
 the stark power which is assumed4  ,in 
accordance with the genius of the       
,semite1 then1 ,god was pictured as a   
monarch whose very will brought forth   
without effort4  ,but a little          
reflection must convince us that this   
conception neither makes creation       
thinkable in any genuine sense nor      
proves its occurrence4  ,we have merely 
attained the idealization of the        
creation myth1 its most perfect form4   
,the ,christian conception of the       
creation rests largely upon the ,hebrew 
account4  ,the uncritical way in which  
this was studied and accepted1 previous 
to the rise of modern science and the   
higher criticism1 remains a marvel to   
those who are not acquainted with the   

psychology of religion4  ,sanctioned by 
religion1 idealized myth naturally held 
its own until something positive arose  
to dispute it4  ,the ,church ,fathers1  
the scholastics1 and the leaders of the 
,reformation accepted the stories in    
,genesis as revelations4  ,they believed
 that there was a ,god and that he had  
revealed to man what he had done and    
what his plan of salvation was4  ,these 
myths fitted into their view of the     
world as an essential and harmonious    
ingredient of it4  ,what motive would   
there be for skepticism8  ,luther states
 that ,moses is writing history and     
reporting things that actually happened4
  ,god was pleased1 says ,calvin1 that a
 history of the creation should exist4  
,of course1 no really educated man of   
to-day can accept this attitude unless  
he wishes to sin against his reason4    
,it is #da unfortunate that there has   
not been sufficient openness of mind to 
make possible a wider extension of the  
knowledge which scholars have been      

accumulating4  ,the only candid thing to
 do is to class these ,hebrew stories of
 the creation with the myths which grew 
up in other parts of the world4  ,all   
represent attempts to picture a         
beginning of things as they are1 by     
appeal to a magnified and magical       
personal agency4  ,those early thinkers 
did the best they could do with the     
ideas they had at hand4  ,they were     
innocent of our modern understanding of 
nature as a scene of impersonal1 causal 
processes4  ,to try to find science in  
mythology is like looking upon ,dante's 
,divine ,comedy as a tale of real       
adventure4  ,it is interesting to study 
the speculations which ,christian       
thinkers have evolved upon the question 
of creation4  ,usually1 the idea of a   
creation of the physical world out of   
nothing by a fiat has been favored4  ,i 
am the ,lord1 that maketh all things2   
that stretches forth the heavens alone2 
that spreadeth abroad the earth4  ,such 
is the natural goal of the idea of a    

creation4  ,yet a moment's reflection   
makes us realize that the position is   
entirely deductive and without a shred  
of evidence4  ,to assign to a           
hypothetical agent called ,god powers   
sufficient to produce what experience   
tells us exists explains nothing4 ,the  
primary assumption1 of course1 is that  
there must have been a creation4  ,but  
the conception of evolution has attacked
 that assumption at its very foundation4
  ,of late1 there have been attempted   
compromises with the idea of evolution4 
,may not ,god guide the course of       
natural change8  ,but this outlook meets
 with certain difficulties4  ,in the    
first place1 was the physical #db world 
created8  ,if so1 it must have been the 
best of all possible physical worlds1 or
 else ,god is either not omnipotent or  
not omniscient or not ideally good4     
,and when these questions are raised1 we
 pass immediately into a field of mere  
speculation4  ,the centuries have been  
witnesses of disputes between advocates 

of different dogmas4 ,at present1 there 
seems to be a revival of interest in the
 idea of a limited and youthful deity   
struggling against odds to make the     
world livable4  ,but ,god becomes a part
 of the universe in every sense1 and so 
we are led to the idea that the physical
 world was not created but is1 rather1  
co-existent with deity4  ,of course1    
there are many possible variations on   
the theme1 and human ingenuity will     
exhaust itself in combining these       
possibilities in various ways4  ,the    
truth is1 that these theological        
speculations carry us nowhere4 ,myth and
 dialectical acuteness1 however         
skillfully blended1 cannot add to our   
genuine knowledge of the world4         
,instead1 they create new problems of   
their own which cannot be settled1      
because there is no way of testing and  
verifying the various solutions4  ,in   
short1 the premises are at fault and    
must be outgrown and left behind4  ,our 
experience no longer suggests to us the 

idea of a supernatural agency at work1  
nor are we so prone to think of an act  
of creation some few thousands of years 
in the past4  ,we have largely outgrown 
the mythological setting out of which   
theology arose1 and it is tradition and 
the lack of a more positive view which  
enable it to retain for us any semblance
 of plausibility4  ,there is nothing    
inherently irrational in the idea of    
creation2 it simply bears witness to a  
looser1 more personal world in which    
annihilation and #dc origination were   
familiar events1 because man saw only   
the surface of things and was not able  
to follow the continuities which bind   
things together underneath4  ,the       
principle of conservation1 which is one 
of the grand achievements of science1 is
 like a two-edged sword3 it destroys not
 only the belief in an absolute         
annihilation but1 likewise1 the belief  
in an absolute beginning4 ,slowly1 but  
surely1 this new view of nature will    
have its effect and undermine the more  

nave hypothesis of a creation4  ,the    
emotional reverberation of the          
accustomed forms of speech1 renforced by
 the mental habits encouraged by        
religion1 will die out only gradually4  
,man is instinctively romantic and tends
 to dramatize the world4  ,his favorite 
categories are personal1 and he has a   
profound distaste for the impersonalism 
of science4  ,only the slow pressure of 
actual knowledge will lift him to a     
truer view of the world in which he     
finds himself4     #dd  ,,chapter ,,iv  
,,magic ,,and ,,ritual  ,early man had  
not the conception of natural law that  
we now possess4 ,in order even partially
 to understand his attitude toward      
things1 the man of to-day must abstract 
from the idea of law and regularity     
which he has shot through nature1 and   
ignore the knowledge about the          
antecedents of events which close       
observation and careful experiment have 
furnished him with4  ,in the case of    
magic1 just as in the case of mythology1

 he who wishes to see eye to eye with   
those who lived long ago must rid       
himself for the time being both of the  
knowledge which science has accumulated 
and of the mental habits of enquiry and 
causal explanation which have been      
fostered by it4  ,these habits and this 
knowledge have become such a part of us 
that we are not fully conscious of them 
and of their importance4  ,they are like
 the clothes we wear or the forms of    
politeness which we go through with     
automatically4  ,it is only after the   
twentieth-century man delves into       
folklore or reads accounts of the       
beliefs and practices of the past1 that 
he realizes that he stands on the       
shoulders of innumerable generations as 
the inheritor of a long process of      
mental evolution4  ,nothing1 perhaps1   
can make him realize this fact more     
vividly than a study of magic4  ,what is
 magic8  ,the best answer is to give    
examples #de of magic4  ,in the ,malay  
,peninsula the magician makes an image  

like a corpse1 a footstep long4  ,if you
 want to cause sickness1 you pierce the 
eye and blindness results2 or you pierce
 the waist and the stomach gets sick4   
,if you want to cause death1 you        
transfix the head with a palm twig2 then
 you enshroud the image as you would a  
corpse and pray over it as if you were  
praying over the dead2 then you bury it 
in the middle of the path which leads to
 the place of the person whom you wish  
to charm1 so that he may step over it4  
,ancient agriculture is full of magic   
rites designed to ward off evils4  ,to  
this day a ,transylvanian sower thinks  
he can keep birds from the corn by      
carrying a lock in the seedbag4  ,to    
this day1 again1 in ,roumania1 ,serbia  
and parts of ,germany1 the peasants try 
to bring on a rain by sprinkling water  
on a young girl4  ,it is supposed that  
nature will follow suit1 and send a     
beneficent shower upon the thirsty      
earth4  ,magic is1 then1 an ingenious   
way of making or leading nature to do   

what you want it to do4  ,as ,professor 
,murray writes3 ,agriculture used to be 
entirely a question of religion2 now it 
is almost entirely a question of        
science4  ,in antiquity1 if a field was 
barren1 the owner of it would probably  
assume that the barrenness was due to   
pollution1 or offense somewhere4  ,he   
would run through all his own possible  
offenses1 or at any rate those of his   
neighbors and ancestors1 and when he    
eventually decided the cause of the     
trouble1 the steps that he would take   
would all be of a kind calculated not to
 affect the chemical constitution of the
 soil1 but to satisfy his own emotions  
of guilt and terror1 or the imaginary   
being he had offended4  ,a modern man in
 the same predicament would probably not
 think of religion at all1 at any rate  
#df in the earlier stages2 he would say 
it was a case for deeper plowing or for 
basic slag4  ,magic is a way of         
controlling things4  ,imitate the act   
desired1 in a certain way1 and it will  

come to pass4  ,talismans and amulets1  
again1 possess a secret power for good  
and evil4  ,ancient societies built up a
 lore of this kind1 adding to material  
objects the agency of demons under the  
control of magicians4  ,this lore is    
practically a feature of the past4      
,even white magic is no longer good     
form1 no longer accredited by the       
dominant social mind4  ,it slinks into  
out-of-the-way places beyond the public 
eye4  ,yet research is showing that     
these seemingly discredited beliefs and 
points of view seldom completely        
disappear4  ,they smolder beneath the   
surface and flame up now and then in a  
startling way to remind us that society 
in its evolution does not carry all its 
members along at the same rate4  ,the   
historian is surprised to find that     
rites which are given an exalted place  
in various religions are magical at     
heart1 and go back to beliefs which have
 long been discredited in other         
settings4  ,some who have specialized in

 folklore and anthropology are very     
pessimistic as to the degree in which   
the scientific outlook upon nature is   
replacing the more primitive attitude   
associated with magic4 ,one of the      
greatest authorities upon primitive     
beliefs and customs writes as follows3  
,we seem to move on a thin crust which  
may at any moment be rent by the        
subterranean forces slumbering below4444
  ,now and then the polite world is     
startled by a paragraph in a newspaper  
which tells how in ,scotland an image   
has been found stuck full of pins for   
the purpose of killing an obnoxious     
laird or minister1 how a woman has been 
slowly roasted #dg to death as a witch  
in ,ireland1 or how a girl has been     
murdered and chopped up in ,russia to   
make those candles of human tallow by   
whose light thieves hope to pursue their
 midnight trade unseen4  ,the danger to 
civilization foreseen by the specialist 
in uncouth customs is undoubtedly       
exaggerated1 but his warning should     

remind us that education has a very     
valuable function to perform in training
 an ever increasing number in scientific
 habits of thought4  ,one of the        
assumptions which underlie magic is the 
idea that two things are connected in   
nature because they are like one        
another4  ,space is not looked upon as a
 barrier to this connection4  ,so far as
 can be seen1 anything can affect       
anything else2 and the slightest        
suggestion of such a relation leads to  
the belief in its reality4  ,there is   
almost entire absence of any conception 
of systematic testing3 any accidental   
association may lead the savage to be   
assured of an important sign4 ,thus1 if 
a man went out hunting and saw a rabbit 
cross his path1 and then had bad luck1  
he would be sure that a rabbit is a sign
 of bad luck4  ,moreover1 since         
individuals were on the lookout for     
hoodoos1 they would not tempt providence
 a second time4  ,this example          
illustrates the psychology rather than  

the sociology of the process4 ,it must  
be remembered that social groups        
developed what we call superstitions by 
way of social contagion and suggestion4 
,the laughing acquiescence of the       
present in hoodoos1 mascots and lucky   
objects cannot be traced back to the    
credulity of any one individual4  ,such 
things come to pass by a process of     
accretion just as does the belief that a
 particular house is haunted4  ,most    
writers on the subject classify magic   
into two #dh kinds1 imitative and       
contagious4  ,these varieties are then  
carried back to two principles which    
seem to govern the association of ideas4
  ,imitative magic follows the law of   
association by similarity1 while        
contagious magic is based on the law of 
contiguity4  ,to those who have studied 
psychology this classification will     
present no difficulties4  ,to others a  
word of explanation is1 perhaps1        
necessary4  ,our minds connect things or
 acts which are similar 7the principle  

of similarity7 and those which are      
experienced or thought of together      
7principle of contiguity74 ,connections 
are thus made between things and1 since 
the principles are so liberal1 almost   
anything can be connected with anything 
else4  ,it is this liberality which is  
alien to science4  ,let us glance at    
some examples of both kinds of magic4   
,the most familiar instance of imitative
 magic is the device by means of which  
an individual hopes to injure or kill an
 enemy4  ,a figure of the enemy is made 
and this is then stuck full of pins or  
else burned before a slow fire4  ,in    
ancient ,babylonia it was a common      
practice to make an image of clay1      
pitch1 honey1 fat1 or other soft        
material in the likeness of an enemy1   
and to injure or kill him by burning1   
burying1 or otherwise ill-treating it4  
,this practice occurs in the highlands  
of ,scotland to-day as well as in       
,mexico1 ,italy1 ,china and other       
countries4 ,rossetti's poem1 ,sister    

,helen1 has made this example of        
imitative magic fairly familiar to those
 who would probably never otherwise have
 heard of it4    ,why did you melt your 
waxen man1         ,sister ,helen8      
,to-day is the third since you began4   
#di    ,the time was long1 yet the time 
ran1         ,little brother4   ,oh1 the
 waxen knave was plump to-day1          
,sister ,helen2   ,now like dead folk he
 has dropped away6   ,nay now1 of the   
dead what can you say1         ,little  
brother8  ,there are many other curious 
instances of imitative magic4  ,a       
,bavarian peasant in sowing wheat will  
sometimes wear a golden ring1 in order  
that the corn may have a fine yellow    
color4  ,similarly1 in many parts of    
,germany and ,austria1 the peasant      
imagines that he makes the flax grow    
tall by dancing or leaping high1 or by  
jumping backwards from a table4         
,telepathic action1 or action at a      
distance1 was constantly believed in4   
,the hunter's wife abstained from       

spinning for fear the game should turn  
and wind like the spindle and the hunter
 be unable to hit it4  ,while imitative 
magic works through fancied resemblance1
 contagious magic is based on the       
principle that what has once been       
together must remain forever after in a 
sympathetic relation1 so that what is   
done to one affects the other4  ,in     
,sussex some forty years ago a maid     
servant remonstrated strongly against   
the throwing away of children's cast    
teeth1 affirming that should they be    
found and gnawed by any animal1 the     
child's new tooth would be1 for all the 
world1 like the teeth of the animal that
 had bitten the old one4  ,it was quite 
the custom in former years to anoint the
 sword which wounded a man instead of   
the wound itself4  ,in ,bryden's play1  
,the ,tempest1 ,ariel directs ,prospero 
to anoint the sword which wounded       
,hippolite and to wrap it up close from 
the air4  ,footprints1 pieces of #ej    
clothing1 pictures1 locks of hair1 all  

are connected with the individual and   
what is done to them reacts on the      
individual no matter where he is4  ,at  
first1 mankind resorted to magic as     
naturally as we resort to the           
information given us by science4  ,there
 was nothing nefarious about it4 ,not to
 use all the precautions in your power  
and employ all the means you could think
 of was simply foolish4  ,as time went  
on1 however1 socially approved magic    
became distinguished from black magic or
 that which it was wrong to resort to4  
,but magic1 like every other activity1  
tended to become specialized4  ,certain 
persons seemed to possess more power    
than others1 and1 since no one could    
tell what was impossible1 what appear to
 us the most absurd claims were put     
forth4  ,things were believed because   
they were impossible4  ,it was under the
 encouragement of this will to believe  
that magic flourished until the slow    
growth of civilization and the awakening
 reason of man cast doubts upon it4  ,to

 study the more technical developments  
of magic is extremely interesting4      
,magicians as a class evolved a lore    
which was looked upon by the uninitiated
 as occult and mysterious4  ,the mass of
 the people did not know of any bounds  
which could be set to their power4      
,they and their deeds were shrouded in  
darkness and surrounded by all the      
gruesome associations which the         
awe-struck imagination could conjure up4
  ,such was the case especially when    
magic became outlawed as an underhand   
means of obtaining things4  ,but magic  
had by then fallen on evil days4  ,it   
was not yet disbelieved but simply      
condemned because it did not fit in with
 the dominant religious and social      
order4  ,the exact #ea relation of      
religion and magic is a somewhat complex
 problem which we must postpone for a   
while4  ,the orient was always the      
fertile home of magic3 here it reached  
its more technical developments4  ,in   
,lucian we read of the reputed power of 

the ,chaldean wise men who were able to 
recite spells which would move even the 
gods4  ,all through the ,east this      
esoteric science existed4  ,in ,egypt   
the magicians claimed to be able to     
compel the highest gods to do their     
bidding4  ,by this time magic had1      
however1 passed beyond its more         
primitive character4  ,so far as it     
involved signs and acts1 these were of a
 highly symbolic type4  ,geometrical    
figures of intricate construction1      
phrases consisting of apparently        
meaningless words or of words supposed  
to have a peculiar significance1 and the
 names of gods or demons were used with 
appropriate ceremonies4 ,many of these  
magical formulae have come down to us4  
,they are spells which are supposed to  
constrain even the highest gods4  ,the  
story of ,faust reflects very well the  
notion of magic existing in ,europe     
during the ,middle ,ages4  ,the reader  
will call to mind the scene in which    
,faust calls up the ,earth-,spirit4     

,devotees of ,victor ,hugo will remember
 the description given in his           
,notre-,dame of ,dom ,claude's cell and 
this ecclesiast's unsuccessful attempts 
to use the hammer of ,ezekiel4  ,the    
important thing was to discover the     
magic word which this famous rabbi      
pronounced as he struck upon the nail   
with his hammer4  ,we have frequently   
called attention to the close connection
 supposed to exist between name and     
thing4  ,the name is a genuine part of  
the nature of the thing4  #eb ,it was   
this assumption which lay at the root of
 the more involved magic of spells and  
incantations4  ,this is why every       
ancient ,egyptian had two names1 writes 
,f4 ,c4 ,conybeare1 one by which his    
fellows in this world knew him1 and the 
other1 his true or great name1 by which 
he was known to the supernal powers and 
in the other world4  ,he who possessed  
knowledge of the name of another had him
 to that extent in his power4  ,fear of 
such an eventuality led many nations to 

conceal the true name of their god4     
,that is why the real name of the god of
 the ,hebrews is a matter of conjecture 
to us1 and why the ,romans had an       
important deity whose name is completely
 lost4  ,in an old ,egyptian legend1 the
 goddess ,isis asks herself this        
question1 ,cannot ,i1 by virtue of the  
great name of ,ra1 make myself a goddess
 and reign like him in heaven and earth8
  ,this conception reminds us of the    
passage in ,matthew1 ,many will say to  
me in that day1 ,lord1 ,lord1 did we not
 prophesy by thy name1 and by thy name  
cast out devils1 and by thy name do     
mighty works8  ,and then will ,i profess
 unto them1 ,i never knew you3 depart   
from me1 ye that work iniquity4  ,again1
 in ,mark1 we have this corresponding   
passage1 ,john said unto him1 ,teacher1 
we saw one casting out devils in thy    
name2 and we forbade him1 because he    
followed us not4  ,thus names were      
things to conjure with in a literal     
sense4  ,how few of those who read these

 verses understand their real meaning1  
that they involved a belief in the magic
 of names6  ,in the ,acts of the        
,apostles1 ,peter performs a miracle    
simply by the name of ,jesus ,christ of 
,nazareth4  ,is it necessary to remark  
that such cures as were possibly        
performed were due to #ec suggestion of 
the sort for which ecstatic religious   
faith prepares the way8  ,in            
pre-scientific times1 diseases were     
regarded as the effect of spirits or    
demons4  ,death1 itself1 is considered  
the work of a malignant agent4  ,it is  
unnatural and magical4  ,savages often  
address diseases respectfully as        
,grandfather ,smallpox4  ,jesus heals a 
woman and speaks of her as a daughter of
 ,abraham whom ,satan has bound these   
eighteen years past4  ,this address is  
in accord with the beliefs of that day  
everywhere4  ,that the early ,christians
 held similar views is no matter for    
surprise4  ,they were children of their 
age4  ,religion and magic were long     

bound up with one another4  ,it is      
useless to ask which came first1 for    
they are not mutually exclusive in the  
beginning4  ,only as an ethical         
monotheism1 with a high respect for the 
personality and power of the deity      
worshiped1 develops1 is the magical     
element rejected4  ,there are few       
religions1 even to-day1 which do not    
contain magical elements1 and the       
farther back in time we go1 the more    
conspicuous is the presence of          
incantations and ritual acts imputed to 
have a mysterious efficacy4  ,man had   
sore need of help1 and so he adopted all
 the means which accident1 fancy and    
ignorance suggested4 ,if certain acts   
gave him the mana of his god or brought 
pressure to bear upon a supernatural    
agent1 so much the better4  ,much of    
early liturgy is a mingling of spell and
 prayer1 and it is strictly true that   
much of ,christian liturgy bears traces 
of this origin4  ,the following example 
shows this intertwining of higher and   

lower elements3 ,in the blessing of the 
baptismal water on the eve of ,epiphany1
 a custom prevalent in the earlier      
,church #ed of ,rome1 the priest1 while 
praying to ,god to sanctify the water1  
dipped a crucifix thrice into it1       
recalling in his prayer the miracle     
described in ,exodus1 the sweetening of 
the bitter water with wood2 then        
followed antiphonal singing describing  
,christ's baptism in ,jordan1 which     
sanctified the water4  ,we appear to    
have here1 writes ,l4 ,d4 ,farnell1 a   
combination of the great typical forms  
of the immemorial religious energy1     
prayer pure and simple1 the potent use  
of the spiritually charged object1 the  
fetish 7in this case the crucifix71 and 
an intoned or chanted narrative which   
has the spell-value of suggestion4  ,it 
has been suggested by certain           
investigators that magic is nearer      
science than religion4  ,it is the      
attempt of man to compel things to do   
what he desires4  ,in religion1 on the  

other hand1 man proclaims his           
helplessness and his utter dependence   
upon spiritual powers4  ,there can be   
little doubt that this difference exists
 and comes more and more to the front4  
,but it is not until religion evolves   
into spiritual prayer and communion and 
away from ritual processes that the     
separation takes place4  ,few events are
 more interesting than the gradual      
rejection of magic by religion4  ,but   
does not this rejection involve a       
similar rejection of science8  ,here1   
again1 we meet the inevitable           
compromise4 ,white magic is             
distinguished from black magic4  ,we    
shall have more to say of this          
relationship later4  ,only after        
countless centuries of mistake did the  
intellect of man discover the actual    
relations in nature in such a way as to 
be able to use them with certainty4     
,subjective associations were then      
replaced by tested causal connections4  
,faith in mere imitative acts was #ee   

lost1 and it was finally realized that  
patient research was a pre-condition of 
the control of man's environment4       
,time1 alone1 could show what was       
possible and what was impossible4  ,we  
have pointed out that1 as religion      
became more idealistic in its conception
 of deity1 magic tended to drop into the
 background4  ,moral motives were       
considered the sole motives capable of  
moving him to beneficent action4        
,prayer came to be thought of as a      
petition for the good1 and it was even  
admitted that this omniscient being knew
 better than the petitioner what was    
best4  ,we who have been brought up in  
the ,christian belief have been too much
 inclined to belittle the character and 
intellect of races with a different     
heritage4  ,it may be well1 then1 to    
point out that problems which are being 
thrashed over to-day in ,christian      
communities were discussed and answered 
in much the same way by other peoples in
 less enlightened times4  ,ancient      

,greece reached the spiritual level     
expressed in the conclusion of the      
,lord's ,prayer1 ,thy will be done4     
,the prayer of ,socrates was3 ,grant me 
to become noble of heart4  ,the prayer  
of ,epictetus was3 ,do with me what thou
 wilt3 my will is thy will3 ,i appeal   
not against thy judgments4  ,is this not
 the inevitable deduction from an       
ethical monotheism8  ,any noble believer
 in a good god would look at prayer in  
this way4  ,it is not surprising1 then1 
that the more philosophic adherents of  
early ,christianity questioned the      
validity of prayers for favors4  ,take  
away the support of science1 with its   
healthy scotching of superstition1 from 
the mind of the modern ,christian and ,i
 doubt whether he would rise to higher  
ethical levels than any of his forbears4
  #ef  ,but the growth of moral idealism
 in religion does not involve the       
rational overthrow of magic4  ,so long  
as all the events in the world are not  
assigned directly to ,god as the sole   

active agent at work1 the basis of magic
 remains4  ,moral idealism condemns only
 black magic1 that is1 an immoral use of
 magical powers4  ,but moral            
condemnation is not a rational denial of
 the existence of magic4  ,carried to   
its logical extreme1 ethical monotheism 
could discredit magic only by           
substituting personal for impersonal    
agency1 and then proclaiming a monopoly 
of personal agency4  ,it is evident1    
then1 that science1 rather than         
religion1 has been the real foe of      
magic1 because it grappled with it      
empirically1 and in a detailed fashion1 
in the midst of the here and now of     
human events4  ,ethical monotheism is   
abstract1 deductive and dogmatic4  ,what
 was necessary was a critical movement  
at once concrete1 inductive and         
empirical4  ,religion develops only the 
moral reason and tends to leave the     
wider reaches of reason an uncultivated 
field4 ,hence the traitor of            
superstition was never far from it1     

thunder as the preacher would from the  
pulpit4  ,victory over darkness requires
 the spread of light into every nook and
 cranny of the human soul4  ,the        
age-long conflict has passed its crisis4
  ,yet all too few willingly give their 
whole-hearted allegiance to the ideals  
and methods of science4  ,the struggle  
upward from primitive ignorance and     
superstition to the conception of       
slow-working impersonal agency has been 
toilsome and tiring1 and the germs of   
sullen revolt are in more breasts than  
we often suppose4  ,man's hold on the   
good is frail2 let us seek to strengthen
 it and to widen its grasp4  ,laudation 
of the practical #eg applications of    
science is not enough4  ,all are ready  
to be healed and to be made the masters 
of nature4  ,too few are willing to     
accept the implications of natural      
science and press on toward a philosophy
 conflicting with the ideas of the      
universe cherished by their fathers4    
#eh  ,,chapter ,v  ,,the ,,origins ,,of 

,,christianity  ,let us now pass from   
the study of the general features of the
 ancient outlook upon nature to a study 
of the ,christian view of the world4    
,is the ,christian view of the world    
inseparably bound up with this ancient  
outlook1 or can it be purged of it8  ,is
 the moral fervor and idealism of       
,christianity its essential and         
permanent contribution1 a contribution  
to a rational appreciation of human     
life8  ,probing still deeper1 let us not
 be afraid to ask ourselves whether the 
surgery which this thesis implies does  
not involve the daring of a break with  
theism as only a developed form of      
primitive animism8  ,in ethical         
monotheism1 may not the monotheism be   
the protecting envelope from which the  
butterfly has already flown8  ,the part 
played by ,christianity in the          
development of ,western civilization and
 its position as chief representative of
 the religious interpretation of the    
universe makes our selection of it for  

study natural4  ,to identify traditional
 religion with a low stage of its       
development1 in which it is inextricably
 bound up with crude myth and           
ritualistic magic1 is not a fair        
procedure4  ,we must take theology at   
its best and place it over against      
science and philosophy before we can    
rightly judge it4  ,only then can we be 
certain whether it stands for anything  
vital1 significant and true4  ,for the  
,western #ei world1 at least1 ,christian
 theology is generally acknowledged to  
represent the high-water mark of        
theology4  ,if it is intrinsically      
inadequate and untrue to modern         
experience1 the only course open to a   
morally and intellectually courageous   
man is to resign it as a view outgrown4 
,no matter how much pain may arise from 
a break with old associations and from  
the relinquishment of false hopes1      
intellectual morality permits only one  
course4  ,it may be that social morality
 will gain new life when the old forms  

are broken1 for the letter killeth4  ,i 
mean that ,christian ethics will operate
 more freely and creatively in the world
 when it is given an entirely humanistic
 setting4  ,in dreaming of a            
super-mundane god1 man has only too     
often forgotten his fellow man4  ,in    
yearning for the coming of the divine   
kingdom1 he has allowed his hands and   
feet to be idle1 or has even stepped    
unheeding over the prostrate forms of   
men and children broken in the mart4    
,to remove theology from ,christianity  
is to make the kingdom of this world4   
,the content of ,christianity cannot be 
separated from its origin4  ,to do so is
 to open the door to private            
interpretations of all sorts and to     
facilitate duplicity and self-deception4
  ,christianity is an historical fact1  
and has meant various pretty definite   
things4  ,if we have outgrown certain of
 these things and re-interpreted others 
in a fundamental way1 we are not making 
for clearness of thought by trying to   

read our own outlook into the past4     
,continuity of a spiritual kind there   
has been1 but there is also newness of a
 basic import4  ,the knowledge and      
atmosphere which confront it to-day are 
vastly different from the theosophy in  
which it was born and nourished4  #fj   
,i think we all feel that ,christianity 
stood for an ethical stimulus of a very 
fruitful sort whose effect can hardly be
 overestimated4  ,yet1 if we wish to    
gain a proper perspective1 we must not  
neglect to put in the other balance the 
tendency to dogmatism and the           
persecuting zeal which accompanied it4  
,there have been other than ,christian  
martyrs4 ,something was faulty with a   
movement which contained so much        
obscurantism and bigotry4  ,there was   
not enough of sweet reason in its       
composition1 and too much of the old    
terrors which accompanied primitive     
ignorance and cruelty4  ,it needed a    
saner and more wholesome perspective and
 more trust in human reason4  ,for      

instance1 the differences between the   
various sects1 which have sprung up from
 period to period with such clamor and  
death-defying energy1 have been         
differences of stress and of formulation
 whose importance was grossly           
exaggerated4  ,to the modern student    
nothing is more tragic and pitiful than 
this zeal of ignorance4  ,so much to be 
done in the world to make it sweeter and
 more beautiful and more livable1 so    
much need for sanity and charity2 and   
yet so much of human energy wasted and1 
more than wasted1 turned to evil        
results4  ,the only way to overcome this
 sectarian mal-adjustment is to know the
 past as it was and to cherish no       
distorting and blinding illusions in    
regard to it4  ,man is so prone to see  
the golden age in the past that it is   
necessary to have a searchlight directed
 upon it4  ,an historical approach is   
such a searchlight4  ,there is another  
psychological advantage in an historical
 approach4 ,the reason is often         

unconsciously bound by the authority of 
a supposed past4  ,for the philosopher  
with his confidence in experimental     
reason1 #fa perhaps1 this inhibition    
does not exist2 but even people who have
 every inclination to bring their total 
experience to bear1 in a free way1 upon 
doctrines and beliefs are restrained by 
what they have been taught1 and lose    
audacity4  ,the spirit of acquiescence  
is always at work in the world1 and     
nothing renforces this spirit more      
powerfully than a traditionally-accepted
 book of sacred writings4  ,confronted  
by these with their unhesitating        
affirmations and claims1 the minds of   
the majority are intimidated1 and such  
reflections as they allow themselves    
work within the prescribed boundaries or
 wander little beyond them4 ,nothing is 
better suited to unbind the mind and to 
lead it to think boldly than a study of 
origins4  ,the individual gains         
perspective as he sees ideas and        
sentiments rise and fall and give way to

 others4  ,he can no longer be          
intimidated by the shadow of a compact  
and seemingly impregnable tradition4    
,we must remember1 however1 that such an
 historical and comparative approach    
can1 at its best1 only break up the     
mythical simplicity of a sentimentalized
 past and reveal the complexity of the  
many-channeled forces at work2 it cannot
 prove any particular doctrine4  ,the   
creation must come from the spirit of   
the present1 as it carries the stimulus 
of the past and adds to it its own      
energies4  ,all developed religions have
 their sacred books4  ,until the        
translation of the ,sacred ,books of the
 ,east was undertaken in the latter part
 of the nineteenth century1 few people  
realized how many such books there were4
  ,and we ,americans have been the      
unwilling witnesses of the appearance of
 two other collections of writings      
making the same claims1 ,the ,book of   
,mormon and ,science and ,health4  ,now 
such sacred books are #fb regarded as   

revelations which could not be obtained 
except by a mysterious contact with     
divine things4  ,and the religious faith
 which has been called forth and        
directed by a teaching founded on the   
scripture turns back its own warmth upon
 its source4  ,nothing is more natural  
than this interaction between a living  
faith and the writings which are felt to
 be its guarantee4  ,religion is        
notoriously conservative and            
retrospective4  ,especially is this true
 of religions which impute to themselves
 a complete and final source of         
revelation in the past4  ,faith and book
 are associated in the mind so          
intimately that they lose their         
separateness4  ,to doubt one is like    
doubting the other4 ,thus faith forms an
 emotional envelope which protects the  
literature1 while the concrete detail of
 the literature reacts upon the mind to 
strengthen the faith4  ,it is not       
strange1 therefore1 that the cult of the
 book is a phenomenon which is universal

 in the advanced religions4 ,the        
,mohammedan believes in the verbal      
inspiration of the ,koran just as fully 
as does the ,jew in the divine origin of
 the ,old ,testament1 and the ,christian
 in the inspiration of the accepted     
canon called the ,bible4  ,nor are these
 the only examples4  ,but this          
psychological circle is a vicious one4  
,it involves the substitution of a      
subjective support to claims and        
theories which require the test of human
 experience as a whole4  ,but just      
because science is this cordination of  
the whole range of experience1 there    
inevitably arises that conflict between 
science and theology of which we have   
heard so much during the last few       
decades4  ,it is a conflict between a   
part of experience1 interpreted too     
hastily1 and the rationalized whole4    
,science arose at the time of the       
,renaissance as a #fc consequence of    
man's awakened curiosity4  ,its first   
conquests were in the fields of         

astronomy and physics4  ,these were of  
such a striking character that they gave
 this comparatively new movement a      
prestige which stood it in good stead in
 time of trouble4  ,gradually1 an       
assured technic was developed1 and      
inductive tests made of every hypothesis
 which suggested itself4  ,for a        
considerable time1 science was confined 
pretty definitely to the physical world2
 but it was inevitable that the mental  
habits encouraged would sooner or later 
extend themselves to other fields4      
,while there were many tentative        
applications of the methods and ideals  
of inductive science to the field of    
history in the eighteenth century1 it   
was not until the nineteenth century    
that the science of history was fully   
developed4  ,our conception of the past 
has become progressively deeper and     
truer4  ,romanticism has been replaced  
by a realism which calls anthropology1  
archeology1 and modern psychology to its
 aid4  ,we wish to see the men of the   

past as they actually were2 and we are  
quite aware that we know more about the 
world than they did4  ,in the domain of 
biblical literature and comparative     
religions1 the method of science was    
slow of application4  ,there was a      
tremendous inertia to overcome1 and a   
strong spirit of positive antagonism to 
resist4  ,the whole system of hopes and 
fears1 sanctions and taboos1 which the  
ancient view of the world had fostered  
within the human breast cried out       
against the sacrilege of rational       
investigation4 ,humanity hugs illusion  
more fondly than it does truth because  
it is more familiar with it4  ,for a    
while1 all that orthodoxy had to contend
 with was a rationalism of a skeptical  
cast which had scarcely a better        
historical outlook at its #fd command   
than had its opponent4  ,it could assert
 that these stories and beliefs handed  
down from the past could not be true    
because they conflicted with our        
experience2 but it could not explain why

 people had originated these ideas and  
why they had believed in them so        
implicitly4  ,in other words1 it could  
not let the past explain itself in such 
a natural way that it would disprove its
 own beliefs4  ,it is this that modern  
research has done so thoroughly that    
there is scarce need for the appeal to  
the constructive sciences which         
skeptical rationalism makes4  ,the      
battle is no longer a drawn one so far  
as the intellect is concerned4  ,it is  
merely a question of how long it will   
take before the victory will be         
recognized and proclaimed by all        
educated people4  ,as the evolutionary  
point of view forced its way into       
recognition1 scholars became aware of   
the real nature of myth and legend2 they
 realized that beliefs of this sort are 
products of a creative                  
group-consciousness saturated with a    
view of the world which we have slowly  
outgrown2 they sensed the mental        
complexity of the past and became       

suspicious of the nave assumption that  
religions were formed in a generation by
 the sheer authority of a single man or 
of a small group of men4  ,the first    
clear statement of this changed point of
 view was the work of ,david ,friedrich 
,strauss in his famous ,life of ,jesus4 
,strauss developed the idea that much of
 religious literature consists of myths 
and dogmas1 not created out of whole    
cloth by would-be deceivers1 but woven  
by the stimulated fancy of groups       
working in the atmosphere of traditions 
and attitudes which the most intense    
research1 alone1 can make living #fe to 
the scholar4  ,there can be little doubt
 that this standpoint is essentially    
correct4  ,before it could be applied   
satisfactorily1 however1 painstaking    
investigation of the literature and     
recorded customs of the people of the   
,mediterranean basin had to be carried  
through4  ,only by now has this task    
been so far achieved that the main      
features of the                         

,graeco-,syrian-,palestinian-,egyptian  
world are open to a sympathetic         
inspection4  ,no one who has not done   
some work in this field at first or     
second hand can realize the difficulties
 which confronted investigators4        
,fragments found here and there in the  
writings of the ,church ,fathers1 the   
teachings of the ,jews of ,alexandria1  
the apocalyptic literature discovered in
 remote places1 inscriptions unearthed  
here and there1 all were carefully      
studied and compared and forced to yield
 their quota of information4  ,it is a  
psychological principle which must      
always be reckoned with that the less an
 untrained individual knows about the   
past1 the more certain of the           
correctness of his assumed knowledge he 
is prone to be4  ,for example1 the      
,american who has read one or more of   
the over-simplified text-books dealing  
with the history of his country1 which  
are used in the schools1 has a clear-cut
 picture of the various events1 knows   

exactly how they occurred and who was in
 the right4  ,the university teacher1 on
 the other hand1 has before him a wealth
 of conflicting data from which he must 
painfully and tentatively construct a   
picture of the tendencies at work at    
different periods4  ,he must test the   
genuineness of his sources1 weigh the   
prejudices of the writer1 and decide    
whether he was in a position to know    
exactly #ff what was happening4         
,consequently1 he will speak in a       
qualified language where the average    
citizen will deliver himself of emphatic
 assertions4  ,yet the investigator of  
,american history is possessed of an    
abundance of material and deals with a  
time for which printing existed4  ,the  
language in which these documents are   
written is his own or else a well-known 
one4  ,the student of comparative       
religions has none of these advantages4 
,for the ancient world1 the inscriptions
 are archaic and condensed4  ,in the    
case of the biblical literature1 he may 

be dealing with accounts edited from    
older manuscripts in other languages4   
,these narratives conflict among        
themselves and contain surprisingly     
little information on important points4 
,hence1 the investigator is almost      
overwhelmed by the difficulty of his    
task and the fewness of his certain     
results4  ,the ordinary confessing      
,christian1 on the contrary1 is         
blissfully unaware of these problems4   
,he opens his ,english translation and  
reads the familiar words in the light of
 inherited dogmas which blind his eyes  
to all contradictions and discrepancies4
 ,the truth is1 that he is mentally     
unprepared to compare passages and to   
see problems which stare the trained man
 in the face4  ,he reads subjectively   
for edification4  ,the ecclesiastical   
atmosphere is such that his spiritual   
advisors have either desired to keep    
modern critical work from his notice1 or
 have been afraid to arouse the bigotry 
of their keepers1 or have themselves    

lacked a modern education4  ,the        
consequence is that the average         
,christian has the most nave notions in 
regard to the authorship and            
authenticity of the gospels and of the  
real meaning of many of the verses4     
,palestine is conceived in terms of the 
color-prints which illustrate his bible1
 while the mental #fg atmosphere of the 
,year ,one is that of the present day in
 ,america with1 perhaps1 an exotic touch
 here and there4  ,let us glance over   
some of the facts which investigation is
 making ever clearer and which are not  
as generally known as they deserve to   
be4 ,what is said here should be read   
with remembrance of the results of the  
previous chapters4  ,such a bird's eye  
view of the forces at work in later     
,hellenistic and ,roman times will be   
the best preparation for a sane         
conception of the origin and trend of   
,christianity4  ,in ,tarsus1 a ,greek   
city of ,cilicia1 ,paul1 or ,saul1 was  
born and educated4  ,now ,tarsus was1   

after ,alexandria1 the chief seat of    
late ,greek philosophy in the           
near-orient4  ,many of the more noted   
,stoic thinkers and teachers of the day 
came from ,cilicia and had semitic blood
 in their veins4  ,athenodorus1 the     
teacher of ,cicero and ,augustus1 came  
from ,tarsus1 itself2 and it is said    
that his grateful and admiring fellow   
citizens made him a hero upon his death 
and annually celebrated him in a        
memorial feast1 a procedure very        
characteristic of the age4 ,there is the
 strongest evidence in ,paul's epistles 
that he was well acquainted with the    
doctrines of ,stoicism4  ,the larger    
intellectual world of ,philo of         
,alexandria and ,seneca of the ,imperial
 ,city lies behind these epistles4  ,the
 ,hellenistic ,jew of the ,dispersion   
differed widely from the ,jew of        
,palestine1 no matter how desirous he   
might be to identify himself with the   
worship at the ,temple4  ,but ,greek    
philosophy was not the only element with

 which the inhabitant of ,tarsus would  
come in contact4  ,when ,paul speaks of 
mysteries1 he is referring to the       
various secret cults which permeated the
 ,roman world4 ,how few ,christians are 
aware that the ancient world #fh was1 at
 this time1 in a religious ferment      
almost without parallel4  ,the ,greek   
civilization had lost its nerve4  ,it   
had shot its bolt and been overwhelmed  
by autocratic powers and sheer          
barbarism4  ,the conditions of a        
progressive and broadly based           
civilization had not yet been achieved4 
,any one who turns from the great       
writers of classical ,athens1 say       
,sophocles or ,aristotle1 writes        
,gilbert ,murray1 to those of the       
,christian era must be conscious of a   
great difference in tone4 ,there is a   
change in the whole relation of the     
writer to the world about him4  ,the new
 quality is not specifically ,christian3
 it is just as marked in the ,gnostics  
and ,mithra-worshipers as in the        

,gospels and the ,apocalypse1 in ,julian
 and ,plotinus as in ,gregory and       
,jerome4  ,it is hard to describe4  ,it 
is a rise of asceticism1 of mysticism1  
in a sense1 of pessimism2 a loss of     
self-confidence1 of hope in this life   
and of faith in normal human effort2 a  
despair of patient inquiry1 a cry for   
infallible revelation2 an indifference  
to the welfare of the state2 a          
conversion of the soul to ,god4  ,it is 
an atmosphere in which the aim of the   
good man is not so much to live justly1 
to help the society to which he belongs 
and enjoy the esteem of his fellow      
creatures2 but rather1 by means of a    
burning faith1 by contempt for the world
 and its standards1 by ecstasy1         
suffering and martyrdom1 to be granted  
pardon for his unspeakable unworthiness1
 his immeasurable sins4 ,there is an    
intensifying of certain spiritual       
emotions2 an increase of sensitiveness1 
a failure of nerve4  ,it was in such a  
state of the social mind that           

,christianity had its birth4  ,it was1  
as we have before pointed out1 one of   
many competing for dominance4  ,these   
competing religions had much in common1 
#fi though it was the advantage of      
,christianity to have inherited the     
ethical monotheism of the prophets4     
,upon ,paul1 the ,hellenist and ,jew of 
the dispersion1 was focussed this august
 tradition along with traditions of a   
more mystical character4  ,syria had    
been the home of certain mysteries from 
an early day1 for we read in the ,old   
,testament of women mourning the death  
of ,tammuz1 the god of vegetation who   
dies and is born again4  ,now ,adonis or
 ,attis was the corresponding god of    
,phrygia1 and all people of ,syria were 
well acquainted with the cult which     
showed the mother-goddess mourning for  
her son4  ,but these more primitive     
rites were being displaced by a more    
developed and ethical form called       
,mithraism4  ,i well remember my        
surprise when1 visiting one of the older

 churches at ,rome1 ,i was shown the    
earlier church beneath and told that1   
beneath that again1 a church dedicated  
to ,mithra had been discovered4  ,now   
,tarsus was one of the chief seats of   
,mithraism1 and it is practically       
certain that ,paul was acquainted with  
its main rituals and beliefs4 ,let us   
try to realize the importance of this   
fact4  ,mithraism had an initiatory     
service in which the proselytes were    
admitted into the faith4  ,the liturgy  
of this service is still extant and we  
know that it represented a mystical     
dying and rebirth in which the guilt of 
the old life is removed and a new       
immortal life is created through the    
spirit4  ,the initiates spoke of        
themselves as reborn for eternity4  ,so 
striking1 writes ,pfleiderer the ,german
 critic1 is the connection of these     
ideas with ,paul's teaching of          
,christian baptism as a community of    
death and resurrection with ,christ     
7,romans #f7 that the thought of        

historical relation between the two     
cannot be evaded4444 ,mithraism also #gj
 had a sacrament corresponding to the   
,christian eucharist at which the       
sanctified bread and a cup of water or  
even wine served as mystic symbols of   
the distribution of the divine life to  
,mithra-believers4  ,when we bear in    
mind how little importance ,paul        
attached to the actual life and ethical 
teaching of ,jesus1 we are not surprised
 at the frequent suggestion that ,paul  
was the real founder of both liturgical 
and theological ,christianity4  ,he did 
not create this liturgy but found it to 
hand4  ,the early church followed this  
natural impulse and added to the simpler
 inherited rites4  ,into the psychology 
of ,paul's conception of the ,christ it 
is difficult to enter4  ,he was probably
 an enthusiast with the tendency to     
exalted moods peculiar to epileptics and
 yet with high mental ability4  ,he felt
 himself inspired4  ,he gives us to     
understand that he was subject to       

visions1 and it is well known that      
religious excitement is capable of      
welding together the myriad suggestions 
which play upon the self4  ,we can      
comprehend the work of ,paul1 one of the
 main founders of ,christianity1 only   
when we see him as the mystical         
interpreter weaving the ,jewish         
traditions of the soberer type1 the     
apocalyptic outlook of such books as    
,daniel and ,ezra1 the mystery cults of 
the ,hellenistic world and the theories 
of the ,stoic philosophy into one whole1
 dominantly supernaturalistic4          
,scholars will continue to differ in    
regard to the comparative proportions of
 the ingredients he fused together1 but 
few will gainsay that ,paul's teaching  
is a product of many sources4  ,in this 
connection a very significant fact      
should be noted3 although the ,pauline  
epistles are the earliest records of    
,christianity1 aside from the           
crucifixion1 not a single fact in the   
life of ,jesus can be gleaned from these

 #ga epistles1 nor do they record a     
single saying of ,jesus4  ,we shall next
 pass to a brief study of the ,jesus of 
the synoptic gospels1 the figure which  
has become endeared to humanity and with
 which the ,western world has associated
 its noblest sentiments4  ,but even the 
present study of some of the more       
mystical elements in ,christianity must 
have persuaded the reader that we have  
in this movement the focussing of the   
complex life of ancient times4  ,the    
circle of ideas passionately held by the
 members of the church was not created  
by any one man or group of men4  ,it was
 the flowering out of primitive ideas   
and ethical aspirations4  ,moral        
idealism goes hand in hand with         
cosmological myth4  ,we who have        
regained the nerve which that age had   
lost may have the gift and high         
adventure of separating moral truth from
 theological illusion4     #gb          
,,chapter ,,vi  ,,the ,,prophet ,,of    
,,nazareth  ,of recent years a strong   

reaction against the ,pauline           
interpretation of ,christianity--or     
shall we say the ,pauline type of       
,christianity8--has set in4  ,we have so
 completely outgrown the primitive      
notions of sacrifice1 and the ,jewish   
belief in the necessity of an atonement 
is so contrary to our idea of ,god1 that
 ,paul's rabbinical theology does not   
strike a sympathetic chord4  ,after all 
is said1 we are descendants in the      
spirit of those gentiles for whom       
,paul's message was nonsense4           
,intellectually1 we are the sons of     
,plato and ,aristotle1 of ,archimedes   
and ,justinian4  ,during the ,middle    
,ages1 the ideas of the period of the   
,graeco-,roman decline were mingled with
 the social ideas of feudalism4 ,to-day1
 science and philosophy have lifted us  
back to the serener heights of classic  
times1 and bid fair to surpass that     
glorious period in solid construction if
 not in delicacy of inspiration4  ,the  
result is1 that the social mind is      

dropping those elements from            
,christianity which do not harmonize    
with our moral and intellectual temper4 
,now1 the synoptic gospels are of a     
nature to lend themselves to this       
shifting of interest from the           
theological and the sacrificial to the  
more human and ethical4  ,they present  
an idealized picture of ,jesus ,christ  
after the flesh1 whereas ,paul preaches 
only the second ,adam1 ,jesus ,christ   
after the spirit4  ,paul was #gc        
interested in the world to come and the 
heavenly world above the clouds where   
sit the ons1 the principalities1 and the
 powers4  ,we are interested chiefly in 
the world here and now1 in social       
justice and democratic fellowship4  ,as 
humanitarianism became aggressive1      
,christianity reflected the change4 ,is 
there any reason to suppose that its    
theological envelope will be able to    
place a boundary to the extent of this  
change8  ,the real forces at work are   
those of to-day1 those of our own spirit

 and mind4  ,only for a time will they  
seek to find themselves in the past4    
,only while they are gathering force and
 confidence will they masquerade as a   
mere revival of a truer primitive       
,christianity4  ,it is extremely        
suggestive that the more democratic     
movements within ,christianity have     
always stressed the kindlier1 more      
human1 and more homely phases of the    
bible4  ,the followers of ,st4 ,francis 
of ,assisi were1 at first1 teachers of  
humility and brotherly love2 and        
,francis1 himself1 modeled his life     
after that of ,jesus as he conceived    
him4  ,the disciples of ,wycliffe made  
their home among the peasantry and      
artisans of ,medival ,england4  ,john   
,ball is a good interpreter to us of the
 social outlook they nourished4  ,it    
appears that they thought of ,jesus as  
like one of themselves1 read his life in
 terms of their own pressing problems4  
,pietism and methodism have always      
inclined toward the gospel ,jesus in    

preference to the ,pauline ,christ2 but 
their social outlook was far too        
negative and passive4  ,democracy must  
be aggressive1 non-mystical1 triumphant4
  ,it must exalt reason while not       
forgetting tenderness4  ,with the growth
 of modern democracy of a socialistic   
kind1 ,jesus the ,carpenter with his    
kindly word for the poor and downtrodden
 and his scorn for #gd the haughty and  
rich has become the symbol and sign of a
 new social ethics4  ,it is evident that
 religion is not independent of the     
social temper of an age4  ,religion     
points to the seat of power as a compass
 points to the pole4  ,when man's sore  
need made him cry out for mercy and     
succor in the primitive days1 his       
ignorant helplessness inevitably peopled
 nature with gods of fertility4         
,illusion and need created the gods of  
myth and ritual4  ,remove this setting  
of ignorance and illusion1 and put in   
its place a sense of power1 and need    
will point to the proper use of that    

power4  ,justice and mercy and reason1  
used socially for a social purpose1 will
 surely become the religion of an       
intelligent democracy4  ,in the older   
forms of religion1 man was a petitioner 
holding out helpless hands of prayer2 in
 the religion to come1 man will be a    
creator bravely taking his destiny into 
his own hands4  ,what a reversal6  ,yet 
it is no greater than the contrast      
between the primitive world we have been
 studying1 with its mana and taboos and 
magic1 and the modern world with its    
knowledge of chemistry and electricity  
and its deep probing into the very soul 
of man4  ,but we must return to the     
explanation of the popular tendency to  
exalt the man ,jesus over the ,pauline  
,christ4  ,is the explanation far to    
seek8 ,theology of a recondite character
 has always been the expression of      
reflection and leisure4  ,the religion  
of the masses has always been1 on the   
contrary1 in terms of pictures and      
emotions connected with their everyday  

needs4  ,the rabbinical concepts of     
,paul were foreign to their experience1 
while the philosophical mysticism of    
,john was appreciated only by a few who 
felt the beauty of the language and the 
strange charm of its figures of speech4 
#ge ,to the common people ,jesus was a  
loving friend who comforted them in     
their sorrows1 and the witness to a     
heaven in which all tears would be wiped
 away4  ,of course1 we must not be too  
romantic in our interpretation of the   
outlook of the masses4  ,these          
sentiments often attached themselves to 
the given theology with dogmatic        
fierceness2 and in the background       
superstitious fears were only too apt to
 smolder4  ,but1 on the whole1 it is not
 false to say that the gospel story of  
the life of ,jesus with its simple      
pathos and vivid diction appealed to the
 masses1 while his personality met their
 ideal of nobility and moral grandeur4  
,jesus1 the man who was also the ,son of
 ,god1 who came upon earth for them and 

for some reason died for them1 affected 
them as nothing else could4  ,and is it 
not a wonderful conception8  ,yes2 in   
the right setting1 there has been none  
grander in all literature4  ,it is a    
masterpiece of lyricized mythology4     
,but1 when we have outlived its setting1
 it can affect us only as great literary
 masterpieces do1 when we consent to    
throw ourselves into the sthetic        
attitude4  ,the pragmatic and sthetic   
qualities of a story do not guarantee   
its historical truth4  ,in fact1        
research has shown that practically all 
the most charming anecdotes which have  
come down to us will not stand critical 
examination4  ,the historian of         
,christianity is well aware of this     
situation4  ,the general movement of    
enlightened religious thought from the  
more mythical element to the career of  
,jesus1 while it bears witness to a more
 wide-spread interest in his            
personality1 also testifies to a growing
 doubt of the validity of the           

theological constructions which have    
been woven around his figure4  ,we wish 
to know1 if possible1 exactly what he   
thought #gf and taught4  ,were we able  
to determine this1 we feel that much of 
the distorting atmosphere would be      
withdrawn4  ,but is not this1 itself1   
one of those deluding hopes which the   
attitude of compromise fosters8  ,do we 
not know in our heart of hearts that the
 beliefs of ,jesus reflected the beliefs
 of his time1 just as the beliefs of    
,kant or ,luther are functions of the   
ages in which they lived8  ,but we have 
here an hypothesis which can be tested  
by historical data4  ,were the views of 
,jesus like those of his age8  ,nothing 
has come out more clearly than just this
 fact4  ,let us see what has resulted   
from this close study of the sources4   
,we must remember that books were not   
published in ancient days as they are at
 present4  ,manuscripts passed from hand
 to hand1 and individuals added to them1
 or altered them1 or combined them as   

they saw fit4 ,plagiarism did not have  
the meaning it has now when authors live
 on the proceeds of the sale of their   
books4  ,besides1 it was quite the      
custom to attach names to manuscripts at
 pleasure or in accordance with         
tradition4  ,our modern critical        
attitude had not arisen--for obvious    
reasons4  ,besides1 it was difficult to 
secure copies of manuscripts4 ,for      
instance1 ,papias1 bishop of ,hierapolis
 in ,phrygia toward the middle of the   
second century1 believed that there was 
an ,aramaic gospel according to         
,matthew1 but he was unable to get a    
glimpse of it and had to trust to the   
oral tradition of his time4  ,to bring  
this situation home3 suppose we had to  
rely on the oral tradition still        
lingering in regard to the life of      
,washington1 how certain would we be of 
its authenticity8  ,why1 there are      
already myths in regard to the life of  
,mary ,baker ,eddy6  ,in olden days1 #gg
 myths sprang up like mushrooms4 ,only  

too many varieties were at hand to      
choose from4  ,scholars are pretty      
certain that the present ,matthew is not
 a translation of an ,aramaic original4 
,moreover1 the present ,matthew breaks  
up into separate parts conflicting with 
one another quite extensively1 and is   
full of insertions of a comparatively   
late date4 ,only after the gospel has   
been radically revised are we likely to 
be near an old tradition of the life and
 deeds of ,jesus4  ,while we are on the 
topic of the authenticity of the        
gospels1 it may be worth while to       
discuss the other synoptics as briefly  
as possible4  ,the majority of critics  
regard ,mark as the oldest but this is  
mere guesswork when all is said and     
done4  ,in its present form it is       
briefer than the others and this fact   
has impressed many students4  ,besides1 
it does not contain an account of the   
infancy of ,jesus4  ,but it1 itself1 is 
evidently a compilation of other        
documents since it repeats the same     

event in slightly different forms4  ,in 
all probability1 it was written in      
,greek for a ,hellenistic audience and  
emphasizes those traditions which would 
be the most likely to impress its       
readers4  ,it is not known who wrote it 
or exactly when it was written4  ,the   
gospel according to ,luke did not       
originally make any claim to have been  
written by ,luke4  ,scholars are agreed 
from internal evidence that it could not
 have been written until long after the 
fall of ,jerusalem in #gj ,a4,d4  ,the  
author of ,luke was acquainted with the 
,antiquities of ,josephus and this shows
 that he must have made his compilation 
and free reworking of traditions in the 
second century4  #gh  ,if1 then1 our    
gospels were not written by             
eye-witnesses1 and represent the beliefs
 and traditions of at least the next    
half-century after the death of ,jesus1 
to what can we give credence8  ,what is 
myth and legend and what is historic    
fact8  ,can we find a clew to guide us8 

,it is a canon among historical critics 
to regard those passages as the oldest  
which conflict most with the outlook of 
the later centuries4  ,we can understand
 why they happen to be there but there  
would be no good reason for their later 
creation and insertion4  ,let us try to 
determine whither this canon will lead  
us4  ,all scholars agree that the birth 
stories are a later addition4  ,they are
 a product of ,hellenistic beliefs1     
perhaps even of ,hindoo influences4     
,the ,virgin-,mother myth was very      
common in ancient times and the whole   
machinery of the story was undoubtedly  
absorbed from tales widely current in   
those days4  ,for instance1 the father  
of ,plato1 the ,greek philosopher1 was  
warned in a dream by ,apollo so that    
,plato was virgin-born4  ,what can we   
think of the intellectual state of      
,churches which excommunicate ministers 
who have the decency to inform their    
congregation what disinterested         
scholarship has determined8  ,so far as 

there is intellectual dishonesty or     
incompetence here1 it will bring its own
 punishment in the attitude adopted by  
sincere men toward the ,churches4  ,the 
best we can say1 then1 is that there is 
no very good reason to doubt that ,jesus
 was the son of a carpenter1 by the name
 of ,joseph1 and his wife1 ,mary4  ,he  
was not the only child1 for ,mark       
represents his fellow townsmen as       
saying3 ,is not this the carpenter1 the 
son of ,mary1 and brother of ,james and 
,joses and ,judas and ,simon8 ,and are  
not his sisters #gi here with us8       
,quite a goodly family1 you see4  ,the  
,ebionite ,christians1 who were the     
,christians of ,palestine and probably  
had the safest traditions on this point1
 believed that ,jesus was the son of    
,joseph and ,mary according to the      
ordinary course of human generation4    
,his kinsmen were the leaders of the    
,christian community for several        
generations4  ,but there is little use  
in laboring a point which is so obvious4

  ,of his early life we know practically
 nothing4  ,he was probably not trained 
as a rabbi but worked at the trade of   
his father4  ,we may assume that he knew
 how to read and write1 since an        
opportunity to learn was usually offered
 in the synagogue4  ,it is likely that  
his reading was largely confined to the 
religious literature of his people1     
especially the psalms and the prophets4 
,his spirit was more in harmony with the
 deep ethical fervor of these champions 
of righteousness and lovers of justice  
than with the formal prescriptions of   
the ,law4  ,if we may judge from the    
general tone of the traditions1 he was a
 close student of men and a lover of    
nature1 a silent1 reflective man who    
noted the events passing around him4    
,his youth passed in this way without   
any overt step being taken2 and1        
perhaps1 without any clear message      
having developed in his mind4  ,he was  
simply one of the dissatisfied few who  
are always to be found4  ,now and then1 

it may be1 he spoke passionate words    
against the evils that were apparent on 
every hand1 quoted the prophets in their
 outbursts against similar evils and    
subsided into a brooding silence4       
,there are many such in our land to-day1
 sincere and passionate and kindly men  
who eat their heart out witnessing the  
course of events4  ,the ,jews of the day
 cherished the idea that a #hj          
,messianic kingdom would be established4
  ,jesus shared in this expectation2 but
 it is certain that he thought of it    
less as a restoration of the ,jewish    
state to power than a change in the     
position of the mass of the people4  ,in
 other words1 he infused the belief with
 a finer ethical meaning more in        
accordance with his concept of ,god and 
his sense of what was really valuable   
and important4  ,there is no means of   
knowing his entire attitude toward this 
popular belief in a supernatural kingdom
 to be established by ,god upon earth1  
but he undoubtedly retained its main    

outlines4  ,he was a child of his age   
although a notably sincere and          
high-minded one4  ,about #bh ,a4 ,d4    
,john appeared and preached in the      
wilderness4  ,jesus went to hear him    
because of the natural interest he      
aroused4  ,it is quite probable that he 
was baptized by ,john4  ,we do not know 
whether he associated himself with ,john
 or not4  ,at any rate ,john's message  
crystallized his own ideas and he felt  
called upon to continue his mission4    
,he did not proclaim himself as the     
,messiah but simply preached that the   
kingdom of ,god was at hand and that men
 were to prepare for it4  ,this         
preparation was of an ethical sort and  
largely ascetic in character4           
,palestine was in a ferment at this time
 and his appearance and preaching       
aroused great interest4  ,like all      
prophets he was called upon to heal the 
sick and1 accepting the customary views 
of sickness1 he proceeded to exorcise   
the evil spirits which possessed those  

who were brought to him4  ,i do not see 
how he could have escaped this task4    
,what part accident played in giving him
 confidence cannot be known1 but it was 
probably large4  ,there is no reason to 
doubt that there is a ground of fact for
 these stories of healing1 although #ha 
they have been grossly exaggerated by   
later tradition when he was viewed as   
divine4  ,we must always remember how   
late and biased our sources are4  ,as   
time went on1 he gained more confidence 
in himself4  ,since he was human1 he    
could not help being moved by the       
confidence of the people4 ,he felt that 
reforms should be made2 everywhere was  
poverty and sickness and unhappiness4   
,could the thought help coming to him   
that perhaps he was the one to          
inaugurate the kingdom8  ,the idea kept 
coming back1 forced upon him by his own 
reflection and by the questions and     
assumptions of his disciples4  ,it may  
be that he never made up his mind but   
was forced by the course of events to go

 to ,jerusalem where his career ended   
all too soon4  ,mankind will never know 
the details of his inner life2 his      
doubts1 hopes1 decisions1 indecisions   
are hidden from us in an obscurity that 
will never be completely lifted4  ,his  
preaching became more revolutionary4    
,more and more he set himself in        
opposition to the mechanical observance 
of the law and the fanatical worship of 
forms and days4  ,the opposition of the 
conservative members of priesthood      
increased in bitterness4  ,soon it was  
war to the knife between this new       
prophet1 with his disregard for the law1
 and its chosen representatives4  ,thus 
,jesus had drifted into a position which
 he had probably not anticipated when he
 set out on his ministry4  ,but this is 
always the way4  ,mohammed began as a   
reformer1 and the antagonism of the     
keepers of ,caaba led to his aggressive 
campaign2 ,luther and ,huss and         
,wycliffe changed their attitude and    
their ideas at various moments in their 

career4  ,no man's life is the working  
out of a fixed and ready-made plan4  ,at
 any rate1 he determined to go to       
,jerusalem--in all #hb likelihood1 as   
,pfleiderer suggests1 in order to win a 
victory over the hierarchy and to       
realize the prophetic ideal in the      
center of the religious life of the     
,jewish nation4  ,the people received   
him enthusiastically but his opponents  
were too strong and clever for him4  ,he
 feared only secret assassination while 
they induced the ,roman power to        
intervene4  ,the story draws to a close4
  ,in the garden of ,gethsemane ,jesus  
felt the possibility of a tragic end to 
his hopes of an early coming of the     
,kingdom4  ,the real situation shines   
clear through all the legend which a    
later age has woven around it4  ,when he
 saw himself surrounded by a multitude  
of armed men1 he knew that resistance   
was vain4  ,he was delivered into the   
hands of his enemies4  ,through all the 
humiliation and pain of those days1 he  

seems to have hoped that his ,god would 
rescue him4  ,it was only on the cross  
that he finally gave up hope4 ,the      
heavens were dumb as they always have   
been and always will be4  ,the body of  
,jesus was probably thrown into the     
common pit reserved for malefactors1 as 
,abb ,loisy suggests1 while the story of
 the burial by ,joseph of ,arimathea    
grew up to save him from the terrible   
dishonor of such a last resting-place4  
,the rest of the traditional narrative  
is unquestionably mythical4  ,paul      
speaks of him as buried and evidently   
thinks of the risen ,jesus as an        
incorruptible or spiritual man4  ,paul  
did not believe in a bodily             
resurrection4  ,the visions which led to
 a belief in the resurrection of ,jesus 
were ecstatic in character4  ,we must   
remember that the ancients were far less
 critical than we are in regard to      
dreams and illusions and did not        
consider a return to life in some       
shadowy form as very unusual4  ,i have  

not the #hc slightest difficulty in my  
own mind in accounting for the belief in
 the resurrection of ,jesus in an       
entirely natural way4  ,once this belief
 arose and became important as a part of
 a new religion1 the rise of legendary  
details was simply inevitable4  ,the    
position ,i have taken is relatively    
conservative4  ,many scholars have even 
become skeptical whether such a person  
as ,jesus ever lived4 ,we cannot be     
certain but it seems more plausible to  
give a relative credence to the older   
strands of tradition in the ,new        
,testament4  ,that such an ethical      
reformer lived who believed in the      
coming of the ,messianic kingdom1 that  
he was embroiled with the priestly class
 and was done to death by them with the 
aid of the ,roman governor who feared a 
seditious outbreak1 that his disciples  
after his death came to believe in his  
resurrection and his coming ,messiahship
 upon earth1 all this appears to me more
 than probable4  ,human life is a       

fertile field for tragedy4  ,the more we
 rid the narratives of their fairy-story
 accompaniments and see ,jesus1 not as a
 god who foreknows his human life and   
plays it out gravely as an actor who    
knows his role1 but as a human being    
hurried to issues he had not at first   
dreamed of1 the more his career becomes 
comprehensible4  ,its pathos is         
increased by this truer perspective1    
while the moral grandeur of his life    
gains by the human atmosphere which     
descends upon it4  ,he lived his life   
sincerely as other men have done and did
 not dream of the use history would make
 of his name4     #hd  ,,chapter ,,vii  
,,the ,,evolution ,,of ,,christianity   
,christianity did not arise in the form 
we associate with it4  ,the followers of
 ,jesus1 after they had become convinced
 that their crucified leader had arisen 
from the dead and had become a spiritual
 agent1 grouped themselves together in  
,jerusalem and formed a religious       
congregation whose distinguishing tenet 

was a belief in the near approach of the
 earthly kingdom of ,god1 whose ruler   
would be ,jesus4  ,in his powerful name1
 the members of the congregation could  
perform miracles of healing where the   
faith was sufficient4  ,this form of    
,christianity did not differ very widely
 from ,judaism in anything but this     
belief in ,jesus as the expected        
,messiah4  ,it is obvious that this     
difference has no essential meaning to  
us to-day who know the origin and import
 of the ,messianic hope of the ,jews4   
,let us be frank with ourselves and     
clear our minds of these dreams of the  
past4  ,these early ,christians deceived
 themselves2 their hopes were not       
fulfilled2 the earthly kingdom of ,god  
did not come4  ,jesus was not the       
,messiah for the simple reason that     
there is no such person4  ,he was not   
the ,messiah any more than ,mohammed    
,ahmed was the ,mahdi--and for the very 
same reason4 ,mahdis and ,messiahs and  
,buddhas are creations of religious and 

race imagination just as ,king ,lear is 
the product of the poetic imagination of
 ,william ,shakespeare4  ,the #he       
educated man of the present must        
classify these figures as tremendous    
fictions whose power is waning4 ,when he
 faces them squarely and asks himself   
what significance they have for his     
life1 his answer must be1 ,only         
historical and artistic4 ,we may say1   
then1 that ,christianity in its first   
form has been outgrown4  ,but the       
,messianic form of ,christianity gave it
 a vividness and concrete impressiveness
 that made it a force among the men of  
that age4  ,jesus was the heavenly      
,messiah who would return in power and  
rule according to righteousness4  ,with 
him was bound up the hope of immortality
 and in his hand was dominion over the  
evils which beset one's path4  ,a great 
world-event was impending2 at any moment
 the last trumpet might sound and the   
dead and the living be delivered to     
judgment4  ,moreover1 ,jesus as the     

,christ and ,lord was even now at work  
among men1 his ,spirit was active to    
guide and encourage those who had faith 
in him4  ,in the congregation at        
,jerusalem1 this belief in ,jesus as the
 ,messiah was closely associated with   
the past history of the race and did not
 involve a break with the ,law4  ,the   
,old ,testament was searched to find    
prophecies which would throw light upon 
this apparently new departure and soon  
passage after passage was found which   
would easily lend itself to the desired 
interpretation4  ,under the guidance of 
these passages and of the new outlook1  
the life of the prophet of ,nazareth was
 re-molded until it lost the greater    
part of its more human features4  ,such 
an important amendment of the ,jewish   
religion could not keep itself hidden4  
,the ,jews of the dispersion1 broadened 
by their contact with the political1 #hf
 philosophical and religious movements  
of the ,roman empire1 yet cherishing a  
sincere faith in the traditions of their

 fathers1 heard of the new sect which   
had arisen in ,palestine4  ,their       
interest was aroused4  ,sometimes they  
felt sympathetic1 sometimes they were   
antagonistic4  ,slowly at first and then
 more rapidly through the work of ,paul1
 they came in more direct contact with  
this new movement4 ,by this time1 it had
 already become ,hellenistic in its     
spirit and attitude4  ,around the       
nucleus of the life of ,jesus and his   
resurrection1 the seething1             
myriad-shaped ideas of the age attached 
themselves4  ,the ,palestinian          
congregation was left behind in its     
peaceful conservatism while the movement
 which it had inaugurated grew by leaps 
and bounds and swept outward into the   
tossing ocean of faiths and philosophies
 which extended from ,india to ,gaul4   
,to suppose that it could remain        
unchanged in such fellowship is to      
undervalue the assimilative tendencies  
in the social mind4  ,the ,greeks and   
,romans and ,egyptians and ,syrians     

could not think as ,jews4  ,they        
inevitably interpreted it in terms of   
their own ideas and problems in order to
 comprehend it4  ,we have already       
considered the interpretation which     
,paul gave to ,christianity4  ,it was1  
as we saw1 dominated by the apocalyptic 
notion of a heavenly1 or spiritual1 man 
while it gave ample recognition to the  
desire for salvation from sin and       
participation in the divine life4 ,thus 
,christianity was brought into touch    
with the mystery-cults and responded to 
the yearning for some guarantee of      
immortality so wide-spread at this time4
  ,but if the ,spirit of him that raised
 up ,jesus from the dead dwelleth in    
you1 he that raised up ,christ ,jesus   
from the dead shall quicken also your   
mortal #hg bodies through his ,spirit   
which dwelleth in you4  ,we should      
compare this passage from ,romans with  
the corresponding discussion in         
,corinthians 7#a1 #ae71 ,and if ,christ 
hath not been raised1 then is our       

preaching vain1 our faith also is vain4 
,the message which he brought to the    
,hellenistic world was in its essentials
 a definite one4  ,jesus1 a man who     
recently lived in ,palestine and did    
wonders1 was raised by ,god and has     
become a heavenly man1 the guarantee of 
immortality to those who have faith in  
him4  ,the last trumpet of the day of   
judgment will sound and the dead will be
 raised with spiritual or incorruptible 
bodies1 and those who are still alive   
will be changed and given these         
spiritual bodies since flesh and blood  
cannot enter the coming kingdom of ,god4
  ,this message is the natural          
interpretation of ,christianity by a    
learned ,hellenistic ,jew4  ,but this   
was merely the beginning of the         
evolution of ,christianity4 ,the next   
phase involves its interpretation by the
 ,gnostic movement4 ,let us see first   
what this ,gnostic movement was before  
we try to determine its direct and      
indirect influence upon ,christianity4  

,so far as can be made out1 ,gnosticism 
was a religious philosophy which grew up
 in the eastern part of the ,roman      
empire4  ,toward the making of this     
theosophy went many strands of refined  
mythology coming from ,india1 ,persia1  
,alexandria and ,palestine4  ,it was an 
esoteric doctrine representing that free
 mingling of traditions from all sources
 so characteristic of the age4  ,those  
traditions were worked up by reflection 
into a fairly systematic outlook upon   
the world1 entirely continuous with     
mythology yet far more highly developed4
  ,gnosticism cannot be called a        
philosophy in the technical sense of    
that term since its constructions did   
not #hh have a critical foundation4  ,so
 far as it used ,greek philosophy1 it   
drew from the more pictorial myths of   
,plato and the conception of subordinate
 powers or demons advanced by stoicism4 
,its interest was not1 however1         
philosophical but rather theosophical in
 character4  ,the relation of the       

individual soul to the world-powers and 
the way in which a future state of      
happiness could be reached occupied its 
attention in the first instance2 and the
 theology which it developed represented
 the stage-setting for this personal    
drama4  ,i do not think it is saying too
 much when ,i state that there is       
nothing in ,gnosticism which modern     
science and philosophy can recognize as 
having a valid foundation4  ,we can     
understand why it developed1 just as we 
can understand why mythology arose1 but 
it was a mistaken movement because it   
followed the old mythological path of   
explanation4 ,if the direction taken by 
reflection is wrong1 the most strenuous 
endeavors cannot lead to truth4         
,gnosticism possessed certain tenets    
which were very wide-spread in ancient  
civilization4  ,the flesh was looked    
upon as a thing of evil which corrupted 
the soul4  ,the physical world was in   
fact given over to the powers of        
darkness while the spiritual world was  

ruled by the god of light and purity4   
,this dualism with its accompanying     
asceticism is to be found in the        
,persian religion1 in ,india1 in later  
,jewish thought1 in the ,orphic cults of
 ,greece and even in ,plato4  ,it       
entered into ,christianity as naturally 
as science does into our outlook to-day4
  ,all through the early years of the   
,christian era1 and during the ,middle  
,ages1 this contrast existed and        
controlled ethics4  ,all of which goes  
to show that ,christianity was not the  
creation of a single man but the        
flowering out of religious mythology4   
#hi  ,according to the teaching of      
,gnosticism1 the soul was in danger of  
destruction or of dire calamities unless
 it possessed the proper preparation for
 its journey after death4  ,the best    
means of safety was the participation in
 the life of some savior-god who had    
vanquished the powers of darkness and   
evil4  ,it is evident that the          
world-setting of ,gnosticism was not far

 different from that of ,christianity4  
,they were products of the same age1    
outgrowths of a similar soil4  ,the     
advantage which ,christianity had was   
its connection with a noble personality 
and the ethical background which this   
gave it4  ,gnosticism was oriental far  
more than it was ,greek4  ,had it been  
connected with the ethical teaching of  
the classic ,greek tradition1 had a myth
 of the resurrection of some noble      
teacher like ,plato arisen to control   
the phantasy of the oriental mind1 the  
result would not have been far different
 from ,christianity4  ,it was only      
natural that ,gnosticism with its belief
 in a savior-god should feel itself     
drawn to ,christianity with its similar 
teaching4 ,jesus was regarded by the    
,christian gnostics as divine1 as an    
eternal being who had manifested himself
 historically in fulfillment of his     
function of mediator4  ,the ,christian  
congregations were thus forced to take  
another step in the deification of      

,jesus4  ,for ,paul1 he was still a man1
 the second or spiritual ,adam who began
 a new dispensation4  ,for the earlier  
,christians1 he was the ,god-selected   
,messiah4  ,he now became a god who was 
also the son of ,god4  ,the evolution   
was inevitable in the intellectual      
environment of the time4  ,but the      
,christian congregations1 as represented
 by their clearest thinkers1 wished to  
avoid gnostic extremes and to keep near 
the historical basis and the ethical    
monotheism of the best ,hebrew #ij      
tradition4  ,jesus was ,god1 but he was 
also man4  ,in this way1 arose the      
doctrine of the incarnation4 ,instead of
 being a monument of mystical insight as
 theologians tell us1 it was the        
consequence of a problem forced upon the
 ,church4  ,in other words1 the doctrine
 of the ,trinity is the attempt to      
combine gnostic polytheism and          
monotheism4  ,the only way three can be 
made one is by a mystery1 so a mystery  
it became4  ,it is a bit of verbal      

gymnastic or a formal solution of an    
impossible problem which the pressure of
 events had forced upon the ,church4    
,christianity was now on the high-road  
to a theology4  ,to enter the           
,hellenistic world and not be forced to 
develop a theology was simply           
impossible4  ,the first fruit of this   
entrance into the intellectual world of 
the time was the ,fourth ,gospel or the 
so-called ,gospel according to ,john4   
,scholars have begun to interpret this  
gospel as an attempt to combine the     
older ,christian tradition with the     
theological speculations of the age4    
,the beginning of the gospel strikes a  
new note which separates it immediately 
from the synoptics4  ,in the beginning  
was the ,word 7,logos7 and the ,word was
 with ,god and the ,word was ,god4      
,what is this ,word or ,logos with which
 the historical ,jesus was identified8  
,for ,philo1 the ,alexandrian ,jew who  
played such an important part in the    
theological speculation of the time1 the

 ,logos was a second ,god1 the          
reflection of his glory1 the only       
begotten ,son1 the actual creator of the
 world1 his active agent at work in     
events4 ,it is not going too far to     
assert that1 without the speculations of
 ,philo1 the ,fourth ,gospel could not  
have been written4  ,and yet ,philo was 
merely developing and applying to the   
,old ,testament the writings of the     
stoic philosophy and the #ia teaching of
 ,plato4  ,does it not follow that1 in  
the ,fourth ,gospel1 we have the more   
theosophic portions of ancient          
philosophy attached externally to the   
life of the ,prophet of ,nazareth8      
,under such conditions of origin1 how   
can we begin to separate reason and     
revelation8  ,gnosticism1 stoicism1     
platonism1 the ,old ,testament1 the     
stories of the life of ,jesus1 the      
broadening of ,christianity1 all went   
together to make possible the mystic    
theology of this gospel4  ,but the more 
,jesus was transformed into a god1 the  

more he lost his human characteristics4 
,the figure of ,jesus becomes elusive   
and shadowy2 he lives among men but is  
not of them4  ,to make ,god a man or man
 a second ,god was an impossible task4  
,when all is said1 the ,fourth ,gospel  
performs this task about as well as it  
could be done1 yet ,jesus is no longer a
 ,galilean peasant but a mystic being   
who speaks in riddles4  ,this vital     
interplay of ,christianity and          
,hellenistic thought led to the passing 
away of the older ,messianic idea with  
its distinct limitations4 ,a noble      
monotheism was the result1 while the    
concrete1 human element which the       
historical origins of ,christianity had 
contributed to it prevented this        
monotheism from losing sight of human   
problems4  ,the value of ,christianity  
lies in its ethics but it is doubtful   
whether the ethics could have become    
effective unless it had been carried by 
the more chaotic beliefs which we       
usually call religious4  ,there can be  

little doubt that some religious system 
would have conquered the ,roman empire2 
the educational level was too low to    
enable the better type of philosophy to 
dominate the life of the mass of the    
people4  ,magic and other-worldism were 
rampant because the social and political
 organization was unsatisfactory and    
mental discipline #ib was not           
wide-spread4  ,in brief1 the world was  
still at the mythological level and was 
not yet prepared for a higher plane4    
,this being so1 the success of          
,christianity was the best thing which  
could have happened4  ,later phases of  
the evolution of ,christianity force us 
to qualify this position that its       
success was the best thing which could  
have happened4 ,in order to escape the  
dangers which free theosophizing        
brought1 the leaders of the ,christian  
congregations felt the need of a firmer 
organization4  ,the result was the      
gradual concentration of moral and      
doctrinal authority in the hands of     

bishops4  ,the early ,church had been   
democratic in polity but the times were 
not ripe for such democracy and slowly  
elders were chosen to be leaders4       
,these elders were shepherds or bishops1
 that is1 spiritual overseers4  ,soon   
they claimed and were granted           
life-tenure and greater authority4      
,every analogy from the ,old ,testament 
and from the larger political           
organization of the time worked in their
 favor4  ,this assumption of authority  
on the part of the bishops is well      
represented by the letter of warning    
sent out by ,bishop ,ignatius of        
,antioch4  ,obey the ,bishop as ,jesus  
,christ the ,father1 and the ,presbyters
 as the ,apostles1 but honor the        
,deacons as the law of the ,lord4444    
,whoever honors the ,bishop is honored  
of ,god2 whoever does aught behind the  
,bishop's back1 serves the devil4  ,the 
natural result of this changed          
organization was the doctrine of        
,apostolic succession4 ,with this       

doctrine went another1 the belief in the
 ,apostolic ,origin of the articles of  
faith4  ,the flexible growth of         
,christianity was at an end4  ,there    
arose a series of dogmas enunciated by  
,councils of bishops and these were     
forced upon ,christianity as            
authoritative4  ,free enquiry and #ic   
speculation was at an end4  ,a religion 
with a creed had appeared1 a thing      
unknown before in the history of ancient
 thought4  ,when ,protestantism arose1  
it made a half-hearted appeal to the    
spirit of free inquiry4  ,protestantism 
was1 however1 a complex movement with   
decided limitations in the motives at   
work and the knowledge on which to      
build4  ,the old church organization1   
molded on the lines of the ,roman       
empire1 was discarded and the function  
of the priesthood was changed1 but the  
intellectual attitude and the creed     
upheld remained practically the same4   
,some of the more radical branches of   
the movement like the baptists of       

,northern ,italy were suppressed too    
soon to allow their influence to be     
felt4  ,on the whole1 ,protestantism was
 hampered by the ,new ,testament canon  
which it inherited from the later stages
 of the evolution of ,christianity4  ,it
 seldom went seriously back of the stage
 at which ,jesus was deified4  ,its     
reforms were social and political rather
 than theological4  ,the tendency was to
 establish the bible as ultimate        
authority without investigation as to   
its origin4 ,the consequence of this    
establishment of the bible as the final 
court of appeal was decidedly harmful   
since it set reason and experience over 
against a supposed revelation4  ,so far 
as ,protestantism itself was concerned1 
it did not have in it1 as a consequence 
of this bibliolatry1 the intellectual   
vitality necessary to a true evolution4 
,had it not been for the larger social1 
scientific and philosophical            
developments which sprang up at the same
 time and founded themselves on reason  

and experience1 the protestant revolt   
would have ended in a blind alley4      
,there is every reason to believe1      
however1 that it helped to break the    
tyranny of the theological #id view of  
the world and to free the human spirit  
for new endeavors4  ,protestantism1 just
 because it was a revolt1 could not     
attain sufficient unity and power to    
stamp out intellectual freedom4  ,the   
modern world was too complex to be      
dominated by religion4 ,but we have     
already indicated the conditions which  
gave rise to the higher criticism whose 
results we have been summarizing4  ,we  
must frankly ask ourselves what features
 of historical ,christianity are        
congruent with our modern life4  ,the   
,hellenistic world to which dogma and   
ritual are mainly due is a thing of the 
past1 existent for no one but the       
scholar4  ,ours is a new world with new 
ideas1 new problems and new             
possibilities4  ,does the recognition of
 historical continuity preclude the     

acknowledgment of very radical changes8 
,i am certain that the deification of   
,jesus will be given up step by step4   
,he was not born miraculously1 nor was  
he prexistent as the ,word or ,logos4   
,these terms do not fit into an outlook 
dominated by science4 ,to call him the  
,son of ,god in an exclusive sense is   
not warranted by the facts1 nor has it  
any clear meaning for the present age4  
,to the old ,greek1 ,egyptian1 and      
,roman1 the idea was familiar2 many of  
the patrician families traced their     
descent to ,apollo or ,jupiter4  ,but   
such a literal interpretation of the    
phrase has no sanction for us1 and any  
other than a literal meaning is         
essentially meaningless4  ,jesus was a  
noble and tender-hearted man with the   
beliefs of his age4  ,to speak of him as
 ideally perfect and sinless is absurd  
just because these terms are absolutes  
where relatives alone have meaning4     
,like most theological terms they cut   
themselves loose #ie from their         

necessary setting1 which1 in this case1 
is human nature and society4  ,when the 
necessary critical work has been done1  
what is left of the stately theology    
reared by ,church ,fathers1 councils and
 scholastics8 ,apparently only a        
mellowed religion with a universalistic 
outlook and a strong ethical trend4     
,this mellowness and this universalism  
were not qualities present in perfection
 from the start1 although we cannot say 
that ,christianity was antagonistic to  
them4  ,mellowness takes time4  ,i      
cannot but feel that men like ,st4      
,francis1 ,pascal1 ,bossuet1 ,fenelon1  
,melancthon1 ,wesley1 on the            
ecclesiastical side1 and men like       
,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,galileo1 ,newton1  
,fichte1 ,darwin1 and ,mazzini1 on the  
laic side1 have contributed to this     
mellowness4  ,from this point of view1  
we can best describe modern             
,christianity as an evolution of ,hebrew
 ethical monotheism along tenderer and  
more human lines under the stimulus of  

many very noble personalities4  ,during 
the latter half of the nineteenth       
century1 ,christianity passed through a 
fire of criticism which rocked it to its
 foundation4  ,to those who lived at    
that time1 the transition from the      
older1 and more dogmatic1 form was      
accompanied by spiritual and moral      
struggles which seem to us exaggerated4 
,the very indifference of the present   
age shows that the atmosphere has       
cleared and that new values have come to
 the front4  ,a short while since1 ,i   
picked up ,hutton's once famous book1   
,modern ,guides of ,english ,thought in 
,matters of ,faith1 and read his        
analysis of the life of ,cardinal       
,newman and his interesting criticism of
 ,matthew ,arnold4  ,i must confess that
 the time-spirit of which ,arnold #if   
made so much has done its work4  ,the   
scene is shifting from a religion which 
stresses a peculiar form of salvation   
and a career in another world to social 
and economic conditions and ideals4  ,is

 there not something ,byronic in much of
 ,arnold's religious poetry8  ,is there 
not too much of the pageant of the      
bleeding heart in his sighs of regret   
and farewell8  ,yet he realized that the
 old faith was dying and that man had   
not yet found that which could fill its 
place4  ,it takes time to make an       
adjustment in these matters1 just as it 
is time alone that softens the griefs of
 unrequited love or the loss of dear    
ones4 ,and it is usually only the next  
generation1 which has been able to make 
a genuinely fresh start1 that settles   
into a new way of life4  ,change is a   
great physician because it is able to   
introduce new factors into the          
situation1 and it has been at work since
 ,arnold's day4  ,there are1            
nevertheless1 prophecies in his poems of
 another world which would before long  
take the place of the one that was      
dying2 and some of us believe that1 in  
the new democracy which is stirring into
 life throughout the earth1 this new and

 more creative world is being born3     
,the millions suffer still and grieve1  
,and what can helpers heal   ,with      
old-world cures men half believe   ,for 
woes they wholly feel8        ,and yet  
men have such need of joy6       ,but   
joy whose grounds are true2       ,and  
joy that should all hearts employ       
,as when the past was new4   ,in the    
figure of ,jesus1 ethical and sthetic   
idealization guided by religious emotion
 has created a #ig personality of a     
peculiarly appealing type well fitted to
 remain as an ideal to foster and       
strengthen the noblest tendencies4  ,but
 this ideal has become practically      
self-supporting apart from its mythical 
scaffolding4  ,its real foundation      
to-day is in its appeal to sympathies1  
natural to social beings1 which the     
spiritual evolution of humanity has     
developed and given content to4  ,when  
man succeeds in applying these          
sympathies rationally1 in a social      
fashion1 he may bring upon this sad old 

earth some measure of that kingdom for  
which ,jesus longed4  ,but ,christianity
 has stood and1 on the whole1 still     
stands for certain beliefs in regard to 
the universe as a whole and the relation
 of man to it1 which only patient       
reflection and inductive investigation  
can settle4  ,by their very nature1     
these beliefs cannot have an historical 
justification although they have had an 
historical origin4  ,taking these       
beliefs in their simplest form and      
separating them from all connection with
 the figure of ,jesus and the developed 
ethics whose stimulus goes back to him1 
they become an acceptance of an ethical 
,god1 a special providence and          
immortality4  ,remove these postulates1 
and it is doubtful whether theology has 
not also disappeared4  ,it behooves us  
to examine the validity of these        
postulates in the light of modern       
science and philosophy4     #ih         
,,chapter ,,viii  ,,the ,,conflict      
,,between ,,science ,,and ,,theology    

,the conviction that there is a         
deep-seated conflict between the        
religious view the world1 characteristic
 of the past1 and the outlook which has 
been shaping under the guiding hands of 
science and philosophy is held by an    
ever increasing number4  ,those who deny
 this conflict are judged to be either  
willing self-deceivers or postponers of 
the evil day of confession4  ,many books
 have been written to detail the warfare
 between the champions of orthodoxy and 
the leaders of the advance guard of     
science4  ,the persecution of ,galileo1 
the burning of ,bruno1 the bitter       
attacks upon the founders of the theory 
of organic evolution are cited as       
examples of the unavoidable warfare4    
,for the nonce1 there is a lull in the  
battle which was waged so fiercely by   
,tyndall and ,huxley2 but this lull does
 not signify that a treaty of peace has 
been signed1 but only that the          
combatants have shifted their ground4   
,the forces of orthodoxy have sullenly  

retreated to another line of            
entrenchments4  ,the objective observer 
can entertain little doubt that the     
intellectual forces of orthodoxy have   
been worsted in the open field and have 
become disheartened by the growing      
revelation of the number and strength   
and persistence of the workers in the   
service of science4  ,the prestige of   
science bids fair to equal1 if not to   
surpass1 #ii that of the church4        
,hence1 the desire of the theologian is 
to avoid a renewal of the conflict1 or  
else to change the mode of the warfare4 
,and here ,i shall venture a prophecy4  
,the new battle will be waged around    
psychology and philosophy4  ,already the
 lines are being drawn between the      
defenders of an extra-organic soul and  
the experimental sappers in the         
laboratories of biology and psychology  
who are seeking to show that mind and   
body are inseparable1 that1 indeed1 mind
 is just a term for certain capacities  
of control exercised by the brain4  ,the

 crucial character of this growing      
conflict1 which is yet not much beyond  
the status of a skirmish1 leaps to the  
eyes1 as the ,french say4 ,is not even  
the soul to be spared the siege before  
which the human body fell8  ,is it to be
 placed on the dissection-table and     
teased apart into its component strands8
  ,even so4  ,the process has already   
begun1 and far more has been            
accomplished than is generally known4   
,the solution of the mind-body problem  
is already in the air4  ,and1 with it1  
will come theoretical consequences by no
 means secondary to those associated    
with the theory of evolution4  ,with    
some of these consequences we shall be  
concerned in a later chapter4           
,christianity has been bound up with the
 letter and even with the spirit of a   
sacred book4  ,naturally1 this book     
reflects the view of the world held by  
people about two thousand years ago4    
,it contains primitive notions of the   
origin of things1 a nave conception of  

the relation of the sun to the earth1 a 
belief that demons are the cause of     
sickness1 a conviction that souls merely
 inhabit bodies temporarily1 and an     
apocalyptic idea of the end of the world
 in a last judgment4  ,as we have seen1 
no part of this outlook was particularly
 unique1 but it was #ajj accepted by the
 ,christian ,church as inspired because 
it was found in the canonical writings  
accredited to prophets and apostles4    
,during the ,middle ,ages1 this biblical
 view of the world was united with the  
astronomical and physical teaching of   
,aristotle and hardened into a system4  
,so intimate was this union between     
these cosmological elements and         
,christianity felt to be that an attack 
upon one was taken as an attack upon the
 whole4  ,to doubt the primitive notions
 of the world and man's place therein1  
was to doubt the bible2 and to doubt the
 bible as an inspired compendium of     
information was to doubt ,christianity4 
,for the sake of perspective1 it will   

repay us to note the order in which     
these primitive ideas were attacked and 
replaced by more adequate ones4  ,it    
will be noticed that the general        
cosmological setting was first          
reconstructed and that the growing point
 passed thence to the center1 the nature
 and destiny of man4  ,as we indicated  
above1 the replacement of older by newer
 and better-founded views is proceeding 
most rapidly at this crucial point4     
,having obtained a different and vaster 
heaven and earth1 man has turned the    
microscope upon himself4 ,the suspicion 
is growing ever more insistent that he1 
also1 is a natural part of this         
procession of things4  ,when1 at the    
time of the ,renaissance1 modern science
 was born1 the first field invaded with 
success was that of astronomy4          
,copernicus became convinced that the   
current theory1 called the ,ptolemaic1  
was untenable because it led to         
insuperable complexities in the         
interpretation of the observed paths of 

the heavenly bodies4  ,he was led to    
suggest that the sun was the actual     
center of the system and that the earth 
revolved around it in the #aja course of
 a year4  ,one can easily imagine the   
furore such a daring hypothesis aroused4
  ,the ,copernican theory was scoffed at
 by learned and ignorant alike1 for it  
upset the whole picture of the world    
which had been tranquilly accepted from 
early times1 except by such a radical   
non-conformist as ,aristarchus of       
,samos4  ,to appreciate the intellectual
 revolution threatened1 one has only to 
read ,dante's ,divine ,comedy1 for      
,dante journeys from planet to planet   
and thinks of them as arranged within   
crystalline spheres revolving slowly    
about the earth4  ,in the second canto  
of ,paradise1 he speaks of the blessed  
motors who make the holy spheres        
revolve4  ,these motors are angels of   
various orders resident in the spheres  
and transmitting to them the efficacy of
 the ,divine ,intelligence4  ,thus      

infant science had to challenge the     
appearance of things to the eye1 and a  
system bound up with the religious view 
of the world4  ,it is obvious that the  
old geocentric view of the world1 which 
thought of the earth as the center of   
the universe1 was nothing more than a   
statement of the apparent relations of  
the visible heavens to the broad earth  
which stretches out on either hand as   
far as eye can see4  ,that this natural 
view of things was taken up into the    
religious picture of the universe was   
the occurrence to be expected4  ,had it 
not been and had the priests and        
prophets enunciated the ,copernican     
theory1 there would be reason to suspect
 a hidden source of revelation4         
,needless to say such a reversal of the 
natural sequence never occurs4  ,it is  
only when we grasp the nave outlook of  
early days that we can realize the full 
significance of many ,christian         
doctrines4  ,let us take the articles of
 the #ajb creed4  ,we are taught to     

believe that ,jesus descended into ,hell
 and then ascended into ,heaven and     
sitteth on the right hand of ,god4      
,what is this ,hell into which ,jesus is
 supposed to have descended8  ,it is the
 ,sheol of the old ,hebrews1 a misty    
region below the surface of the earth2  
it is the ,hades of the ,greeks1 the    
place of the departed shades2 it is the 
,avernus of the ,romans1 the lower      
regions where ghosts flit and gibber4   
,this place of the dead is at first the 
grave and sinks deeper into the earth as
 time passes and the myth-making fancy  
has been directed upon it4  ,but it is  
thought of literally as in the bowels of
 the earth4  ,all through the ,middle   
ages this nave view was held4  ,there   
was an absolute down and a subterranean 
,hell1 and every country told of some   
cavern which was one of its many mouths4
  ,with the advent of the ,copernican   
view what becomes of these age-old      
ideas8  ,to save them they must be      
transformed and given another location  

or a merely symbolic meaning4  ,but why 
save them8  ,they are as pure myths as  
any others to be found in olden days4   
,they are brother to ,tartarus and the  
,battle of the ,titans and the ,slaying 
of ,rahab4  ,the early ,christians      
believed in a literal ,hell beneath the 
surface of the earth4  ,their belief was
 wrong beyond the shadow of a doubt4    
,we cannot make it true by modifying it 
out of all recognition4  ,the ascent    
into ,heaven was thought of as a literal
 ascension of the resurrected body by   
the majority of early ,christians4  ,we 
have seen1 however1 that ,paul did not  
teach any such doctrine4  ,but even for 
,paul1 ,jesus1 as the ,messiah1 was     
literally in the heavens directly above 
the earth4  ,into this region ,paul is  
caught up in ecstasy--even to the third 
heaven4  ,it is from #ajc this region1  
not very far above us1 that the last    
trump will sound and the day of judgment
 dawn4  ,the account1 given by the      
so-called ,revelation of ,st4 ,john the 

,divine1 which has led to so much       
foolish controversy among certain       
protestant sects1 is typical of the     
apocalyptic literature of the time4  ,no
 scholar to-day believes that it was    
written by an apostle or by any one in  
direct relation to an apostle4  ,it is  
simply an example of the current        
religious phantasies of the age just    
before and after the ,fall of           
,jerusalem4  ,what factual basis could  
there be for such myths of the end of   
the world8  ,to take this old picture of
 the days to come as having anything but
 historical interest is to live in a    
mist4  ,only the scholar can understand 
the allusions made and connect the ideas
 with the beliefs of this vanished      
world4  ,it is poetry1 a creation of    
generations of dreamers steeped in the  
tremendous idea of a coming destruction 
preceded by portents and disasters4  ,we
 can understand how it arose in the     
motley and chaotic press of the ,roman  
,empire in the ,east with its memories  

of oppressions and conquests and        
changing kingdoms2 but to regard it     
gravely as a revelation1 to be taken    
seriously1 of the destruction of the    
world is impossible4  ,the universe was 
a small affair for the men of that time 
and the little planet we call the earth 
and live upon was the center of all     
things4  ,we who think in terms of      
light-years1 and nebulae in which our   
solar system could be lost1 and huge    
constellations far off in the pathless  
void1 realize that we have outgrown even
 the imagery of this apocalyptic poem4  
,religion was loth to give up the       
simpler and more child-like ideas of the
 universe and to displace the earth from
 its proud preminence as the one        
foot-stool of #ajd deity4  ,man feels   
lonelier in the tremendous spaces and   
stellar systems which astronomy has     
revealed to his eye and mind4  ,but the 
facts piled up by science in its patient
 work of investigation were too strong  
to be ignored1 and religion had to      

modify its teaching by at least a       
passive acceptance of the new world     
outlook which would have been so strange
 to ,jesus and ,paul4  ,it is evident   
that this involves the quiet giving up  
of the truth of the story of creation1  
as well as the doctrine of a day of     
judgment4  ,when we once realize that   
the earth is a pin-point in the physical
 universe1 these stories1 woven in days 
when it was regarded as the stable      
center of things1 are seen to be        
outgrown myths4  ,but astronomy was     
followed by biology with its hypothesis 
of evolution4 ,no sooner had religion   
resigned itself to a larger world than  
its peace was again broken by the       
teaching that man was the end-term of an
 evolution of animal life going far back
 into the dim past4  ,instead of the    
neat little tale which ,hebrew          
literature had passed on to the ,church1
 men were asked to believe that ages of 
slow change had elapsed while one form  
of life changed to a more complex form  

adapted to new conditions4  ,soon facts 
rained in from all sides to make this   
new position impregnable4  ,geology     
studied the various strata of rock and  
found fossil remains which could only be
 dated back millions of years4 ,strange 
creatures unlike those to be found now  
upon the earth were brought to light4   
,reptiles of monstrous size1 fishes of  
strange shapes1 huge trees resembling   
our ferns1 botanically weeds1 yet       
towering into the heavens1 were         
unearthed until the imagination caught  
glimpses of past ages teeming with life4
  ,the teaching of geology was renforced
 by comparative anatomy1 which showed   
#aje the similarity of different animals
 which had been thought of as quite     
distinct4  ,man1 himself1 was examined  
and was found to contain traces of an   
older mode of life4  ,only in this way  
could certain atrophied organs1 like the
 appendix1 be understood4  ,before long1
 comparative embryology arose and it was
 seen that the embryo passes through    

certain stages of development which     
roughly indicate the past life of the   
organism4  ,on all lines1 investigation 
taught the same conclusion4  ,that there
 was evolution in nature1 so that new   
forms of life developed while old forms 
passed away1 no one who knew the facts  
doubted4  ,what factors were at work to 
produce these changes was not entirely  
known4  ,the new outlook was set in the 
place of the old myths2 but the details 
of the evolutionary process required    
careful working out by patient          
experiments and observations4  ,the     
mythical background of ,christianity was
 thus again attacked4  ,the struggle was
 violent and bitter4  ,christians were  
so accustomed to the primitive myth of  
man's creation in a ,garden of ,eden1 as
 narrated in the ,old ,testament1 that  
they refused for a long time to consider
 any other view4  ,bishops and laymen   
denounced ,huxley and ,darwin and their 
supporters1 and often resorted to       
parodies of their position in order to  

awaken the prejudices of the mass of the
 people4  ,it was affirmed that they    
believed that man was descended from an 
ape or monkey4  ,but the clergy were    
waging a losing fight1 as is always the 
case when the facts are overwhelmingly  
against an old dogma4  ,the educated    
people of to-day accept some form of the
 theory of evolution as naturally as    
they accept the automobile and electric 
street-car4  ,they see no reason to     
believe that #ajf primitive people who  
made no study of animal life knew more  
about its origin than those who have    
devoted their time to careful and       
earnest investigation4  ,facts speak for
 themselves and conquer what opposes    
them no matter what traditions bolster  
it up4  ,the refuge which ,christianity 
has taken is the usual one resorted to  
by religions which find themselves in   
conflict with views more adequate than  
those they hold4  ,the myths are either 
allegorized or thrust into the          
background4  ,allegorization of myth is 

only a work of fancy1 but it always     
implies a tendency to self-deception4   
,so long as we see tales like the       
stories of creation in a sanely         
historical way1 we realize that these   
men of the past were stating their own  
nave beliefs and were not teaching our  
own views in the guise of a poetic      
version4  ,the only way to be true to   
ourselves is to give up any attempt at  
compromise and acknowledge that the     
account of man's creation given in      
,genesis has simply been outgrown4      
,thus1 step by step1 the framework of   
nature and man's place in it as taught  
by ,christianity has come in conflict   
with more thoroughly founded views and  
has had to give way4  ,before science   
arose1 man guessed at things and        
appealed to the gods at every step4     
,the gods1 as superhuman powers capable 
of doing anything1 were naturally       
introduced to account for origins and   
mysterious events4  ,such an agent      
seemed a sufficient answer to any       

problem4  ,how did man arise8  ,god     
created him4 ,how did the earth come to 
be8  ,god created it4  ,but science has 
come to see that an agent which answers 
every question in this easy-going       
fashion does not really answer any of   
them4  ,it is a verbal answer and does  
not give us any specific information4   
#ajg ,investigation is gradually showing
 just how men did arise and how the     
earth once formed part of a larger whole
 from which it was whirled off4  ,the   
only valid position to take in the light
 of this retreat of the biblical view of
 the world is to accept the evident     
conclusion that those who wrote the     
various books of the bible told the     
beliefs of their time4  ,some           
half-hearted converts to this conclusion
 try to take the edge off the admission 
by saying that the bible does not teach 
science4  ,let us put it frankly and say
 that the bible taught the knowledge of 
the olden days1 their science1 but that 
this does not at all agree with what we 

have come to know by real investigation4
  ,while the primitive view of the world
 had the strength which came to it from 
the sincere belief of ,christians1 it   
struggled valiantly against the new     
knowledge4  ,unfortunately1 ,christians 
were1 by their training1 dogmatists and 
sought to silence the rising whispers of
 doubt by persecution1 rather than by   
frank appeal to fact and reason4        
,because of this attitude1 there        
developed the tradition of antagonism   
between science and religion which is so
 often referred to4  ,the primitive view
 of the world1 woven into historical    
,christianity1 because shot through the 
bible1 was helpless in the face of this 
vigorous enemy which was nourished by   
the intellectual adulthood of man4  ,its
 partisans were shocked by the denial of
 beliefs that seemed to them bound up   
with the most sacred and important      
facts4  ,what could be more natural than
 an appeal to force to put down such    
impious suggestions6  ,the story is not 

a pleasant one but it should not be     
looked upon as unexpected4 ,christianity
 used its power but was defeated4  ,the 
fight is to all intents and purposes    
over2 the primitive view of the #ajh    
world has gone forever and ,christianity
 is in the throes of the effort to      
loosen itself from it1 as a swimmer     
tries to free himself from the embrace  
of a corpse which would drag him down4  
,but this is not the first time that    
,christianity has been forced to give up
 a belief that would not fit in with the
 facts of a wider experience4  ,we saw  
that the early ,christians believed in  
the coming of the kingdom of ,god upon  
earth in their own day and generation4  
,this hope was relinquished by the      
,church as time passed and it was not   
fulfilled4  ,the date of the great      
change was simply postponed             
indefinitely4  ,but the problem which   
the growth of modern science caused     
could not be met so easily4  ,the       
conflict was stern1 and it was only     

after defeat stared her in the face that
 ,christianity tried to adapt herself to
 the new view of the world4  ,were this 
adaptation possible simply by giving up 
the mythical elements in the bible and  
in the traditional theology1 there can  
be no doubt that it would be            
accomplished4  ,many protestant         
denominations have practically gone thus
 far4  ,there is reason to believe that1
 sooner or later1 the doctrine of the   
virgin-birth1 with its only too evident 
dependence upon classic mythology and   
its obvious violation of biological     
facts1 will be resigned and ,jesus      
acknowledged to have been born as all   
men are4  ,we moderns see no shame in   
such biological facts4 ,since historical
 criticism and biology point in the same
 direction1 there can hardly be a doubt 
as to the outcome4  ,however            
reluctantly1 ,christianity must yield to
 knowledge4  ,even after ,christianity  
has surrendered her mythical envelope   
and resigned herself to the less        

dramatic and pictorial account of the   
beginning and end of things1 #aji taught
 by modern science1 she is not secure4  
,the struggle has only passed from the  
outer works of religion to its very     
citadel4  ,to yield the nonessentials1  
which were the wrappings of its early   
manhood1 to this stern seeker after     
knowledge1 in the hope of a treaty of   
peace1 will only lead to disappointment4
 ,because of her worship of the book1   
,christianity has set too high a value  
upon beliefs which were simply doomed to
 destruction4  ,hence she has no right  
to look upon her surrender of these     
beliefs as an act of great merit4  ,it  
is simply a preliminary step to the     
basic conflict between science and      
religion4  ,the question which confronts
 the human mind at the present time     
concerns the problem of the harmony or  
disharmony of the views of the world    
essentially connected with religion and 
science respectively4  ,before this     
fundamental problem1 these minor        

conflicts which have occupied so much   
attention shrink into insignificance4   
,this problem involves the character of 
the agencies at work in the universe4   
,can science admit the reality of a     
special providence at work in the world8
  ,let us see to what issues this       
problem leads4     #aaj  ,,chapter ,,ix 
,,the ,,limits ,,of ,,personal ,,agency 
,religion was born from need wedded to  
ignorance4  ,but needs change1 and      
illusions fade away and are replaced by 
knowledge4  ,that religion reflects     
these factors of which it is a function 
cannot be doubted4 ,some thinkers1 who  
have sincerely pondered the problem1    
declare that religion will only be      
transformed4  ,others1 as earnest1      
assert that it will disappear1 and speak
 of the non-religion of the future4  ,is
 not the question in large measure one  
of definition8  ,that man will continue 
to evolve ethically can scarcely be     
doubted1 but it can be doubted with good
 right that he will continue to seek to 

fulfill his needs by rites designed to  
enlist superhuman agents in his behalf4 
,is there not more than a note of       
skepticism in that much-approved saying3
 ,god helps those who help themselves8  
,already1 man is beginning to classify  
his needs and to believe that his       
material needs1 at least1 can best be   
met by industry and knowledge4  ,he     
supplicates less and works more4  ,let  
us not forget what tremendous economic  
and social changes have occurred since  
the days of the little1 helpless        
communities that lifted up praying hands
 to their gods lest famine and war      
destroy them completely4  ,to-day1 man  
does more harm to man than does nature4 
,the face of things has changed more    
radically than we are accustomed to     
realize4  ,social habits and beliefs    
#aaa cannot fail to reflect this change4
  ,it may very well be that we shall be 
forced to conclude that what were1 in a 
sense1 the by-products of religion have 
become all that promises to survive when

 man has1 indeed1 eaten of the fruit of 
the tree of knowledge4  ,we have seen   
that primitive man read his surroundings
 in the light of his own consciousness4 
,everywhere he saw the evidence of will 
and anger1 desire and caprice4  ,the    
world was the theater of personal agents
 not so dissimilar to himself4          
,technically1 we should speak of this   
outlook as anthropomorphic animism4     
,perhaps a still lower stage existed in 
which things are full of mana or a      
mysterious power for good and evil4  ,as
 man felt his own powerlessness in the  
midst of tremendous1 and often hostile  
agencies1 which overtopped his own      
meager powers1 he was led to feel the   
desire to ally himself with these       
agencies and propitiate them in order   
that all might be well with him4 ,man   
was ever more convinced that his own    
life was bound up with the plans of the 
gods4  ,to displease them was to incur  
the most serious danger4  ,the anger of 
,jove1 or ,neptune1 or ,asshur1 or      

,yahweh was not easily turned aside once
 it was kindled4  ,the winds which      
threaten shipwreck1 the rains which give
 increase1 the drouth which dries up the
 earth1 the plague which brings death   
are under the control of the gods2 and  
it behooves man to walk warily in order 
not to offend them4  ,thus was the path 
set in which man was to travel until he 
reached an ethical monotheism4  ,as time
 passed1 demons and gods gave way1 in   
theory at least1 to the sovereignty of  
one powerful deity who gathered to      
himself the powers and activities of the
 old multiplicity of agents whom man had
 worshipped and #aab placated4  ,it is  
probable that this movement toward a    
consciously held monotheism reflected   
the changing political organization of  
society4  ,the old chaos of superhuman  
agents1 each doing what was right in his
 own eyes1 gave way to a growing        
heavenly order in which one powerful    
agent exerted his suzerainty over minor 
principalities4  ,yet monotheism has    

always been relative1 for the one god   
has his agents of subordinate           
rank--agents1 powers and                
intercessors--just as the most absolute 
monarch has his ministers4 ,political   
imagination cannot go beyond its source4
  ,christianity is usually regarded as  
the best type of monotheism2 yet the    
early ,church ,fathers thought of the   
old gods as demons working their        
nefarious will upon man4  ,it is        
notorious that many of the saints of the
 calendar are only re-christened pagan  
deities adopted by the ,church to meet  
popular demands4  ,the peasantry would  
believe in the agency of local          
divinities whose reputation had been    
great for the healing of sickness1 or   
the granting of children to the         
childless1 or the causing of rain to    
fall in seasons of drouth2 and the      
,church1 wisely enough1 controlled and  
adopted what it could not prevent4  ,the
 old pluralism of agencies refused to   
give way more than formally to a single 

agent4  ,the psychology of this         
resistance is simple enough4 ,just as   
the king is unable to give his personal 
attention to the requests of all his    
subjects but must delegate authority to 
officers to look after details1 so the  
one deity cannot give ear and attention 
to the incessant cries of his myriads of
 creatures4  ,i cannot help feeling that
 the pious catholic has more            
psychological realism in these matters  
than the protestant sectarian who       
wearies his deity with all sorts of     
trivial matters4  ,surely a #aac million
 petitions at the same time would       
distract any conceivable kind of        
personal deity6  ,but1 in the present   
chapter1 we are not concerned so much   
with the problem of the number and      
inter-relations of the superhuman agents
 at work in the universe as with the    
idea of personal agency itself4  ,the   
point ,i wish to call attention to is   
that the change from polytheism to      
monotheism did not involve any essential

 modification of the accepted notions of
 agency4  ,nature--and human life with  
it--was thought of as under the control 
of a superpersonal agent who guided the 
course of events in accordance with his 
purposes4  ,an ethical refinement of the
 idea of deity had supervened which     
lifted it far above the crudities of the
 so-called nature-religions4  ,was this 
not because man and human society had   
evolved ethically and socially8  ,but no
 marked break in the setting of the idea
 had arisen4  ,and this fact presents   
the thinker with a problem4  ,in its    
origins1 religion is innately hostile to
 the extension of impersonal causation  
to the cosmos1 for the obvious reason   
that such a conception conflicts with   
the operation of special agency4        
,religion begins with the postulation of
 powerful agents whom man can placate4  
,up to the present1 the evolution of    
religion has not involved a withdrawal  
of this primary assumption but only its 
ethical refinement and the reduction of 

the number of agents4  ,in the ,western 
world1 at least1 religion and the idea  
of an ethical control of the course of  
nature have been inseparable4  ,this    
latter idea underlies prayer for        
material blessings1 miracles1 and the   
various conceptions of providence4  ,can
 this primary assumption be taken from  
religion without destroying it8  #aad   
,the difficulties which confront this   
assumption for the educated man of      
to-day must not blind us to its         
naturalness in the past4  ,but that is  
the very point to grasp4  ,the primitive
 view of the world is not being so much 
refuted as outgrown4  ,slowly and       
painfully1 man has learned that events  
are conditioned by antecedents of an    
inflexible character1 and that his      
wishes and desires must have hands and  
feet working for them before they can   
affect things4  ,he has bettered his    
condition through invention and         
discovery and social organization4  ,of 
course1 the world might have been       

different1 and moral categories might   
have been the proper ones to apply to   
nature2 but the brute fact of the case  
is that our particular universe is not  
of that sort4  ,once given the notion of
 superhuman agents of a social          
character1 the after-development of     
religion is inevitable4  ,man adopts    
toward them the attitude that he takes  
toward his own rulers4  ,to pray to the 
gods is as natural as to pray to those  
who have power and who1 we hope1 may be 
moved by our prayers4  ,psychologically1
 there is no difference in the attitude 
involved4  ,providence is merely the    
action of an agent who is more than     
human4  ,for primitive man it did not   
imply an intervention with nature1 for  
the very good reason that the gods were 
active in nature4  ,nature was the      
sphere of the activities of the gods in 
the same way that it was1 in a minor    
degree1 the sphere of the activity of   
men4  ,we must rid ourselves of the     
modern conception1 nourished by science1

 of nature as a realm of causal         
relations4  ,for ages1 man had no such  
conception2 all activities were thought 
of as acts4  ,nature1 man and the gods  
acted together in a sort of social      
whole4  ,law1 as we understand the term 
in science1 would have had no #aae      
meaning to primitive man just as it has 
little meaning for many at the present  
day4  ,it is very interesting to study  
the development of the idea of          
providence4  ,it means foresight and the
 care which renders foresight           
praiseworthy4  ,the more the gods were  
given character and identified with the 
life of the community1 the more they    
were thought of as guardians anxious for
 the good of their people4  ,as         
superhuman1 they were gifted with       
knowledge of events to come and with    
plans for the welfare and happiness of  
their worshipers4  ,the social relations
 of the gods inevitably brought them    
into transforming touch with the ethical
 progress of humanity4  ,they became    

ideals reflecting back the highest of   
which man could conceive4  ,in          
,christianity1 we have a most striking  
instance of this ethical transformation 
of the one deity who is the superhuman  
agent par excellence4  ,he is the       
father1 kindly and loving1 merciful and 
bountiful1 who looks after the welfare  
of his children and plans their         
individual lives and the course of      
civilization4  ,the evolution of ,god on
 its ethical side has reached its high  
point4  ,from the philosophical side1   
this evolution was practically a        
foregone conclusion4  ,just because ,god
 was conceived socially1 he could not   
escape this goal4 ,hosea and ,jesus took
 the direction which ethical idealists  
could not help but take4  ,let us       
examine the consequences of this        
assumption of an omnipotent1 omniscient 
and ethically perfect agent who acts in 
nature and in human history4  ,simply by
 deducing the implications of the       
concept1 we find that it involves a plan

 for the world4  ,such a plan is called 
by theology ,god's providence4  ,for one
 who accepts the assumption1 the only   
sane attitude to take is that #aaf of   
submission to the course of events as   
manifestations of ,god's will and       
wisdom4  ,the heart of religion thus    
becomes a joyous acceptance of life's   
portion through a willed union with the 
purposes of this perfect being4  ,the   
most religious souls in history have    
drawn this conclusion and acted it out  
in their lives4  ,in this way1 they     
taste of an exaltation similar to that  
which the patriot experiences when he   
identifies himself1 without reservation1
 with the hopes and plans of his country
 at some time of crisis4  ,they have1   
moreover1 this advantage that           
disappointment is impossible1 since they
 can never know the actual plans of ,god
 nor the time when they are to be       
fulfilled4  ,if they anticipate and set 
their heart on some event which kindles 
their enthusiasm and it does not come to

 pass1 they can assuage their           
disappointment with the remembrance that
 ,god's ways are past finding out and   
that he has an eternity in which to     
work4  ,from the very nature of the     
hypothesis1 the course of history can   
never disprove this outlook which is the
 logical end-term of the god-idea4      
,this impossibility of test makes it1   
however1 unscientific4  ,nothing can be 
deduced from it4  ,as an hypothesis1 it 
must always remain unfruitful4  ,when we
 come to treat of the problem of good   
and evil1 we shall see other            
difficulties which it must face4  ,but  
the idea of a grand plan from which ,god
 cannot be swerved by intercession and  
supplication is far from the thought of 
the usual level of religion4  ,it is the
 creation of reflective thought1 and    
does not find a ready welcome in the    
minds of people at large4  ,for them1   
there is no such thing as complete      
determination of the course of events4  
,god is a powerful agent who is able to 

bring to pass what he wills but he does 
not always #aag intervene in particular 
cases unless he is asked4  ,it is this  
situation1 in which ,god is only one of 
the forces at work in nature1 that gives
 the setting for the idea of a special  
providence and the answer to prayer4    
,is it not evident that we have in these
 beliefs the expression of personal     
agency1 an idea continuous with         
mythology8  ,there are many examples of 
the appeal to a special providence which
 awaken the curiosity of the modern man4
  ,in cases of severe sickness1 prayer  
for restoration to health is offered in 
the churches and homes4 ,if ,god is a   
personal agent affected by the desires  
of his worshipers1 this act is perfectly
 logical4  ,yet the nature of sickness  
is now so well known that we see in it a
 cause and effect relation of a definite
 sort4  ,knowledge of impersonal agency 
is undermining the faith in super-human 
agency4  ,perhaps the fact that such    
prayers have never stayed a plague1     

while active measures of a scientific   
sort have done so1 has had something to 
do with the purely formal and           
traditional character of such prayers   
among civilized men4  ,another instance 
which has caused many cynical comments  
is the appeal to ,god to bring victory  
to the nation in time of war4  ,both    
combatants pray to the same deity with  
about equal fervency and1 at the same   
time1 make as careful preparations as   
possible for the actual warfare4  ,the  
religious ceremonies appear to play the 
part of an emotional accompaniment for  
the grimmer proceedings on the          
battle-field4  ,to the soldier1 ,god    
stands for the element of chance2       
otherwise1 the main precept is to keep  
the powder dry4  ,when we enter the     
domain of science1 we at once realize   
that a different conception of agency is
 held4  ,the universe is regarded as a  
closed system of causal #aah relations  
which spring from the nature of its     
parts4  ,it is a systematic and         

self-contained world whose activities   
can be explained by the discovery of    
laws which constantly hold and which    
grow out of the stable properties of    
nature itself4  ,as the result of a     
close and accurate study of the various 
aspects of nature1 science has come to  
the conclusion that the large bulk of   
the world is lifeless and that its parts
 react in habitual or mechanical ways   
which are invariable4  ,the planets     
circle about the sun in accordance with 
the pull and haul of forces which work  
in the same direction from year to year 
and lead to the same mathematically     
describable result4  ,by means of       
measurements and calculations1 celestial
 mechanics has been able to predict     
eclipses centuries ahead and to test    
historical records in regard to those   
which happened thousands of years ago4  
,the paths of comets have been          
calculated and their return to the solar
 system foretold4  ,thus the            
mass-movements of the universe have been

 seen to be mechanical in nature and    
expressive solely of the energies and   
configurations distributed throughout   
its parts4  ,the events which happen are
 inevitable and arise out of the        
impersonal agency of spatially existent 
things4  ,in what sharp contrast is this
 view of nature to the interpretation   
primitive man made for himself when he  
read his own emotions and desires into  
the things around him4  ,caprice and    
whim have no place in this regular      
procession of the heavens4  ,impersonal 
agency conquered1 not only in man's     
conception of the larger relations of   
bodies to one another1 but also in his  
idea of those events1 like sickness and 
death1 which strike nearer home4  ,while
 the agencies at work may not be        
considered mechanical1 they are yet #aai
 seen to be natural and regular in their
 working4  ,the characteristic of the   
personal agency to which religion makes 
appeal is that it disregards space2 it  
works here and there at its own will and

 leaps across intervening distances as  
though they had no reality4  ,just      
because it is spaceless1 it is          
supernatural4  ,it cannot be localized1 
and brought into definite relations with
 other things in the universe4 ,the more
 we conceive the universe as a spatial1 
self-contained system of things and     
processes1 the more it excludes the     
presence of an agency which intervenes  
in it but is not really of it4  ,so long
 as events can be explained as the      
effects of the natural working of things
 in nature1 the assumption of a         
supernatural agent is unmotived4  ,the  
conflict between science and religion   
has thus passed beyond the stage where a
 primitive and childish idea of the     
extent and origins of the visible world 
struggled against a more rational and   
better-founded outlook4  ,no educated   
man to-day would seriously defend the   
cosmical theories of ancient times4  ,it
 is simply absurd to deny that we have  
outgrown them once and for all4  ,but   

this first victory of science only      
involved the capture of the weakest     
outposts of the religious view of the   
world4  ,the heart of traditional       
religion seems to be the belief in a    
personal1 superhuman agency at work in  
nature or1 rather1 upon nature4  ,even  
the religious mind1 however1 admits that
 investigation has shown that there is a
 routine aspect to nature which covers  
the ordinary course of events4  ,the    
final crux of the problem comes1 then1  
to be whether there is good reason to   
believe that there are unusual events   
which cannot be accounted for by natural
 conditions4  ,the victorious career of 
science has undoubtedly cast #abj       
suspicion upon the occurrence of events 
which cannot be explained by means of   
regular changes in nature4  ,the appeal 
to superhuman1 personal agency to       
account for such events presupposes     
their occurrence1 while the belief in   
their occurrence is psychologically     
based upon the acceptance of such       

supernatural agency4  ,hence it is      
probable that both beliefs will fall    
together4  ,in the meantime1 they give  
one another mutual support4 ,he who     
believes in supernatural agency is the  
more likely to be credulous in regard to
 testimony advanced in its favor4       
,nature was at first regarded as a realm
 in which personal agency ruled4 ,yahweh
 thundered from ,sinai and rode in the  
tempest4  ,apollo guided the horses of  
the sun4  ,the gods did things in nature
 directly1 much as man does them1 only  
they are able to do things that man     
cannot do4  ,by will and word of        
command1 they make the mountains tremble
 and the hills to shake4  ,but gradually
 man came to conceive nature as a       
self-contained realm in which parts     
affected one another4  ,we owe the      
beginning of this view to the ,greeks4  
,they developed1 from the first1 a way  
of approach to events which was         
absolutely opposed to the older outlook4
 ,as nature became1 for man1 more and   

more self-sufficient and capable of     
explaining what occurred within it1     
there was less need to appeal to an     
agent of the old mythical sort4         
,religion is rightly anthropomorphic1   
just as ethics is4  ,man's welfare and  
destiny are properly and inevitably the 
important questions for man1 and he     
naturally approached the world with     
these problems in mind4 ,he used        
personal and social categories in his   
vague thinking about his environment4   
,the discovery that nature #aba did not 
work that way was made slowly and only  
after comparative civilization had      
brought leisure and safety4  ,even      
to-day1 the intellectual restraint1     
which the application of impersonal and 
non-moral concepts to nature demands1 is
 distasteful to the majority4  ,but this
 restraint will become less and less as 
man is introduced from childhood to a   
world of law and order to which he can  
adapt himself with a fair measure of    
success4  ,his eyes will remove         

themselves from far horizons and turn to
 the world around him1 nor will he dream
 of a transcendent realm of which       
earthly things are only the appearance  
and veil4  ,he will seek his welfare and
 find his destiny among his fellows     
during the normal time allotted to his  
species4  ,banded with them1 he will    
become an active and clear-eyed worker  
for the four great blessings which1 he  
finds1 are within his grasp1 health1    
knowledge1 goodness and beauty4  ,many  
virtues and ideals which religion has   
sheltered and encouraged will find      
themselves at home in this valiant and  
intelligent world1 but the religion of  
the past must shed many things before it
 will feel in harmony with its new      
setting4  ,will sufficient identity     
remain to make the term still           
significant8  ,frankly1 it is very hard 
to say--impossible to say with          
certainty4  ,what1 then1 are the limits 
of personal agency8  ,the limits set to 
that incarnated intelligence which      

organisms possess4  ,the ability to     
re-direct and distribute the energies   
which surround them in accordance with  
laws which study reveals1 the ability to
 build dwellings for shelter and for    
adornment1 the ability to use medicines 
for healing1 the ability to drain       
marshes1 dig canals1 girdle the earth   
with iron roads1 the ability to conceive
 things of beauty and to translate these
 #abb conceptions into sensuous form1   
all these abilities are theirs4 ,such   
agency works within nature as a highly  
gifted part within a whole to which it  
is not alien4  ,but experience gives us 
no hint of a transcendent agent for whom
 the earth is as a footstool and who    
whirls stars and planets through space  
to their appointed orbits4     #abc     
,,chapter ,x  ,,do ,,miracles ,,happen8 
,do miracles happen8  ,i am often asked 
this question by young people who are   
trying to combine religious tradition   
with modern thought1 and find a         
disharmony4  ,ecclesiastical authority  

urges them to the acceptance of         
miracles1 while the principles and      
conclusions of science as obviously     
militate against any such belief4  ,many
 halt half-way between these two        
opinions and drift through life without 
having been able to come to a decision4 
,in their moments of mysticism1 when the
 past religious view of the world with  
its prestige and emotional appeal gains 
the upper hand1 they are persuaded that 
all things are possible4  ,they lose    
sight of nature with its massive        
constancy1 and float back into the      
sentiment of personal agency so natural 
to man4  ,as they listen to the poetry  
of the familiar passage read by the     
clergyman1 their memories awaken1 and   
vague hopes for they know not what are  
stirred to a restless life4  ,all the   
surroundings and accompaniments renforce
 these suggestions1 for that is the     
transformed purpose of modern rites4    
,the music throbs in their ears1 now    
plaintive and low1 now bursting into    

triumphant peals4 ,incense fills the    
air1 and the lights burn dimly4  ,then a
 new psychological world is created     
within them4  ,the erstwhile solid earth
 with its blind driving power becomes   
transparent and a thing #abd to despise4
  ,the ,lord reigneth to ,whom all      
things are possible4  ,his the power to 
create or to destroy1 to bind or to     
loose1 to wither or to make whole4  ,the
 next day in the laboratory1 perhaps1   
the same individuals watch the          
circulation of the blood in the thin    
membrane of a frog's foot1 or measure   
the transformation of energy in a       
chemical reaction1 or examine the       
nerve-tissue of the human brain1 and    
another outlook forms itself4 ,they see 
a world of harmonious movements1 of     
gigantic forces1 of delicate            
adjustments1 of slow birth and quick    
decay4  ,the sentiment of law1 the      
feeling for fact1 the sense of nature   
grow upon them4  ,for the time being1   
they are the conscious spectators of an 

immense reality it would be meaningless 
to set aside4  ,the complexity and      
autonomy of nature thrusts all thought  
of superpersonal agency into the        
background4 ,thus the pendulum swings   
back and forth from supernaturalism to  
naturalism4  ,they believe1 and yet     
disbelieve4  ,what answer must be given 
to these troubled minds8  ,now the      
question1 ,do miracles happen8          
presupposes a single1 unambiguous       
meaning for the term1 miracle4  ,yet to 
secure such a single meaning requires an
 effort4  ,it is so tempting for the    
advocate of miracles to make            
qualifications when the argument goes   
against him1 to say that he did not mean
 an act of a supernatural agent but only
 an extraordinary event1 something      
marvelous and not easily accounted for4 
,we shall concern ourselves primarily   
with what may be called a theological   
miracle1 an occurrence confidently      
assigned to the will of a divine agent4 
,incidentally1 however1 we shall discuss

 the logical attitude to take toward    
marvels which cannot easily be fitted   
into the usual scheme of events4  #abe  
,to understand the ideas and sentiments 
associated with our term1 we must go    
back to the past4  ,we are sufficiently 
acquainted by now with the setting of   
the religious view of the universe to   
know that the gods were at first forces 
in nature and only slowly became        
spiritual agents outside of nature4  ,we
 cannot too often remember that man had 
no instinctive knowledge of what        
energies operated in the world and what 
were the conditions of their operation4 
,he peopled woods and fields and sky    
with invisible agents who could do      
almost all they wanted to do1 and with  
no hindrance from distance4  ,we may put
 it this way3 man had no idea of spatial
 process but thought of all events as   
acts of will4  ,the gods had mana1 or   
power1 just as the medicine man had1    
only greater4  ,and miracles were1 for  
ages1 only extraordinary events due to  

the power of gods or other              
power-possessing beings4  ,so long as   
this primitive view of things was       
prevalent1 miracles were only especially
 significant events assigned to the will
 of the gods4  ,they were events which  
transparently revealed their anger1 or  
favor1 or purposes4  ,there was nothing 
illogical or puzzling about them4  ,the 
forces which are so strongly working    
against the acceptance of miracles are  
just those forces which are antagonistic
 to the primitive view of the world4    
,if nature is a self-contained spatial  
system1 the complete mechanism of change
 should be open to study4  ,even human  
wills must be connected with human      
bodies1 and shown to act in accordance  
with psychological and physiological    
laws4  ,in the place of such vague terms
 as mana1 we have chemical and          
electrical properties1 bacterial        
infection1 hypnosis4  ,magic and miracle
 are closely connected2 and the         
replacement of magic by #abf science put

 miracles on the defensive4 ,nature     
became a realm of recurrent processes4  
,the exceptional1 alone1 could be       
assigned to the old type of agency4     
,thus the contrast came out more        
clearly1 as the religious view of the   
world found itself opposed to an orderly
 conception of natural process4  ,divine
 agency1 on the one hand2 uniform       
processes1 on the other4                
,etymologically1 a miracle is something 
which awakens wonder because of its     
strangeness4  ,in former days1 all      
events out of the ordinary were         
naturally classed as miracles1 that is1 
as events to be wondered at4 ,there was1
 of course1 a routine aspect to nature4 
,people expected the sun to rise in the 
morning and pass unwaveringly over the  
sky2 they looked for the return of the  
seasons and had festivals to celebrate  
them2 they anticipated normal young from
 their animals4  ,thus the routine      
aspect of things was fairly conspicuous1
 and they guided themselves by reference

 to it4  ,but1 in those days1 things    
were less settled than they are in our  
well-organized society4  ,people were   
more nervous1 as it were1 more          
surrounded by rumor1 more credulous4    
,both the psychological and the social  
situation favored tales of marvelous    
events4  ,i cannot help feeling that the
 religious customs1 the constant appeal 
to the gods for favors and portents1    
were both effects and causes of this    
sense for the miraculous which we find  
so widespread in the past4  ,sometimes  
monsters were born2 sometimes the wind  
blew from one direction for an          
extraordinary length of time2 sometimes 
the sun was darkened at midday4         
,stories were constantly afloat about   
wonderful cures imputed to gods or      
magicians4  ,credulity awoke at the     
least encouragement4  ,priests1         
prophets1 magicians1 kings1 gods1 all   
were regarded as #abg the authors of    
cures4  ,only the common man was unable 
to do these wonderful things4  ,the idea

 that the king's touch had wonderful    
curative power lingered on into the     
nineteenth century4  ,we have pointed   
out1 more than once1 that the best way  
to explain an idea away is to explain   
how it arose4  ,add to this a clear     
statement of how the older view         
conflicts with the new outlook which has
 been born of tested knowledge1 and the 
disproof is as complete as may be4  ,let
 us apply this method to the stories    
told of ,jesus in the ,new ,testament4  
,jesus was reputed to have the gifts of 
an exorcist4  ,that ,jesus1 if he did   
actually live1 believed in demons cannot
 be doubted4  ,in ,mark1 the crowd      
exclaims3 ,with authority he commands   
even the unclean spirits1 and they obey 
him4  ,again1 the scribes from          
,jerusalem say3 ,he hath ,beelzebub4    
,by the prince of the devils he casteth 
out the devils4 ,wherever ,jesus went1  
crowds of sick people flocked to him to 
be healed of their various complaints4  
,but they undoubtedly did the same to   

every prophet or medicine-man who came  
along4  ,a man could not be a prophet if
 he did not have a special mana1 or     
power1 either in his own right or as the
 representative of his deity4  ,and we  
must not think of these healers as      
charlatans or impostors4  ,everybody    
believed that disease was a matter for  
religion4  ,why8  ,because they did not 
know anything about toxins and bacteria 
and amoebic infection4  ,the            
demon-theory of disease was everywhere  
dominant outside1 perhaps1 certain      
circles in ,greece4  ,it is beyond a    
doubt1 writes ,f4 ,c4 ,conybeare1 that  
,jesus regarded fever1 epilepsy1        
madness1 deafness1 blindness1           
rheumatism1 and all the other weaknesses
 to which flesh is heir1 as the distinct
 work of evil #abh spirits4  ,the       
storm-wind which churned the sea or     
inland lake into fury is equally an evil
 spirit in the ,gospel story4  ,in the  
,vedic poems it is the same2 and1       
indeed1 we have here a commonplace of   

all folklore4  ,the stories told about  
,jesus in the synoptic gospels can be   
paralleled in the literature of the time
 throughout the ,roman world4  ,the use 
of spittle as a sovereign remedy was    
universal4  ,in his essay upon miracles1
 ,hume called attention to the story    
told about the ,emperor ,vespasian by   
,tacitus4  ,vespasian was a little more 
careful than ,jesus1 for he had         
physicians examine the eyes of the blind
 suppliant before he exerted his touch  
and spittle as healing agents4  ,but1   
then1 ,jesus could not be so careful    
about such things as an emperor4  ,when 
we once clearly realize the emotional   
atmosphere of the times and the complete
 lack of the sort of intellectual       
background we possess1 we are not       
surprised either at the recorded acts of
 ,jesus or at the myths which grew up   
around his figure4  ,the absence of     
miracles from the ,new ,testament would 
be far more surprising than is their    
presence4  ,the miracles attributed to  

,jesus are of two main kinds1 the       
expulsion of demons as a means of curing
 ills and allegorical fulfillments of   
supposed ,old ,testament prophecies4    
,the first kind has been sufficiently   
examined4  ,the second can be touched   
upon only briefly4 ,it has been one of  
the main contributions of the higher    
criticism to point out how much of the  
life of ,jesus is built up around       
passages in the ,septuagint or ,greek   
version of the ,old ,testament4  ,i do  
not think that ,i am going too far when 
,i assert that the presence of these    
tales in the sacred literature of       
,christianity has done an incalculable  
amount of #abi harm4  ,they have given a
 sanction to all sorts of superstitious 
beliefs and have helped to carry over   
into our day an outlook which would     
otherwise have been more quickly cast   
off4 ,had it not been for the miracles  
related in the gospels1 there would have
 been no problem of miracles to discuss4
  ,the idea1 itself1 would have been    

outgrown and have died a natural death4 
,and1 in the long run1 that is what must
 take place4  ,as a saner view of ,jesus
 is taken and a better knowledge of the 
outlook of the time in which he lived is
 gained1 the recorded miracles will be  
explained1 not as actual events1 but as 
actual beliefs4  ,another period        
deserves study in this connection4      
,when one examines the literature of the
 ,middle ,ages1 one gains the conviction
 that miracles formed the staple        
emotional diet of the people4  ,they    
played the part that novels and         
detective stories do now4  ,man is      
naturally dramatic in his interpretation
 of life1 and what can be more thrilling
 than a miracle8  ,constance1 the       
heroine of the ,man of ,law's ,tale in  
,chaucer1 is rescued from death when in 
most perilous plight by that ,unseen    
,hand which frustrates the plots of the 
wicked4  ,skepticism and realism are    
slowly acquired habits of mind4  ,the   
primary impulse is to believe4  ,and1   

when religious motives and traditions   
enter to strengthen the sway of this    
impulse1 it is hard to counteract4      
,when learned theologians enunciate the 
principle1 ,i believe because it is     
absurd1 it is not to be wondered at that
 the mass of the people believe because 
they do not see that it is absurd4  ,for
 ages1 the world was a sort of          
quicksand1 and it has taken far more    
courage and sheer intellectual capacity 
and moral daring than the mass of the   
people will ever conceive to build dykes
 out into #acj the unknown and rescue it
 for the empire of unswerving law4  ,but
 we must pass from the historical study 
of miracles to the systematic1 or       
philosophical1 aspect of the matter4    
,the philosophy of miracles breaks up   
into two parts1 the laws of evidence and
 proof1 and the nature of cause4  ,the  
first part may be called logical2 the   
second1 metaphysical4  ,theological     
miracles involve two elements1 the fact 
and the theory4  ,it is only after the  

fact has been sufficiently proven that  
its cause can come into question4  ,it  
is absurd to explain facts either by    
natural processes or by the will of ,god
 until you are certain that these events
 were actual occurrences4  ,if a child  
took ,alice in ,wonderland too seriously
 and asked me to explain ,why the sea is
 boiling hot1 ,i would be compelled to  
disappoint its craving for explanation4 
,now ,i am certain that the situation in
 regard to miracles is not much         
otherwise4 ,were the alleged facts to be
 proven beyond reasonable doubt1 the    
need for a genuine explanation would    
press upon us4  ,but the history of the 
subject points in the other direction4  
,the logic of evidence concerns itself  
with the tests applied to statements    
which purport to be facts4  ,what reason
 have we to believe in those stories    
which have been handed down to us from  
the past1 or in the tales of marvelous  
cures and visions spread abroad in      
certain circles to-day8  ,is it not     

evident that we must apply to them the  
same stringent tests that the scientist 
employs8  ,all the canons of evidence1  
external and internal1 must be brought  
to bear upon them4 ,accounts of cures in
 connection with the shrines of saints  
and the descriptions of cases of healing
 among ,christian #aca ,scientists      
should be subjected to rigorous1 yet    
equitable1 examination4  ,the nature of 
the sickness or injury should be        
diagnosed1 and the after-history kept   
under observation4  ,and1 unless these  
religious bodies wish to incur the      
suspicion of abetting fraud1 they should
 welcome thorough inquiry4  ,until      
something of this kind is done1 the     
evidential value of the accounts is     
weaker than it must be to reach proof4  
,the more the adduced narratives        
conflict with the usual course of       
experience1 the more does this lack of  
ventilation weaken their evidential     
worth4  ,from the standpoint of logic1  
this attitude is incontestable4  ,either

 we must maintain it or we must give up 
all serious attempt to sift testimony4  
,the advances made by history and       
psychology during the nineteenth century
 have put us in a far better position to
 handle the question of past marvels    
than ,hume was in4  ,yet this more      
concrete outlook has simply renforced   
,hume's method of criticism4  ,hume was1
 perhaps1 a little too generous4  ,the  
burden of proof rests upon the believer 
in marvels1 rather than upon the critic1
 because the regularity of experience   
has been increasingly established4      
,hence1 the historical evidence must be 
very strong1 stronger than it has turned
 out to be4  ,when the canons of        
historical evidence are applied to the  
accounts of marvelous events1 it is     
surprising how quickly they lose their  
impressiveness4  ,let us take1 for      
example1 the astounding series of       
incidents told in ,exodus4  ,were this  
book written by ,moses1 an actual       
eye-witness and chief actor on the human

 side1 we would be forced to assert that
 he was self-deceived1 or intended to   
deceive1 or that the events actually did
 #acb happen in some strange sort of    
way4  ,but when we discover that the    
,pentateuch was not written until long  
after the establishment of the ,kingdom1
 and that it contains various strands of
 popular tradition and priestly         
construction1 we realize that the       
logical situation is very different4    
,the eye-witness has disappeared4 ,in   
other words1 we have to deal with       
legends instead of with history4 ,we are
 no longer reduced to the dilemma of    
either calling ,moses a liar or         
accepting events which strike us as     
mythical4  ,we are not even called upon 
to rationalize these legends and to     
appeal1 say1 to the influence of a high 
wind1 long continued1 upon some shallow 
branch of the ,red ,sea4  ,such         
ingenuity is now seen to be misplaced4  
,when we pass from past to present1 we  
must keep to the same logical methods4  

,in fact1 we must often pass from the   
present to the past4  ,it was ,lyell1   
the famous geologist1 who established   
the scientific canon that the same      
forces that are working to-day must be  
used to explain what occurred in other  
ages4  ,and this canon was of immense   
value1 for it prevented scientists from 
dreaming of catastrophes and forgetting 
to study the detailed working of common 
forces4  ,how far faith in ,jesus as a  
religious healer1 a powerful prophet    
sent by ,god1 led to what are called    
faith-cures can be answered only by     
analogy from the present4 ,the nature   
and reach of mental cures must be       
studied with the same care that is given
 to other fields4  ,only lately is this 
being done4 ,physicians did not do      
justice to the nervous system4  ,their  
materialism was too nave1 too           
mechanical4  ,the individual is an      
organic whole1 and the mind cannot be   
severed from this whole without falsity4
  ,put in physiological terms1 the      

nervous system #acc controls the        
expenditure of energy of the organism1  
and1 if it is wasteful1 can soon exhaust
 the supply4  ,the resistance offered by
 the organism to disease is1 then1      
likely to vary with the mental and      
nervous balance of the individual4 ,how 
effective an abnormal direction of      
nervous energy toward certain parts of  
the organism may be cannot be told      
beforehand4  ,probably1 experimental    
work with hypnosis and psychoanalysis   
will throw light upon these internal    
adjustments4  ,the historian of         
religious history should keep his eye   
upon the recent developments of         
psychiatry4  ,he should1 moreover1 learn
 his psychology from experts and not be 
satisfied with the jargon of            
spiritualists4  ,but logic alone will   
never be able to disprove theological   
miracles4  ,i cannot prove that there   
are no fairies1 although ,i can show    
that there is no good evidence for      
belief in their existence4  ,the        

rationalist who undertakes to           
demonstrate the impossibility of        
miracles forgets that his thinking works
 within a set of postulates and         
principles which his adversary will not 
accept4  ,all he can really show is that
 his postulates and principles fit in   
better with experience than do those of 
his adversary4  ,the final conflict is  
that between the primitive view of the  
world and the scientific view4  ,the    
best that can be done is to stress the  
logical side and then make the contrast 
between the two views of the world as   
distinct as possible4  ,whether an      
individual will1 or will not1 believe in
 religious miracles depends ultimately  
upon the view of the world which grows  
up in his mind4  ,and this mental       
outlook is a function of his training   
and his psychological make-up4  ,the    
theological miracle is more deductive   
than inductive4  ,i mean that it is a   
consequence of a dogma #acd rather than 
an independently given fact4  ,the      

religious outlook comes first in order  
and dominates the fact4  ,just the      
opposite is the case in science4  ,there
 the fact comes first and the theory    
afterwards4  ,as ,i have written in my  
,logic3 ,mere speculation uncontrolled  
by fact is almost certain to lose touch 
with reality4  ,it may lead to the      
construction of beautiful systems1 but  
these systems1 for all their splendor   
and subtlety1 are sure to lack value as 
means of interpreting the world in which
 we actually live4  ,but is not the     
theological miracle an instance of just 
such uncontrolled speculation8  ,an     
omnipotent ,god could do anything to1 or
 in1 his footstool4  ,of course he      
could4  ,you are only developing the    
implications of your hypothesis4  ,the  
test questions are1 first1 ,is it his   
nature to want to do these abrupt       
things8 second1 ,is this conception of  
an omnipotent ,god the most satisfactory
 hypothesis8  ,does it help us to meet  
the facts and events of human life8  ,we

 know how the idea arose1 and we know   
that it was based on interpretations of 
nature that seem to us now essentially  
illusory4  ,the rub of the matter is1   
that it is of no assistance to science  
and creates hosts of artificial         
difficulties4  ,we have been discussing 
one of these artificial problems in the 
present chapter and shall be engaged in 
the discussion of others in the next two
 chapters4  ,a naturalistic metaphysics 
and ethics is far easier to formulate   
than a theological system free from     
contradiction4  ,but suppose that       
certain marvels which would not fit into
 the natural course of things were      
established4  ,how could it be shown    
that these peculiar events were the acts
 of a supernatural agent8  ,strictly    
speaking1 only revelation could         
accomplish this feat4  ,but revelation  
#ace is1 itself1 a miracle which needs  
accrediting4  ,and so you are1 once     
more1 in a vicious circle4  ,revelation 
might be a well-accredited mode of proof

 if it had an organ of a public         
character--a voice from heaven1 for     
instance4  ,but such a voice would      
become a part of nature for us2 in other
 words1 its assumption implies another  
sort of world from the one we are in4   
,but1 until this organ is established1  
we have good right to doubt the ipse    
dixit of self-appointed oracles4  ,when 
we examine the whole question of        
miracles inductively and deductively1 ,i
 think that we must acknowledge that    
their basis is exceedingly weak4        
,already1 the educated world is in a    
fair way to outgrow them2 and this      
tendency will undoubtedly increase as   
science continues to explore the world  
we live in4  ,in conclusion1 it seems   
worth while to call attention to the    
fact that very few people realize what  
they are really believing when they     
accept miracles4  ,they do not know     
enough about nature to grasp the real   
content of their beliefs2 and1 until    
they do1 their belief represents simply 

a point of view which has not been      
confronted with its implications4  ,it  
expresses innocence rather than virtue4 
,let us glance at a couple of the       
biblical miracles to show what they     
involve4  ,tyndall has brought out1 very
 strikingly1 the difference between the 
miracle supposed to have aided ,joshua  
in his battle with the ,amorites1 as    
this appeared in the eyes of an         
,israelite of old1 and as it appears to 
a man of science4  ,for the one the     
miracle probably consisted in the       
stoppage of a fiery ball less than a    
yard in diameter1 while to the other it 
would be the stoppage of an orb fourteen
 thousand times the earth in size4      
,there is1 he writes1 a scientific as   
well as a historic #acf imagination2 and
 when1 by the exercise of the former1   
the stoppage of the earth's rotation is 
clearly realized1 the event assumes     
proportions so vast1 in comparison with 
the result to be obtained by it1 that   
belief reels under the reflection4  ,the

 energy here involved is equal to that  
of six trillion of horses working for   
the whole of the time employed by       
,joshua in the destruction of his foes4 
,if we pass from the great to the small1
 from the employment of tremendous      
forces to the reconstruction of endless1
 minute relations1 the same divergence  
between superficial appearance and the  
reality stares us in the face4  ,let us 
consider the raising of ,lazarus from   
the dead4  ,it is a well-known fact that
 the nervous system begins to           
disintegrate very quickly after death4  
,now research has shown that there are  
nearly a billion of cells in the brain  
alone4  ,think of the disorganization   
which would ensue in such a complicated 
system after a period of four days4     
,those who are acquainted with the      
delicacy of organic compounds can       
realize the condition of the brain when 
the body was already beginning to stink4
  ,but the ancients did not even know   
that the brain was closely connected    

with consciousness1 let alone its       
structure4  ,of the character of the    
economy of the body1 they knew          
practically nothing2 they dealt with    
wholes1 not with parts4  ,how different 
this miracle appears from these two     
stand-points6  ,it is the same only in  
name4  ,it may be of interest to note   
that this miracle1 characteristic of    
,john1 is very evidently related to     
illustrate the principle that ,jesus as 
the ,logos is the resurrection and the  
life4  ,it is a demonstration miracle4  
,our answer to the question1 ,do        
miracles happen8 must be in the         
negative4  ,while there is nothing #acg 
irrational in the idea in itself1 it    
does not fit the world as experience    
presents it4  ,the assertion that ,god  
performs miracles1 like the similar     
assertion that he created the world1 is 
purely hypothetical and unverifiable4   
#ach  ,,chapter ,,xi  ,,the ,,soul ,,and
 ,,immortality  ,the hope of immortality
 is an essential feature of practically 

all modern religions4  ,even those      
oriental religions which lack its clear 
presence postulate a dim kind of        
personal continuity4  ,buddhism has     
always been a puzzle to the optimistic  
,westerner who is in love with himself  
and does all his thinking in terms of   
personality and personal relations4     
,the idea of re-birth in accordance with
 a rigid moral law is alien to his      
traditions2 while the impersonalism of  
the whole process leaves him cold4  ,it 
is not untrue to the facts to call      
,buddhism an atheistic religion4  ,yet  
it is a religion because it postulates  
the objective efficacy of moral         
categories4  ,freedom from the wheel of 
re-birth is gained by the ,eightfold    
,path of right beliefs and right acts4  
,enough of the idea of a soul and enough
 of the idea of immortality exists even 
in this religion to make these          
assumptions important4  ,but what have  
modern science and philosophy to say    
about these age-old ideas8  ,is the soul

 any longer in favor8  ,here1 again1 an 
historical approach is worth while1     
because it gives the proper perspective4
  ,if we can understand why people in   
the past developed and fostered these   
ideas1 we can judge their reasons pretty
 objectively1 even though we realize    
that we have been strongly affected by  
the beliefs erected upon them4  #aci    
,destroy the roots of a tree and the    
foliage will wither before long4  ,has  
science dug so sharply around the roots 
of these old beliefs that they are bound
 to decay8 ,the subject is an extremely 
interesting one4  ,a belief in some sort
 of an after-life is wide-spread4  ,it  
is common knowledge that the ,american  
,indians spoke of a happy hunting-ground
 in the ,west1 in which the soul of the 
warrior would rejoice in abundance of   
game4  ,other peoples thought of the    
abode of the dead as in the ,east where 
the sun arises4  ,still others taught   
that it was in the sun or the other     
heavenly bodies1 or underneath the earth

 in a subterranean region4  ,we are     
seldom able to determine the motives    
which led to these varying locations4   
,all sorts of beliefs flourished in the 
,mediterranean basin a few centuries    
before our era2 but the drift of        
religious thought was moving rapidly    
toward a passionate acceptance of       
another life somewhere in the heavens4  
,immortality was taking on a more vivid 
coloring and was being transformed from 
a passive survival to an event of marked
 religious significance4  ,new ethical  
motives were attaching themselves to an 
old tendency and modifying it almost    
beyond recognition4  ,the sentiments and
 rituals built up around the ideas of   
sin and salvation were reflected into   
the next world and created the vision of
 a heaven and hell4  ,what a rich field 
this was for the mythopeic imagination  
to exploit6  ,and what an interesting   
sociological fact is it that the human  
imagination has always been more fertile
 in its descriptions of hell than in its

 descriptions of paradise6  ,but a few  
words ought to be said about the earlier
 conceptions of an after-life4  ,both   
the ,greeks and the #adj ,hebrews       
thought of the other-world as a joyless 
reflection of the present4  ,death was1 
to all intents1 the end of what really  
counted4  ,those who deny that men can  
live nobly without the hope of          
immortality forget that men like        
,pericles were unaffected by that       
phantom dream4  ,even the great ,hebrew 
prophets extolled righteousness without 
the promise of a reward in the next     
world4  ,what men have done1 we can     
surely do again4  ,the ,greek father    
felt himself a member of a family whose 
traditions and loyalties he wished to   
hand on intact4  ,for himself1 he       
desired only the customary funeral rites
 so that his shade might rest in peace4 
,in the house of ,hades dwell the       
senseless dead1 the phantoms of men     
outworn4 ,the answer of ,achilles to    
,ulysses1 when that wanderer visits him 

in the underworld1 expresses this       
shadowy after-life admirably3 ,nay1     
speak not comfortably to me of death1 oh
 great ,ulysses4  ,rather would ,i live 
on ground as the hireling of another1   
with a landless man who had no great    
livelihood1 then bear sway among all the
 dead that be departed4 ,the ,homeric   
,greeks rejoiced in life like youths    
whom everything pleases4  ,the shadowy  
realm of ,hades was felt to be a mockery
 of the sunlit world4  ,the history of  
the belief in an after-life among the   
,hebrews is very similar4  ,yet it is   
surprising to notice how few remark the 
paucity of reference to this idea in the
 ,old ,testament4  ,in the book of      
,isaiah occurs that account of ,sheol to
 which attention was called in an       
earlier chapter3 ,sheol from beneath is 
moved for thee to meet thee at this     
coming4444  ,all they shall answer and  
say unto thee1 ,art thou become weak as 
we8  ,the passage is a tremendous one1  
full of the most biting irony and       

vindictive hatred4  ,this #ada          
conception of ,sheol evidently scarcely 
differs from the corresponding one of   
the ,homeric ,greek4  ,toward the       
,christian era1 as a result of the      
infiltration of the beliefs current     
among surrounding peoples1 the idea of a
 future life took hold of the ,jews4    
,the ,pharisees1 the popular party of   
the day1 stressed the dogma1 while the  
,sadducees1 the ,aristocratic party1    
denied it4  ,early religion was largely 
a state affair1 for it concerned itself 
with the safety of the social group2 but
 it was rapidly becoming an engrossing  
concern for the individual4  ,the       
religious imagination was busily        
painting another world and connecting it
 with the relations of the individual to
 divine powers4  ,given the religious   
view of the world1 what an instrument of
 appeal and of dread this conception of 
immortality was6  ,the shadow and       
sunshine of another world lay athwart   
this one4  ,endless vistas of pain and  

pleasure stretched into the future4  ,no
 wonder that the true means of salvation
 became the burning question6  ,from the
 beginning1 ,christianity emphasized the
 fact of another world and its terrific 
meaning for the soul of man1 adopting as
 an inheritance the current views with  
regard to a ,messianic kingdom and a    
place of torment4  ,paul even goes so   
far as to proclaim the cynical          
alternative3 ,if the dead are not       
raised1 let us eat and drink1 for       
to-morrow we die4  ,the ideas of        
immortality and salvation were the      
central features of the great religious 
revival which swept over the ,roman     
,empire about the time of the rise of   
,christianity4  ,the desire for personal
 safety in this world and the next moved
 men4  ,fear and hope worked together2  
fear of the terrors awaiting the soul   
after death1 hope of a happy existence  
in some paradise4  #adb ,that early     
,christianity owed much of its success  
to its doctrines of final things cannot 

be denied4  ,it was a period of         
astrology1 theosophy1 mysticism1 cults  
of saviors1 eschatologies4  ,few were   
able to keep their heads above this tide
 of oracular mythology and superstition4
  ,what moorings did they have8 ,none of
 that tested knowledge of the physical  
world which we possess1 and which keeps 
numbers of people fairly sane to-day in 
spite of themselves4  ,when we recall   
the terror at ,salem a few centuries    
ago1 we must admit that these ,greeks1  
and ,romans1 and ,jews1 and ,syrians did
 not conduct themselves so badly in the 
demon-ridden world in which they lived4 
,yet1 while it would be unfair to blame 
those who embraced the various cults1 it
 would be equally unfair not to give    
praise to those few enlightened souls   
who would approve none of these things4 
,up to the present1 the doctrine of     
immortality has been an essential part  
of ,christianity4  ,the creeds which    
have come down to us proclaim the faith 
that ,christ ,jesus will appear again to

 judge the quick and the dead4  ,to the 
average man1 religion is absolutely     
committed to such a belief4  ,it has    
gone hand in hand with the idea of      
retribution and reward until the two    
have grown together4  ,it is not        
strange1 then1 that the suspicion that  
immortality is not justified by         
physiological and psychological facts is
 felt to have a grave bearing upon      
religion4 ,to the vast majority1        
religion without immortality is like    
,hamlet with ,hamlet left out4  ,remove 
the faith in a special providence1      
likewise1 and the edifice around which  
many religious emotions and values have 
entwined themselves is no more than a   
ruin4  ,but the idea of a soul always   
accompanies the belief #adc in          
immortality4  ,the experiences which led
 to the one notion naturally encouraged 
the other4  ,if the soul can leave the  
body1 it is obviously independent1 in   
large measure1 of the latter's fate4    
,let us glance at some of the           

experiences whose false interpretation  
is at the foundation of a belief in an  
immortal soul inhabiting the body for a 
little space4  ,it is surprising what an
 influence was exercised by dreams4  ,we
 have so completely outgrown this       
uncritical attitude toward them that it 
takes some effort to realize how natural
 it was4  ,for the educated man of      
to-day1 dreams are subjective           
experiences1 that is1 experiences which 
do not contain information about what is
 happening in the external world4  ,in  
the jargon of psychology1 they are      
centrally aroused ideas playing about   
some organic stimulus or some repressed 
wish4  ,but the savage knew nothing     
about such distinctions4  ,the dead     
appeared to the living and talked with  
them4  ,patroclus stands before         
,achilles and chides him4  ,do not the  
dead1 then1 have some sort of life8     
,many psychological motives combined to 
convince primitive man of at least a    
shadowy existence after death4  ,but    

there was another side to the           
dream-life4  ,the living went on long   
journeys1 doing strange things1 while   
their bodies rested in the tent4  ,added
 to these suggestions1 so naturally     
lending themselves to a spiritistic     
interpretation1 were still others4      
,certain kinds of sickness are explained
 by means of the idea of possession4    
,invisible agents are at work in the    
world4  ,what can a trance be if not the
 temporary absence of just such an      
agent8 ,among the ,kayans of ,borneo1   
for example1 it is the custom for an    
elderly person learned in such matters  
to sit beside the corpse1 where the soul
 is #add supposed to hover for some days
 after death1 and to impart to the      
latter minute directions for its journey
 to the land of the dead4  ,we are in   
the presence1 here1 of natural          
illusions1 of hypotheses which          
inevitably arose4  ,man's first guesses 
were mistakes4 ,the whole history of    
science drives this fact home4  ,the    

various opinions men have built up      
around the idea of a soul are           
instructive4  ,how gravely men have     
written about such hidden things6 ,only 
very slowly have they learned to        
separate an experience from its         
interpretation1 and to seek a wide range
 of facts before erecting even an       
hypothesis4  ,to explain by means of    
agents1 visible and invisible1 is the   
plausible method to which man always    
resorts first4  ,it is only when he     
becomes more sophisticated that he      
thinks in terms of processes4  ,the     
following examples of divergent opinion 
upon the soul1 gathered by an able      
,french author1 show the vagueness of   
the idea3  ,origen1 the ,alexandrian    
theologian3 ,the soul is material and   
has a definite shape4  ,st4 ,augustine3 
,the soul is incorporeal and immortal4  
,a ,polynesian3 ,the soul is a breath1  
and when ,i saw that ,i was on the point
 of expiring1 ,i pinched my nose in     
order to retain my soul in my body4     

,but ,i did not grasp it tightly        
enough--and ,i am dead4  ,albertus      
,magnus3 ,there are thirty arguments    
against the immortality of the soul and 
thirty-six for1 which is a majority of  
six arguments in favor of the           
affirmative4  ,rabbi ,maimonides3 ,it is
 written3 ',the wicked will be destroyed
 and there will not rest anything of    
him4'  #ade  ,ecclesiastes3 ,men die as 
the beasts and their fate is the same4  
,they have all one breath4  ,the soul   
was at first conceived in very material 
ways4  ,the idealistic movement in      
,greek philosophy is responsible for the
 concept of an immaterial substance4    
,under the influence of mystical1       
religious motives the soul becomes more 
and more non-spatial and intangible4    
,the words used are negative and        
abstract4  ,it is generally supposed    
that ,plotinus was the first to describe
 the soul as an immaterial substance4   
,but this immaterial substance must     
somehow be brought into relation with   

the physical body4  ,it was this        
situation which gave rise to the        
soul-body problem in philosophy1 a      
problem which has gradually changed into
 the mind-body problem4  ,this          
transformation of the puzzle is         
significant4  ,the very terms have      
changed and have become more concrete   
and empirical4  ,a quotation from       
,william ,james--a man who had no bias  
against theology--will bring out the    
essential reasons for this significant  
change of terms3 ,yet it is not for idle
 or fantastical reasons that the notion 
of the substantial soul1 so freely used 
by common men and the more popular      
philosophies1 has fallen upon such evil 
days1 and has no prestige in the eyes of
 critical thinkers4  ,it only shares the
 fate of other unrepresentable          
substances and principles4 ,they are    
without exception all so barren that to 
sincere inquirers they appear as little 
more than names masquerading4  ,i am    
inclined to believe that1 to most       

people1 to-day1 the soul means no more  
than the personality1 and the conviction
 that this cannot be reduced to the     
body4  ,it stands for consciousness and 
character as somehow rooted in something
 permanent4  ,plato's idea of the #adf  
soul as a simple1 indestructible        
substance awakens hardly an echo in     
their minds--and why should it8         
,something which guarantees and makes   
possible the continued existence of     
their conscious self after the death of 
the body is the association which is    
uppermost4  ,educated people1 at least1 
have outgrown the ghost-soul of         
primitive times and have put their hope 
in the inability of the philosophic     
scientist to explain life and           
consciousness without appeal to agencies
 which are inexplicable on naturalistic 
terms4  ,but it is obvious that such a  
basis is overhung by an ever-threatening
 danger4  ,if the mind-body problem were
 solved in a concrete1 empirical way1   
what then8  ,it has been customary to   

examine the question of immortality from
 three angles which may be called1      
respectively1 the empirical1 the ethical
 and the philosophical4  ,the more      
recent drift of philosophy toward       
realism has tended to bring the first   
and the third methods of approach closer
 together4  ,it has increasingly been   
felt that philosophy coperates with the 
special sciences and is inseparable from
 them4  ,the ethical argument in favor  
of immortality is oftener found in      
poetry than in serious books on ethics4 
,it cannot be said to have sufficient   
force to swing the balance established  
by science and a realistic philosophy in
 touch with science4  ,the empirical    
status of immortality can best be       
brought out by a glance at the facts of 
abnormal psychology4  ,in olden days1 as
 we have seen1 insanity was explained as
 the disturbing effect of a demon4      
,to-day1 experiment and careful         
observation have proven that it is due  
to a functional disorder of the brain4  

,that1 whenever there is a disorder of  
the mind1 there #adg is some            
corresponding anatomical or             
physiological flaw in the brain has     
become a commonplace of modern medicine 
and psychology4  ,in fact1 insanity is  
defined as a symptom of disease of the  
brain inducing disordered mental        
symptoms4  ,a multitude of experiences  
point to the very intimate connection   
between the brain and consciousness4    
,careful observation of clinical cases  
has1 for example1 shown that a lesion in
 the visual center of the brain1 that   
is1 the part of the brain to which the  
fibers of the optic nerve run1 induces  
the disappearance of both sight and     
visual imagery4  ,psychology and        
physiology have been busily engaged in  
discovering these correlations4  ,so    
extended are they that the suggestion   
that consciousness is inseparable from  
the brain forces itself home ever more  
obstinately4  ,mental capacity runs     
parallel with the finer development of  

the brain4  ,is not1 therefore1 the very
 meaning of mental capacity connected   
with the needs and activities of the    
organism8  ,but the case is still       
stronger when we note what happens to an
 individual when something goes wrong   
with the brain4  ,can this poor lunatic1
 who has dropped from the high level of 
educated manhood to a condition more    
helpless than that of an animal1 just   
because of a relatively slight          
disintegration of the cortex1 be        
expected to recover his intellect by    
means of its total disintegration8  ,can
 it be denied that the burden of proof  
rests on those who assert immortality8  
,the so-called ethical argument for     
immortality is associated with the name 
of ,immanuel ,kant4  ,kant's philosophy 
was agnostic1 and it was this           
agnosticism which made his use of the   
ethical argument possible4  ,if you     
can't make any assured theoretical      
statement #adh about the nature of the  
self1 you can allow demands1 which you  

regard as ethical and primary1 to       
dictate your ultimate beliefs4  ,it     
cannot be denied that ,kant's argument  
savors of the popular notion that the   
virtuous must be rewarded4  ,at its     
highest1 the ethical argument signifies 
a demand for a future life in order to  
carry out that development of character 
which the brief span of earthly life is 
not equal to4  ,it is this argument     
which runs through ,browning4  ,what    
shall we say of it8  ,there are both    
factual and theoretical objections to   
the ethical argument for immortality4   
,the more we know about habit1 the more 
we realize that character is pretty well
 set by middle life4  ,the creative     
period of human life ends all too soon4 
,character is not an abstract possession
 separable from human tasks and needs4  
,it is not like a work of art which can 
be polished and re-polished4  ,but1 when
 all is said and done1 ethics must abide
 by the facts of the case4  ,take       
character abstractly enough and apart   

from its human and organic setting1 and 
the dream of continuous perfecting may  
have meaning2 but so would the dream of 
continuous intellectual advance4  ,yet  
the scholar knows all too well the      
judgment passed by the coming generation
 upon the older one3 ,they can't adjust 
themselves to this new point of view4   
,would progress come if the generations 
did not pass8  ,the philosophical aspect
 of the question can be touched upon    
only briefly and in an untechnical way4 
,the basic problem may be put in this   
way3 ,can human personality be included 
in nature in a theoretically            
satisfactory way8  ,it has been         
customary to stress the difficulties    
which confront such an attempt #adi and 
to be silent in regard to the problems  
which the separation of body and        
personality has always found facing it4 
,yet ,i think that few philosophers     
would deny that it is the very          
irrationality of the traditional dualism
 which makes a living monism of mind and

 body so desirable and so urgently      
sought after4  ,there is good reason to 
believe that the persistence of the     
mind-body puzzle has been due to two    
conditions1 the lack of an adequate     
theory of knowledge1 and an             
ultra-mechanical1 or non-evolutionary1  
view of the physical world4  ,scientists
 and philosophers1 alike1 were possessed
 by an inertia which prevented them from
 taking the principle of evolution      
seriously4  ,they refused to readjust   
their ideas so as to admit that         
organization of a high grade1 such as   
characterizes the nervous system1 has a 
synthetic way of acting of its own1 not 
reducible to the mere chain-like action 
of externally related units4  ,there are
 many signs pointing to the conclusion  
that a broader and more flexible        
naturalism is forming which will sweep  
away the artificial problems and        
stereotyped contrasts which have stood  
in the way of a candid inclusion of     
human thought and activity within       

nature4  ,when that day comes1 the      
hesitations which have encouraged the   
faith in immortality in the face of     
empirical difficulties of an            
ever-increasing weight will pass away4  
,i am inclined to prophesy that         
psychology and physiology will reach an 
adjustment of their principles before   
many years have passed1 and that        
consciousness and mind will take their  
places along with mass and energy in the
 scientific view of nature4  ,the old   
dualism of soul and body will pass away 
and give place to a flexible naturalism4
  ,the belief in immortality and the    
wish for it will die #aej out very      
slowly4  ,the vague appetite for another
 life will persist as an undercurrent of
 half-understood desire for a good whose
 nature has not been clearly thought    
out4  ,what men really want is an       
eternal youth in an environment which   
gives opportunity for self-expression   
and pleasant companionship4  ,it means  
rest to the weary1 new horizons to those

 who wish to achieve1 a release from    
fetters to those who have felt          
themselves oppressed4  ,what a quiet    
charm there is in such an uncritical    
play of the fancy6  ,but is it anything 
more than daydreaming8  ,can our musings
 become definite without revealing      
themselves as fancies8  ,alas6 our souls
 are old and written upon1 and we would 
no longer be the same were these marks  
removed4  ,they have a meaning for us   
and we cannot wish them away4  ,if1 for 
a forgetful moment1 we envy the smooth  
cheeks of a youth1 the envy is but      
momentary4  ,what we desire is his      
abundant energy and hopefulness with our
 own humorous and wiser self in command4
  ,how completely we are parts of life  
as it is lived upon this planet6        
,desires1 affections1 passions1 ideas1  
habits1 all1 when analyzed1 point to the
 human organism and its environment4    
,our personality is like a plant which  
draws its nourishment from what         
surrounds it4  ,remove the old peasant  

from his fields and plow-fellows1 and he
 will lose interest in life4 ,remove the
 business man from the mart and counter1
 and he will become restless4  ,how can 
we expect to revive a zest in life by   
cutting the grown personality loose from
 what it has fed upon8  ,it is          
psychologically absurd and betrays that 
tendency to abstract thinking which is  
so widespread4  ,the human personality  
is a function of this sub-lunar life1 of
 this organism1 of this sky1 of this    
#aea soil1 of this restless struggle    
with nature4  ,immortality is an        
impossible surgery4  ,at certain stages 
of social development1 false beliefs are
 simply inevitable4  ,for example1 the  
,ptolemaic view of the solar system was 
bound to precede the ,copernican4  ,and 
false beliefs do both good and harm     
before they are outgrown4  ,how many of 
the down-trodden have looked to another 
world to right their wrongs6  ,it gave  
them hope3 but it made them passive and 
all too meek4  ,has not the idea of     

another life encouraged a false         
perspective in regard to this one8  ,i  
cannot feel that the belief was ever a  
very healthy one for the human race4    
,yet1 during the coming period of       
transition1 many who have been trained  
to hold false expectations will         
experience grievous pain4  ,people who  
become used to a narcotic recoil from   
the idea of giving it up4  ,their       
nervous system has been taught to depend
 upon it4  ,is there not something      
parallel to this in ethics8  ,religious 
romanticism is a spiritual narcotic     
which substitutes a dream world for the 
more humdrum world of every-day         
existence4  ,it develops a taste for the
 meretricious and sentimental4  ,in     
revenge1 the enthusiast fails to achieve
 insight into the significance of common
 things4  ,life's real tragedies and    
triumphs are veiled from his untrained  
eye4  ,only a whole-hearted1 even       
joyous1 immersion in the sea of         
struggling human life gives the         

imagination that iron vigor it needs4   
,the greatest saints have talked the    
least of heaven4        ,born into      
life6--who lists       ,may what is     
false hold dear1       ,and for himself 
make mists       ,through which to see  
less clear2   ,the world is what it is1 
for all our dust and din4  #aeb         
,is it so small a thing       ,to have  
enjoy'd the sun1       ,to have lived   
light in the spring1       ,to have     
loved1 to have thought1 to have done2   
,to have advanced true friends1 and beat
 down baffling foes--   ,let those who  
can meet life bravely and joyously4     
,the stage has been planned by no master
 artist1 and the actors are only        
amateurs compelled to improvise their   
parts2 but the sunlight is sometimes    
golden and the spoken lines often       
surprise us with their beauty4  ,what   
critic can pass assured judgment upon   
this continuous play8     #aec          
,,chapter ,,xii  ,,the ,,problem ,,of   
,,evil  ,it is noteworthy that there has

 never been a problem of good1 but      
always a problem of evil4  ,man takes   
the good in his life for granted1 while 
he bewails the presence of evil in all  
its forms4  ,the ,greeks had the myth of
 ,pandora's box to account for the      
sorrows and ills which afflict the human
 race2 the ,hebrews told of the ,fall of
 man from his original state of bliss to
 a life of toil and sin through the     
weakness of our first parents and the   
wiles of the ,serpent2 the              
,scandinavians sang of ,loki1 the       
,spirit of ,deception1 whose artful     
malice led to the death of ,balder1 the 
,beautiful4  ,and ,christianity has been
 accustomed to connect evil with a      
personal devil who rushes about like a  
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour4
  ,at his door1 popular thought has lain
 those temptations and backslidings that
 bewilder poor humanity4 ,even the more 
physical evils1 such as famine1 sickness
 and bodily injury1 have been ascribed  
to his agency4  ,is it necessary to say 

that primitive man thought of all evils 
as due to mysterious potencies which    
surrounded him on every hand8  ,his     
ritual of purification corresponds to   
the signs which now surround electrical 
machinery4  ,irrational as many of these
 taboos were1 they yet implied that the 
actual world was a strange mixture of   
favorable and unfavorable potencies to  
#aed which man had to adapt himself4    
,to the primitive mind nothing was more 
uncanny than blood1 and there are people
 still who faint at the sight of it3 for
 'the blood is the life1' life and death
 are the great primeval mysteries1 and  
all the physical substances that are    
associated with the inner principle of  
either partake of this mysteriousness4  
,this early idea of a miasmic contagion 
slowly unites itself with the belief in 
demons1 as animistic religion evolves4  
,bad demons work havoc1 while favorable 
spirits bring blessings to the needy    
worshiper4  ,but1 as religion developed 
a more distinctly ethical and personal  

character1 the existence of evil in the 
world became a problem4  ,in the early  
days1 it was not so much a problem as a 
fact4  ,but a ,jew who believed that    
,yahweh controlled everything that      
occurred in the ,kingdom had to account 
for personal and social disasters in a  
rational way4 ,what was more natural    
than the hypothesis that those whom     
disasters overtook had been guilty of   
some secret wrong8  ,and it was this    
point of view which was adopted4  ,the  
,book of ,job represents the puzzled    
reflection of a late period over the    
difficulty of squaring the hypothesis   
with the facts4  ,and1 so far as ,i can 
see1 the puzzle is handled as well as it
 could be within the accepted setting4  
,the whole treatment is deductive rather
 than inductive4  ,assume an omnipotent1
 omniscient and ethically perfect deity1
 and it follows that1 when facts do not 
square with your sense of justice1 you  
must either suspect the individual of   
secret sins or proclaim that ,god's ways

 are past finding out4  ,in other words1
 the search for a theodicy leads to     
agnosticism4 ,since you don't really    
know anything about the world1 one      
hypothesis is as good as #aee another4  
,but agnosticism is a cheap way of      
establishing a position1 and is likely  
to suggest to the reflective that the   
whole setting of theodicy is at fault4  
,if the religious view of the world     
leads to this impasse1 may it not be    
better to take a more inductive way of  
approach to what we call evil8  ,may not
 reality be of such a character that    
evil is as natural as good8  ,when we   
glance a little more closely at the     
,christian tradition1 we find that the  
popular answer to the problem of evil is
 by no means unambiguous4  ,to explain  
the existence of evil by the agency of  
the devil 7,satan1 ,ahriman7 is a       
straightforward answer1 quite in        
accordance with the appeal to personal  
agency so characteristic of religion1   
but it does not harmonize with the      

ethical monotheism which ,christianity  
inherited4  ,the query will not down1   
,why does this omnipotent and ethically 
perfect deity permit such a being to    
exist to work havoc amongst his         
children8  ,even upon a casual          
examination1 it becomes evident that    
there are many strands of tradition and 
doctrine in ,christianity4  ,there is   
the classic monotheism of the prophets1 
and the more polytheistic tendencies of 
later times1 a contrast parallel to the 
sanity of classic ,greece as compared   
with the flabbiness of ,hellenistic     
times4  ,in the ,new ,testament1 itself1
 there are many evidences of the        
acceptance of a dualistic view of the   
world4  ,satan is the ,prince of this   
,world4  ,we have already pointed out   
that the writers of the gospels think of
 ,jesus as casting out demons which have
 infested the bodies of men and women   
and made them sick4  ,yet1 strange to   
say1 we are told that not a sparrow     
falls to the ground without ,god's      

consent4  ,this dualistic strand of     
thinking dominated during #aef the      
,middle ,ages4  ,the world is given over
 to the devil for him to work his will  
upon it4  ,here we have both a cause and
 an effect of the pessimism of the      
times4  ,for the early ,christians1     
society was corrupt and filled with     
abominations2 the only sure way to      
achieve salvation was to flee from its  
lure to deserts and monasteries1 there  
to purge the soul of fleshly desires4   
,no one has painted the situation more  
keenly and unflinchingly than ,anatole  
,france in ,thais4  ,humanity was sick4 
,a strong wave of asceticism spread from
 the ,east to the ,west and carried with
 it doctrines based on the metaphysical 
extension of the contrast between light 
and darkness1 good and evil4  ,matter is
 evil in its very nature and leagues    
itself with those instincts in the soul 
which come from its contamination with  
flesh4  ,the taint of original sin is   
deepened by the grossness of the        

material out of which man's earthly     
tabernacle is made4  ,the body with its 
passions plays double traitor to the    
soul4  ,only by prayer1 purification1   
fasting1 and the grace of ,god can the  
son of corruption save his soul alive   
for the heavenly kingdom among the      
stars4  ,the number of mythical elements
 woven into this ascetic dualism is     
striking4  ,woman was the temptress most
 to be feared2 the daughters of ,eve    
were considered the most powerful       
instruments ,satan had at his command4  
,it was even debated whether she had a  
soul4  ,it was even whispered that a    
woman guarded the gates of ,hell4       
,again1 ,satan was pictured as a demon  
leading the unwary astray by the desires
 of this world4  ,ethics was an affair  
of external fighting for the souls of   
men4 ,the whole setting was mythical and
 supernaturalistic and full of          
picture-thinking4  #aeg  ,we have       
already referred to the doctrine of     
original sin4  ,this doctrine was taken 

up by ,st4 ,augustine who had been a    
,manichean4 ,pauline theology1          
,augustinianism1 and ,manicheism have   
much in common4 ,they are all instances 
of what may be called mythological      
metaphysics4 ,the dogma is1 that1 left  
to his own devices1 man tends to take   
the path of sin4  ,he is1 moreover1     
alienated from ,god1 who1 because of his
 perfection1 cannot condone imperfection
 and demands an atonement which cannot  
be made by man himself4  ,hence1 the    
need arises for a savior to mediate     
between man and ,god4  ,what a          
construction is this in which myth1     
rabbinical theology and pagan dualistic 
cosmologies are drawn together to       
furnish the setting for a juridical     
drama6  ,how can those who accept the   
teaching of modern science and realize  
the more subjective and personal spirit 
of modern ethics conserve any portion of
 this strange creation of past ages8    
,the idea of evolution1 as applied to   
both nature and man1 undermines the     

whole fantastic drama4  ,man has arisen 
painfully from a brutish condition1     
instead of falling from a perfect state4
  ,the contrast between flesh and spirit
 can no longer be taken literally as    
corresponding to a sort of physical     
division of the universe into spheres of
 good and evil which can have no        
commerce with one another4  ,this is    
ethical poetry which is not sufficiently
 aware that it is poetry4  ,instead of  
seeking to re-interpret the belief in an
 external1 sacrificial savior1 mediating
 between ,god and man in vague1         
mystically symbolic language which      
suggests a depth it does not possess1   
the sensible thing is to drop the whole 
outlook frankly1 as outgrown1 and as    
having essentially lost its meaning4    
,we saw that ,jesus1 himself1 would     
probably #aeh not have comprehended its 
intricacies1 and certainly would not    
have accepted it as true of his own     
mission4  ,instead1 it represents the   
theosophic speculations of the ,ancient 

,world4  ,so long as the thinker toys   
with these imaginative speculations     
which have no direct foundation in the  
knowledge and experience of to-day1 so  
long will he live in a mental fog unable
 to see the really pressing social and  
ethical problems of the present4  ,when 
we once shake ourselves loose from these
 mythical1 gnostic and rabbinical ideas1
 with their legal and poetical          
conceptions of ethics1 and their nave   
picture of the world as the seat of     
ethical forces struggling in a physical 
way against one another2 when we once   
realize that it is meaningless to apply 
ethical distinctions to matter1 we are  
led to press past these ,hellenistic    
accretions to the simpler and nobler    
traditions which ,christianity inherited
 from ,jesus and the greater ,hebrew    
prophets4  ,here1 if anywhere1 religion 
is in a position to solve the problem of
 evil4  ,there are passages in the ,new 
,testament which breathe the same faith 
as that held by ,deutero-,isaiah1 a sort

 of sublime religious optimism or will  
to believe4  ,for the ,hebrew prophet of
 the exile1 ,god is the creator and     
righteous ruler of the earth4  ,i am the
 ,lord and there is none else4  ,i form 
the light and create darkness2 ,i make  
peace and create evil2 ,i am the ,lord  
that doeth all these things4  ,such is  
monotheism of the creationalistic type  
in all its vigor and challenging fervor4
  ,yet the prophet speaks and thinks in 
terms of world-movements and the fate of
 nations1 and his thoughts scarcely drop
 from this vast setting to consider the 
fates of individuals4  ,we should note  
further the absence of the poly-demonism
 #aei of later ,judaism and the evident 
impatience with the ancient myths and   
the belief in a ,satan or ,spirit of    
,evil4  ,had ,christianity taken its    
departure from this high altitude1 it   
would have been more truly monotheistic1
 but it would not have been the child of
 its age1 and would not have been       
assimilated by the ,mediterranean       

peoples4  ,let us examine the           
implications of this bolder and simpler 
faith4  ,there can be little doubt that 
the position adopted by the second      
,isaiah is the logical terminus of      
monotheism4  ,if ,god be omnipotent1 he 
must be responsible for all the evil in 
the world as well as for the good4  ,in 
other words1 this must be the best of   
all possible worlds4 ,he who is a king1 
and not a marionette1 cannot beg off    
from the duties of his station4  ,to    
introduce ,sin as a sort of hellish     
entity1 as did ,saint ,augustine1 is to 
mar our conception of deity4  ,we no    
longer have that old ,roman's           
courtier-like sycophancy1 nor his       
nonchalance when others are condemned by
 divine caprice to the eternal flames4  
,what was to him a means of manifesting 
,god's greater glory is to us a crime   
which would sully our ideal of goodness4
  ,the educated world of to-day has at  
least come up to the level of the       
peasant-poet's indictment of the        

,calvinism of two centuries ago4        
,christianity is on the horns of a      
terrible dilemma4  ,it has long wavered 
between the bold attitude of ,isaiah1   
softened by such devices as apologetic  
ingenuity could invent1 and the         
mythological dualism current at the time
 of its birth4  ,god must be totally    
responsible for all physical evils1 at  
least2 or else he must be thwarted by   
something independent of himself1       
whether this be an evil spirit or       
matter4  ,now scholars have pointed out 
that the idea of a prolonged conflict   
between a #afj good and an evil power   
was characteristic of the ,persian      
religion1 and that this view tinged     
later ,judaism and passed over into     
,christianity4  ,here it was met and    
renforced by ,neo-,platonism in the form
 usually called ,gnosticism and         
,manicheism4  ,at present1 the tide has 
turned in favor of monotheism and       
against the coexistence of an evil      
power4  ,we are inclined to smile at a  

personal devil1 perhaps because         
superstition has made him humorous1     
perhaps because we know better the seat 
and cause of what we call evil4         
,science has helped to do away with the 
devil2 but1 in so doing1 has it not also
 undermined the idea of ,providence8    
,must not the same arrow transfix an    
effective ,god that does away with an   
effective ,devil8  ,the ,god of the past
 was a realistic ,god2 he counted for   
everything in the governance of the     
universe4  ,the ,god of modern theology 
is fast becoming an ideal of            
personality4  ,when ,god is thought of  
as a tender-hearted and perfect         
gentleman1 the question of evil takes   
the following form3 ,can we harmonize   
this conception with the facts of life8 
,is ,god an agent or an ideal8  ,we must
 bear in mind the fact that ,god is an  
hypothesis characteristic of the        
religious view of the world1 and that1  
like every other hypothesis1 it should  
help to explain the facts to which it is

 relevant4  ,but does it do this8  ,is  
it fruitful8  ,i am free to confess that
 theodicies of all sorts strike me as   
proofs of the inapplicability of the    
religious view of the world4  ,yet      
immense dialectical ability has been    
displayed in the tireless search for    
some satisfactory theory of ,god's      
relation to the universe4  ,a glance at 
these theories reveals the working of   
the time-spirit4  ,when man is harsh1   
his god is harsh and cruel4  ,when #afa 
man is tender1 his god is benevolent4   
,and this correspondence does not       
complete the story4 ,in past ages1 the  
political organization was autocratic   
and unyielding4 ,the subjects of the    
monarch did not dream of questioning the
 justice of his rule4  ,it was not right
 for common men to think of such        
matters2 it was out of their sphere of  
control and understanding4  ,besides1 is
 not might the sanction of right8       
,during these monarchial periods1 ,god  
was thought of as a heavenly king whose 

power and glory and dominion was without
 end4  ,this correspondence between the 
political organization and the          
theological picture betrays the         
sociological side of theology4 ,all of  
man's ideas are human ideas1 and so his 
idea of his ,god and the very           
personality and moral outlook of that   
,god reflect the social standards which 
are in force around the individual4  ,if
 human justice is cruel1 ,god's justice 
is strict and unyielding4  ,what could  
be more natural than this parallelism8  
,but as punitive justice yields to ideas
 of mercy and sympathy1 a change comes  
over man's conception of this heavenly  
replica of his own sentiments and       
institutions4  ,irrational punishment   
with its brutal terrors gives way to    
thoughts of lovingkindness4  ,but it is 
this very evolution of human morality   
which brings out the problem of evil in 
all its distinctness4  ,yahweh could    
command whole tribes to be slaughtered1 
and no one felt the least religious     

discomfort4  ,but the man of to-day1    
when he allows himself to think1 revolts
 against such heartlessness4  ,god must 
be at least as merciful as man--and man 
would not do these things4  ,yet our    
experience tells us that pain and       
disaster are everywhere rampant in the  
world4  ,how is it that an omnipotent   
and noble ,god permits these #afb things
 to be8  ,the line of reasoning which   
leads to the demand for a theodicy is   
simple and direct4  ,god is a moral     
agent who has this peculiarity1 that he 
can do what he wills and is therefore   
responsible for all that happens4 ,but  
tragic things happen4  ,why did he      
permit them8  ,the various formulations 
of ,god's relation to the world turn    
about this problem4  ,the inherent      
possibilities are few in number and are 
soon grasped and developed4  ,if ,god is
 a limited deity1 then evil can be      
assigned to something else4  ,if ,god is
 unlimited1 then whatever is1 is somehow
 right4  ,let us glance at typical      

developments of these two main lines of 
approach4  ,mr4 ,h4 ,g4 ,wells has      
recently startled the general public by 
his advocacy of a struggling deity4  ,it
 is not in accordance with ,christian   
tradition1 he admits1 but it is truer to
 the facts as we know them4 ,but he     
might well have told the public that    
this view of his was not a new one4     
,long before the ,christian era1 the    
,zoroastrian ,persians held just such a 
theory of a struggling deity combating  
the evil machinations of ,ahriman4  ,the
 faithful were exhorted to do all in    
their power to assist ,ahura ,mazda in  
his stern fight with darkness and       
contamination4  ,this dualistic view    
found its way ,west and appears in      
,manicheism4  ,it may not be well known1
 but it was this ,manichean conception  
of the world that ,saint ,augustine gave
 up at his conversion to ,christianity4 
,again and again1 it found its way to   
the surface of ,western society4  ,who  
has not heard of the ,cathars or        

,albigenses of the ,middle ,ages8       
,these people were believers in a       
struggling deity engaged with the powers
 of evil4  ,some of them identified the 
,jehovah of the ,old ,testament with    
this cruel #afc and malignant spirit4   
,in so doing1 they showed an absence of 
all historical perspective1 but1 also1 a
 keen ethical judgment4  ,this tribal   
god of the early ,jews did not harmonize
 with their ideals of goodness and      
mercy4  ,while theirs was a darker and  
more superstitious outlook than an      
educated man of to-day would adopt1 the 
logical basis of the system is          
essentially the same as the one which   
seems to be rising to the surface in our
 own times as a revolt against the      
smugness of traditional ,christianity4  
,the atmosphere of religion was more    
somber in the past2 and these ,cathars  
would have been shocked by the fine1    
careless rapture of the modern novelist2
 but they would have recognized that his
 view was akin to their own4  ,it may   

not be amiss to mention the fact that   
,john ,stuart ,mill1 the famous ,english
 philosopher of the middle of the       
nineteenth century1 suggested that it   
would be truer to the experience of     
human beings to assume a ,god limited in
 power1 though perfect in other         
respects4  ,it is impossible1 he        
thought1 to harmonize the attributes of 
omnipotence and goodness in a divine    
agent1 with the world as it is4  ,this  
protest against the high1 deductive     
faith of ,christian monotheism was due  
to ,mill's frank empiricism4  ,life must
 speak for itself1 he held2 it must     
justify hypotheses by their agreement   
with it4  ,the traditional ,christian   
method has been too dictatorial and too 
little inductive4  ,it has started from 
a set of dogmas in regard to ,god and   
spun out their consequences1 refusing to
 qualify these dogmas when the          
consequences did not fit the tragic     
character of life4  ,the treatment of   
the second logical possibility is       

familiar ground4 ,christian ethical     
monotheism followed #afd ,hebrew        
religious thought in its essentials4    
,god is held to be an omnipotent agent  
who is also morally perfect4  ,theology 
knows two forms of this dogma1 the      
,calvinistic or ,augustinian1 and the   
,arminian4  ,calvinism stands flatly on 
the thesis that ,god is just and that1  
therefore1 what is done is just4        
,within this setting with its easy      
appeal to ignorance1 it makes little    
difference whether events are right     
because ,god does them or whether ,god  
does them because they are right4       
,arminianism turns out1 when examined1  
to be largely an attempt to soften the  
absolutism of ,calvinism along certain  
lines4  ,but these endless and1 in the  
main1 sterile theological controversies 
reveal the artificiality of the dogmas  
within which they are carried on4  ,they
 are1 when all is said1 only ingenious  
modifications and redressings of the    
primary assumptions of the religious    

view of the world4  ,i challenge any one
 to develop a really tenable system of  
theology1 a system which is             
self-consistent and relevant to the     
world as we know it4  ,i am certain that
 it cannot be done4  ,as a student of   
ethics1 my growing conviction has for   
some time been that these traditional   
controversies and modes of approach to  
human life are barren and irrelevant1   
because they cast absolutely no light   
upon human problems1 social or personal4
  ,modern ethics and theology have      
ceased to have any genuine commerce4    
,the one is in touch with the sciences  
of biology1 sociology1 psychology and   
criminology2 the other1 by its very     
nature1 can gain nothing from these     
sciences4 ,ethics is concrete and       
inductive4  ,theology is abstract and   
deductive4  ,i have not tried to state  
and criticize the numerous theodicies   
which man's restless intellect has      
constructed4  ,mystics have taught that 
evil is an #afe illusion4  ,but         

illusions have a way of being very real2
 and a derogatory term does not alter   
facts4  ,idealists have declared that   
what we call evil only increases the    
divine harmony1 as a judicious discord  
heightens the effect of symphonic       
combinations4  ,but this sthetic        
argument conflicts with moral relations4
  ,surely ,god would not be so          
self-centered4  ,thus there are weighty 
objections to all the ingenious and     
profound apologies for the course of    
events4  ,but why are such apologies    
felt to be necessary8  ,simply and      
solely because events are assumed to be 
under the control of an intelligent1    
moral agent4  ,withdraw this assumption1
 and the problem vanishes4  ,when we    
turn from the religious view of the     
world to the scientific and             
philosophical1 we are immediately       
impressed by the different perspective4 
,what were theoretical problems of the  
most absolute and inescapable kind cease
 to exist4  ,while the religious view of

 the world culminates in an attempted   
justification of the ways of ,god to    
man1 the scientific studies the system  
of things as a given whole to which all 
questions of justification are          
irrelevant4  ,the world is as it is1 and
 the category of responsibility is      
inapplicable4  ,evil becomes a practical
 and relative problem4  ,there is no    
thought of trying to fix responsibility 
upon some personal agent who could have 
done otherwise and did not4  ,man is a  
part of nature1 although a              
self-directive organism adapted more or 
less adequately to his environment4     
,and just because he is an organism1 he 
must maintain himself in the face of    
attacks and fluctuating changes4  ,he is
 not able to claim exemption from the   
consequences of cataclysms1 such as     
earthquakes and tornadoes1 which result 
from the unstable balance of physical   
#aff energies4  ,he perishes in the same
 way that beasts and plants do1 when his
 intelligence is not able to find a way 

of escape from a sudden danger4 ,in     
other words1 physical evil is evil only 
because it hurts man1 who does not want 
to be hurt4  ,from the objective        
standpoint1 evil and good differ not a  
jot from one another4  ,they are both   
causal events baptised by man in        
accordance with his sympathies and      
antipathies4 ,events are good to him or 
bad to him2 in themselves1 they are     
neither good nor bad4  ,rain does not   
fall in summer in order to nourish the  
plants2 instead1 the plants are         
nourished and continue to exist because 
the rain falls4  ,once1 it was hard for 
man to admit this impersonalism4 ,he    
wanted to find an objective purpose     
focusing upon his career4  ,but he is at
 last beginning to realize that his will
 to live and create is the source of all
 values4  ,nature is a thing to be used 
for his own desired ends4  ,there are no
 problems harder than false problems4   
,the great achievement is to see that   
they are false because they flow from a 

false assumption4  ,remove this         
assumption1 and the problem which       
tortured the greatest thinkers vanishes 
into thin air4  ,the problem of evil    
becomes the problem of lessening evil by
 conquering nature and rendering her    
subservient to man4  ,it is a problem of
 engineering1 of applied chemistry1 of  
preventive medicine1 of social planning4
  ,man must become the master of his    
destiny through the instrumentality of  
his intelligence4  ,but what a different
 setting this presents from the one in  
which primitive man existed6  ,then man 
was needy and fearful and ignorant and  
helpless4  ,now he is wealthy1          
ingenious1 sure of himself4 ,it is      
coming to be that man is less hurt by   
#afg physical agencies than by himself4 
,he has freed himself from his          
environment2 he must now free himself   
from his own passions and hatreds4  ,he 
must love righteousness and peace1 and  
flee from dissension and all forms of   
injustice4  ,the problem of evil has    

become a social problem4  ,it is the    
task of amelioration by intelligent     
control4  ,but science1 alone1 will     
never be sufficient to meet the fact of 
evil4 ,the most optimistic believer in  
the possibilities of intelligent        
planning and control does not deny that 
tragedies of all sorts will still be    
only too common4  ,let us hope that     
there will be less of tuberculosis1 less
 of grinding poverty1 less of avoidable 
accidents4 ,but will there be less of   
secret disappointment with life1 less of
 wounded affection8  ,more will live    
happy and noble lives in the healthier  
society which is within our power than  
was possible in the past2 but there will
 be mal-adjustments of various kinds4   
,individuals will seek to control the   
lives of others1 and this control will  
be resented2 friends will fall out over 
fancied or real wrongs2 lovers will     
quarrel2 misunderstandings will arise4  
,none of ,shakespeare's great tragedies 
turn about sickness and natural         

calamities4  ,the motives are social and
 personal in character1 the quarrels of 
rival houses1 the senile pride of an old
 man1 the ambition of princes1 the      
adulterous love which leads to murder4  
,men will need strength of spirit and   
broad sympathy to meet the situations   
which confront them4 ,and many will fail
 hopelessly in the struggle1 in the     
future as they have in the past4  ,but1 
on the other hand1 the rank and file    
will lead vigorous1 active lives with a 
fair measure of those rewards of success
 and companionship which #afh sweeten   
endeavor4  ,what more is there to say8  
,life is a hazard1 and men must take    
their risk bravely4  ,courage on the    
part of the actor will do much2 sympathy
 on the part of those near him will also
 do much2 but risk there will be always4
     #afi  ,,chapter ,,xiii  ,,religion 
,,and ,,ethics  ,what was the exact     
relation between religion and morality  
in the past8 ,does morality any longer  
need the sanctions and supernatural     

setting which helped to support it in   
other days8  ,these are questions of    
primary importance whose discussion     
should throw light upon both religion   
and human morality4  ,have human values 
become self-supporting and              
self-justifying8  ,do the decencies of  
life find sufficient ground in human    
nature for their continuance and        
increase8  ,or is the rescuing hand of a
 supernatural grace necessary to prevent
 deterioration8  ,such questions are    
peculiarly proper to-day when ethics is 
seeking to build itself upon a broad    
study of human instincts4  ,let us try  
to penetrate below the surface of the   
traditional contrasts between flesh and 
spirit--contrasts which hindered rather 
than furthered clear analysis--and note 
the actual basis of the spiritual life  
in man4  ,in order to do so1 we must    
read human nature as it manifests itself
 in organized society1 sanely and       
calmly1 expecting neither too much nor  
too little1 and not being intimidated by

 the assertions of men who have built   
their lives around the traditional      
theological outlook4  ,those who have   
learned to lean upon a crutch or who    
have cast their spiritual experiences in
 a certain mold naturally feel at a loss
 when this is threatened4  ,this is to  
put it too #agj mildly1 perhaps1 for the
 odium theologicum has a reputation     
which cannot be all unearned4 ,yet1     
comprehensible as the protest of the    
conservative is1 it must be viewed in   
the light of the psychological habits   
which it expresses4  ,it may well be    
that new times and new points of view   
will bring new habits and new molds for 
spiritual experience4  ,it may well be  
that the traditional religious sanctions
 will gradually lose their meaning in   
the new generation1 born into a more    
social1 humane and scientific           
atmosphere4  ,let us see what           
indications there are for this          
prediction4  ,in early times1 religion  
was mainly a community affair4  ,the    

tribe or state had its gods who         
protected it against its enemies in     
return for homage and sacrifice4  ,the  
tribal god was inseparable from his     
worshipers4  ,a god without a nation was
 almost as badly off as a nation without
 a divine protector4  ,as members of the
 community1 the individuals1 separately 
and collectively1 were required to      
perform established ceremonies which    
were pleasing in the eyes of the gods1  
and to refrain from acting in ways      
displeasing to them4  ,gods and men     
formed1 as it were1 one society2 and so 
customs and rituals always received the 
fearful sanctions of these divine       
powers4  ,how naturally this outlook    
developed can readily be understood4    
,and there can be little doubt that the 
double sanction of social group and     
divine witnesses was of advantage in    
those early days when man was more      
impulsive and less rational than he is  
to-day4  ,a crime was1 at one and the   
same time1 a crime and a sin or act of  

impiety2 and so close was thought to be 
the responsible connection of the       
individual and the group that the tribe 
was held to be in danger because of the 
deeds of its members4  #aga ,the gods   
were living agents quick to anger and   
ready to punish in the direst ways4     
,warned by this knowledge of the        
jealousy of the gods1 the fellow        
tribesmen hastened to punish the        
offender in order to ward off the divine
 anger4  ,thus the sanctions enforcing  
the customs were both social and        
religious4  ,this situation had its bad 
side as well as its good4  ,while it    
helped to enforce the tribal laws by    
means of the awe of the divine witness  
who could not be escaped1 it tended to  
merge valuable with trivial things4     
,society was quite irrational as yet1   
and was as likely to punish the         
violation of accidental taboos as really
 serious attacks upon society4  ,it is a
 commonplace of history that religions  
have stressed ritual observances more   

than vital phases of conduct4  ,the     
greater ,hebrew prophets stand out just 
because of their emphasis upon human    
morality1 upon justice and righteousness
 and love4  ,amos and ,hosea are social 
reformers who conceive their national   
god as a god of righteousness who will  
turn his face away from the doers of    
evil4  ,they threaten their compatriots 
with his wrath if they continue in their
 evil ways4  ,seek good1 and not evil1  
that ye may live3 and so the ,lord1 the 
,god of hosts1 shall be with you1 as ye 
say4  ,hate the evil and love the good1 
and establish judgment in the gate4     
,thus the setting of religion was used  
as the leverage for an attempted ethical
 reformation1 the exalted reformer      
conceiving himself as the mouthpiece of 
his god4  ,but the prophets were        
exceptions4  ,the priestly class1 the   
class that has always held closely to   
traditional ways of thinking1 brought   
the usual multitude of non-moral acts   
under this impressive sanction4  ,the   

struggle between priest and prophet1    
#agb traditionalist and ethical         
reformer1 took place within the         
religious view of the world1 but the    
conflict was1 after all1 a purely human 
process4  ,the prophets loved           
righteousness because they knew that it 
was good1 because they fell repelled by 
unmerited poverty and by careless       
wealth1 because they admired the        
decencies of life4  ,they could not have
 given the justification of their       
sentiments as well as a theorist of     
to-day1 but they had these sentiments as
 keenly as to-day's prophet has them4   
,when we read their wonderful           
discourses1 we are thrilled by the depth
 and intensity of their ethical life4   
,but we are too apt to forget that the  
social situation in ,palestine was the  
stimulus to their denunciations4 ,they  
were noble enough to feel that          
conditions were intolerable1 and it was 
not a far step to believe that ,yahweh  
would not tolerate them4  ,a noble man  

has always a noble god4  ,that is the   
reason why the god of ,amos is noble4   
,the theological view reverses the true 
causal relation4 ,morality is always    
human morality1 expressive of human     
nature and human conditions4  ,man may  
assign his ideals to some superhuman    
source because he is convinced that this
 source has selected him as its         
interpreter2 but the fact that he has   
thought and judged in this moral way is 
indubitable1 while his theory that      
,yahweh is speaking through him is      
merely an expression of the religious   
view of the world common to the time4   
,when we stop a moment to think1 we     
realize that ,amos and ,hosea were      
certain to put their views under the    
sanction of their national god4  ,not to
 have done so would have been far       
stranger psychologically than the ideals
 which they championed4  ,did the       
prophetic claim that social justice was 
#agc sanctioned by ,yahweh help its     
advance8  ,probably4  ,i see no reason  

to doubt that it did somewhat--how much 
it is impossible to say4  ,so far as the
 claim was accepted by the nation1 it   
would assist the forces working for     
reform4  ,but religious sanctions are   
far more powerful when they are explicit
 and detailed1 as the history of        
,christianity has shown4  ,and we must  
remember that the prophetic claims were 
not always accepted4 ,religion is       
usually conservative and more or less   
conventional4  ,the ritual element plays
 a considerable part in religious       
morality4  ,it is as hard to change the 
people's ideas of ,god as it is to      
change their conceptions of justice and 
goodness4  ,for this reason1 ,i am not  
convinced that the religious sanction   
was of much advantage in the evolution  
of morality4  ,the old has even more of 
the use of the sanction than has the    
new4  ,moral forces need to be          
vigorously based upon human nature and  
human relations if they are to dominate 
society and control the ethical         

standards which public opinion demands4 
,the presence of religious sanctions    
simply beclouds the real factors at     
work4  ,morality can never1 in the long 
run1 be something pressed upon man from 
outside2 it must express his life and   
its needs4  ,it cannot be denied that   
supernatural sanctions have often been  
very effective for certain types of     
people in certain anarchic periods4     
,the robber baron of the ,middle ,ages1 
credulous and superstitious1 was        
restrained at times by his fear of the  
penalties threatened by ,mother ,church4
  ,but so is a burglar by a pistol      
pointed at him1 even if it is not       
loaded4  ,in the past1 a code of        
morality much in advance of the times   
has1 no doubt1 often been aided by      
religious sanctions4  ,but #agd it is   
foolish to base one's theories upon     
exceptional conditions4 ,we must        
remember that the situation confronted  
by the ,christian tradition after the   
breakdown of the political and social   

life of the ,roman ,empire was abnormal4
  ,a turbulent mass of barbarians faced 
the ethics and theology of an overthrown
 civilization4  ,it cannot too often be 
pointed out that this situation was     
unhealthy in many ways4  ,it is not good
 for a people to have codes of morality 
thrust upon it from outside4            
,especially is it bad when the code is  
in many ways untrue to human nature     
under normal conditions4  ,ascetic1     
other-worldly ,christianity distorted   
the impulses of medival man4  ,and it is
 certain that religious sanctions1      
alone1 enabled it to control society4   
,we have seen that religion and morality
 marched together as long as the        
evolution of the society was healthy and
 natural4  ,often there was a struggle  
over the ritual and mythical elements in
 religious morality2 but1 as a rule1 the
 civic type of morality gained the upper
 hand4 ,religious sanctions were called 
in because of the faith in divine powers
 interested in the welfare of the       

community1 but these sanctions soon     
ceased to be creative4  ,while the gods 
remained1 these sanctions would         
necessarily remain2 yet they tended to  
become benevolent and secondary4  ,but  
,christianity1 by reason of the forces  
at work at the time of its origin1      
nourished vicious interpretations of    
morality4  ,the despair of human nature 
which we note in the writings of ,st4   
,paul tinged the outlook of ,christian  
ethics4  ,man is by nature evil2 only   
the working in his soul of a            
supernatural grace can lead him to value
 the things which are pure and of good  
#age repute4  ,this pessimism cannot be 
too sharply spurned4  ,man is neither   
angel nor devil2 he is just man4  ,and  
the modern thinker is pretty well       
convinced that morality is a purely     
human affair growing out of the         
instinctive tendencies which man has    
inherited in the course of evolution as 
these find themselves in various        
situations4  ,moral problems are        

meaningless apart from their setting on 
this earth4  ,man is moral because he   
can pass judgments upon courses of      
behavior and decide what best conduces  
to his welfare4  ,he is moral because he
 can build up standards of social and   
personal conduct and adhere to them more
 or less completely4  ,the assumption   
that man is immoral is psychologically  
untrue4  ,the asceticism and pessimism  
of medival ,christianity was a          
reflection of false ideals and of an    
unhealthy social system4  ,there was an 
element of strain in the demands held up
 before the individual4  ,the spiritual 
life was a task which he had to         
accomplish because it possessed a       
supernatural sanction4  ,but the        
inherent pessimism of much of           
,christianity was not its only fault4   
,it taught men to suppose that morality 
was not something which paid for itself4
  ,so much did it stress the necessity  
of supernatural sanctions that it led   
the majority to believe that no man     

would be good unless he had to1 unless  
he was afraid of the external           
consequences which would be meted out to
 him at the bar of judgment4  ,but how  
false such a view is4  ,we know to-day  
that morality pays here and now1 in the 
specie of a happy1 healthy1             
well-developed life4  ,any other view   
makes morality irrational and unnatural 
and1 consequently1 dependent upon       
sanctions which rest upon the will of   
some agent apart from #agf this concrete
 life of act and fact4  ,to put this    
criticism in the technical language of  
ethics1 ,christianity has tended to     
think of conduct in terms of            
heteronomous ethics1 i4e41 in terms of  
precepts and laws coming from outside of
 human life and pressed upon it by      
authority1 rather than in terms of      
autonomous ethics for which ideals and  
customs are wise adjustments to the     
natural relations in which man finds    
himself4  ,this assumption that morality
 is a hardship played into the hands of 

a juridical notion of the sanctions of  
conduct1 for which the conception of    
immortality furnished the grandiose     
opportunity4  ,the arm of society is    
eluded at death1 but death offers no    
escape for the wicked from the outraged 
deity they have offended4  ,it is the   
motive of fear which is here employed4  
,human beings are to be scared into     
being good4 ,morality is on the         
defensive because it has no real charm  
and natural loveliness1 because it does 
not grow out of a rational study of     
human relations4  ,how tragically false 
this view was6  ,its existence can be   
explained only as an expression of an   
ill-organized society in which impulsive
 violence was not enough held in check4 
,supernatural sanctions could be used to
 restrain malefactors of great power in 
less happy times4 ,society has grown    
beyond this need4  ,courts of law and   
outraged public opinion are quite able  
to deal with criminals4  ,if the reason 
for punishment is prevention1 it is     

certainly true that punishment by       
society is more likely to be effective  
than the postponed pains of an          
hereafter1 because of its immediacy and 
power of being repeated4  ,but it is    
very doubtful whether fear is a moral   
motive or whether it is a very effective
 deterrent4  ,social thinkers are agreed
 that punishment is a very #agg bungling
 method at the best4  ,it does not show 
the presence of a very constructive     
imagination4  ,hell has always been a   
magnified torture chamber4  ,it has been
 the reflection on the gigantic         
background of the next world of the     
penal ideas of the time4  ,that is why  
it has always been more interesting than
 heaven4  ,man feared to make a social  
utopia out of heaven because he         
conceived it as a kingdom in which he   
was to play a very minor role1 while he 
was quite certain of his importance in  
hell4  ,but the morbid results of his   
imaginings were tragic in their effects 
when connected with such damnable       

doctrines as infant damnation and       
eternal punishment for lack of belief in
 a particular creed4  ,what distorted   
ethical notions1 what mixture of        
horrible fear before a world-tyrant and 
callous delight in the punishment of    
others are revealed in these pictures of
 a place of eternal torment6  ,thank    
goodness1 the civilized world is        
outgrowing the whole savage set of      
ideas4  ,before we leave these juridical
 religious sanctions1 it may be well to 
call attention to the fact that theories
 of punishment have radically changed   
during the last century4  ,the purpose  
of modern justice is less to uphold the 
majesty of an outraged law than to      
protect the citizens of a state and     
reform the character of the criminal4   
,crime is studied genetically and its   
conditions determined so far as         
possible4  ,it is well known that       
criminals are products of biological and
 social conditions over which they have 
little control4  ,the modern ideal is   

coming to be prevention by means of the 
betterment of social organization and   
negative eugenics4  ,healthy and capable
 persons in a decent society would be   
unlikely to turn out criminals4  ,i do  
#agh not see how we can escape the      
conclusion that the saner penology of   
the present has completely undermined   
the whole juristic basis of the next    
world4  ,human ethics and a supernatural
 ethics of an eschatological sort cannot
 be dovetailed together4  ,the scene and
 motives of a crime cannot be laid in   
one world with that world's peculiar    
conditions1 and the punishment dispensed
 in another4  ,and a final punishment is
 a veritable absurdity4  ,is punishment 
an end in itself8  ,are the wicked such 
hopeless creatures8  ,or does it simply 
mean that men have never before thought 
of such things as indeterminate         
sentences and reformation8  ,prisoners  
were hustled away and never seen        
afterwards4 ,punishment and reward were 
easy matters in the old days when       

justice was external and terroristic2 we
 see to-day that they are the most      
difficult of problems4  ,final judgments
 by omniscient judges strike us as      
romantic and even melodramatic4  ,again1
 we doubt such facile divisions of our  
mixed humanity as that between saints   
and sinners4  ,we have a keener and more
 democratic eye for the good in the most
 unprepossessing of our fellow          
creatures4  ,we know what he has been up
 against from his babyhood days1 what   
his chances1 temptations1 joys and      
sorrows have been4  ,and we have the    
deep conviction that ghostly judgment   
after death would be absolutely         
meaningless4  ,in an earlier chapter1 we
 pointed out that the belief in1 and    
desire for1 immortality is stronger in  
periods of social disorganization than  
in periods of marked social unity and   
happy creativeness4  ,christianity arose
 in just such a time of pessimism and   
stifled social life4  ,the ,roman       
,empire had become barren of joyous     

hopefulness and spirited endeavor4  ,the
 citizen was only a #agi unit in a      
dreary and monotonous whole ruled from  
above4  ,all through the ,middle ,ages1 
something of this suspicion of the      
world1 this longing for release from    
earthly things tinged the interests and 
judgments of the more spiritually-minded
 men and women4  ,the inevitable ethical
 result was a disregard of genuine human
 problems and a tense exaltation of     
attitudes of self-control and negation4 
,disciplines became ends in themselves1 
which rejected all relation to the life 
of every day4  ,the direction of ethical
 life was away from creative activity   
and concern with the more homely things1
 and toward an abstract contemplation of
 ideals seldom put to the test of       
positive application4  ,the religious   
setting of life withdrew human energies 
from their rightful and fruitful sphere 
of activity and applied them to tasks of
 self-analysis and never-ceasing        
self-criticism4  ,such an approach to   

life produced men who were saints1 men  
who were unselfish and admirable in     
almost every way2 but this saintliness  
grew at the expense of significant human
 achievement4  ,it was as though men    
forged splendid instruments and did not 
know how to use them4  ,the pity of it  
all is1 that this medival world-view    
stimulated men to devotions of soul     
which looked away from the arena of     
human life rather than into it4  ,but   
religion only revealed what human       
nature1 itself1 possessed4  ,these      
capacities for sympathy1 love1          
persistent self-discipline1 and devotion
 to ideals were natural to man4  ,the   
primary fault with ,medivalism was the  
inability to see the worth of human     
things and the hypnotic fixation of the 
mind upon unreal relations and demands4 
,the modern man admires these cloistered
 saints and1 at the same time1 feels the
 tragedy and #ahj futility of this      
goodness which wearied itself out in    
vigil and prayer4  ,the human cost of   

this virtue was so high and its         
objective use so small4  ,it is only as 
an artist that ,i can enjoy reading the 
,prayers and ,meditations of ,thomas    
,kempis4  ,when this mood is not upon   
me1 ,i am repelled by the picture of    
this white-faced monk in his cell1      
holding in restraint all his natural    
impulses by means of the thought of a   
reward in paradise after death4  ,virtue
 was the winning of a goal set by his   
,maker1 for reasons which he did not    
dream of questioning4  ,when ,i weary of
 the long night vigils1 or of the       
,lessons1 longer perhaps than usual1    
give me grace to remember how great are 
the rewards in heaven which ,i have now 
a chance of gaining4 ,when the days of  
abstinence from food and drink are many1
 give me the power to fast1 and good    
health to enable me to carry on my work2
 give me pardon for the sins which ,i   
have committed1 keep me from falling    
into them again1 relieve me from the    
punishment they have deserved1 and give 

me a good hope of everlasting happiness 
with the elect in the ,kingdom of ,god4 
,we feel that this ethical energy should
 have been used otherwise and in the    
service of human beings4  ,better       
,thomas  ,kempis than the man who is mad
 for wealth and the lusts of the flesh2 
but far better than either is the sane  
worker for things of good repute4  ,his 
goodness is a social goodness which     
makes life happier and fuller of        
activities and things worth while4  ,the
 traditional religion has not only been1
 frequently enough1 anti-social1 but it 
has also been morally inefficient4      
,why8  ,because it has made too much of 
tension and too little of intelligence4 
,instead of pointing out that morality  
paid because it was only the application
 #aha of intelligence to human needs1 it
 set a standard of moral discipline     
before people and then sought to drive  
them to its attainment by sheer force of
 will and subjectively aroused emotion4 
,the modern ethical thinker is convinced

 that morality is but the harmonious    
adjustment of an individual to his      
social group2 it is the sensible        
foresight which selects the active      
values which attract and express man's  
nature4  ,this rather blind tension of  
traditional religion appears quite      
clearly in the conception of sin4  ,the 
setting of this idea has been monarchic 
and terroristic4  ,it has exhaled an    
atmosphere of sharp1 mystic contrasts   
which were as unreal as they were       
vicious4  ,to set a goal too high is    
almost as bad psychologically as to set 
it too low4 ,christianity vaguely felt  
this flaw in its dramatic ethical scheme
 and was led to bring the doctrine of   
,god's saving grace to the front to     
bridge the fearful gulf caused by the   
opposition of ,god's perfection to man's
 imperfection4  ,but the man of to-day  
who is sincere with himself knows that  
this religious world-ethics is a        
meaningless fiction4  ,he can understand
 why it arose in the olden days1 with   

its supernaturalism and juridical       
ethics1 yet he feels that this          
absolutism is a product of monarchism   
and pre-evolutionary thinking4          
,goodness is a human ideal whose content
 is always undergoing change1 while it  
hovers just beyond man's reach4  ,i must
 confess1 then1 that ,i have little     
sympathy with the gross exaggerations   
associated with this word sin4  ,i know 
that ,i often fall short of my better   
moral judgment and1 at such moments of  
moral insight1 ,i experience a keen     
regret and try to strengthen those      
tendencies and activities which will aid
 me to do better next time4 ,but ,i know
 too #ahb much of personality on its    
biological1 psychological and social    
sides1 too much of its complexity and   
its foundations to retain the old notion
 of the self as an entity which1 having 
the ability to be godlike1 chooses evil4
  ,paul's ,god was an oriental monarch2 
to the modern1 he is a cad4  ,why1 no   
sensible teacher asks the impossible of 

his pupils6  ,yet this strange relation 
conceived to exist between an omnipotent
 deity and his frail creatures1 when    
intensified by the horizon of another   
and eternal world1 was bound to develop 
the tensest and most paralyzing of      
attitudes4  ,no novel has been able to  
unfold a plot which has such            
psychological possibilities4 ,and the   
morbid and exalted religious imagination
 has done more than justice to them4    
,while ,i do not for a moment deny the  
strength and leverage this ensemble of  
ideas possesses when faith is present1  
,i do contend that the whole creation is
 unhealthy and blinding and involves    
inefficiency as regards the real and    
pressing problems of personal and social
 development4  ,the ecclesiastic seldom 
has a normal perspective4 ,take         
,cardinal ,newman1 for instance4  ,can  
one deny that this subtle personality1  
for all his gifts1 brought distorting   
values into the current of life8  ,such 
a man is certain to misread movements   

and activities and to magnify the       
subjective at the expense of the social4
 ,the individual who identifies himself 
with social projects1 able to elicit his
 energy and enthusiasm1 is more apt to  
forget the pettier interests of the     
moment in the broad sweep of creative   
endeavor than is the person who morbidly
 catechizes his conscience4  ,a formal  
morality which looks inward and never   
outward is bound to be inefficient4     
,tension is no fit substitute for       
intelligent insight4  #ahc  ,many       
theologians assume that ethics has a    
choice only between reliance upon some  
supernatural power for its sanctions1   
and a sort of harsh and haughty         
stoicism1 in which the individual stands
 alone and by sheer force of will       
establishes and maintains ideals which  
are alien to his nature4  ,the fallacy  
in such an assumption is not hard to    
detect4  ,by his training in the ascetic
 traditions of ,christianity with its   
acquiescence in the doctrine of original

 sin1 the theologian is initiated into a
 distorted conception of human nature   
and of human relations4  ,while man is a
 complex being with many instincts and  
possibilities to adjust and organize in 
an efficient and progressive way1 it is 
slanderous to assert that these         
instincts are evil or that man1 on the  
whole1 does not relate them quite       
satisfactorily to a plan of life4       
,human nature is a sweeter1 saner thing 
than the ascetic admits2 man is capable 
of heroic idealisms and of far-reaching 
sympathies which express themselves in  
the mold of society4  ,as a matter of   
fact1 the haughty stoicism of which the 
religious writer speaks with so much    
pity1 as the only alternative to        
supernatural relations and sanctions1 is
 a product of times of social disruption
 when the high-strung individual is     
thrown back upon himself4  ,to-day1     
people live and think in groups1 with   
common hopes1 standards and plans4      
,their conscience is a social conscience

 which finds its supporting echo in the 
deeds and sentiments of their companions
 and fellow workers4  ,it is the        
supernaturalist who is an egoist at     
heart4 ,even ,mr4 ,wells is so dominated
 by this anti-social point of view that 
he falsifies both psychology and fact in
 his tirade upon the sane worker for    
human values4  ,no one who knew the     
elements of modern ethical thought #ahd 
based1 as it is1 upon an evolutionary   
social psychology would subscribe to the
 following nonsense3 ,the benevolent    
atheist stands alone upon his own good  
will1 without a reference1 without a    
standard1 trusting to his own impulse to
 goodness1 relying upon his own moral   
strength4  ,a certain immodesty1 a      
certain self-righteousness1 hangs like a
 precipice above him4444  ,he has no one
 to whom he can give himself4  ,he has  
no source of strength beyond his own    
amiable sentiments1 his conscience      
speaks with an unsupported voice1 and no
 one watches while he sleeps4  ,he      

cannot pray2 he can but ejaculate4  ,he 
has no real and living link with other  
men of good will4  ,of course1 one can  
write such things if one wishes to4     
,but the social reformer knows that his 
problems are human problems whose       
solution rests upon sentiments of       
sympathy1 enlightened and directed by   
intelligence4  ,they who seek for the   
advent of a better day for humanity band
 together as naturally and loyally as   
ever did the believers in the second    
coming of ,christ4  ,the remark is      
frequently made that the modern world is
 tending to return to the ,greek view of
 life4  ,if by the ,greek view of life  
is meant the outlook characteristic of  
the ,greeks of the classic period--the  
era of ,plato1 ,pericles1 and           
,sophocles1--there is much truth in the 
judgment4  ,human values are again      
coming uppermost in men's minds4  ,this 
life is not a sojourn in a vale of      
tears1 but the scene of the attempts of 
socially-minded1 conscious organisms to 

achieve a temperate and fairly happy    
existence4  ,but the centuries          
intervening have not been without their 
effect2 man's moral horizon has been    
both deepened and enlarged4  ,since     
those halcyon days1 man has eaten of the
 tree of good and #ahe evil1 he has     
fought with shadowy monsters and        
wandered for years in the wilderness of 
helplessness and pessimism1 he has      
worshiped at the shrine of strange gods 
and prostrated himself before the       
terrors of his own imagination4  ,slowly
 he has come to stand erect and look    
about him and see the world and himself 
as they actually are4  ,knowledge has   
become his most trusted instrument1 and 
democratic sympathy with human life his 
most cherished guide4  ,with such a     
guide and with such an instrument1 he   
will before long set about to mold his  
life in accordance with those mellower  
ideals which have grown in his heart    
during his long pilgrimage4  ,at last1  
man is becoming an adult able to stand  

upon his feet and to look keenly around 
with a measuring glance at things as    
they are4  ,will he not work for the    
sweet fruition of those human values    
which are dear to his very soul--home1  
children1 kindly social intercourse1    
work which gives self-expression1 art1  
knowledge1 contentment1 all suffused    
with the vigor of healthy bodies and the
 sleep of quiet nights8  ,man will      
surely come to desire greatly1 and      
achieve magnificently1 and live         
courageously4  ,now that the ethical    
degradation of the industrial revolution
 has been stayed and society has turned 
its face from the clatter of            
mass-production for its own sake1 now   
that ethical reflection has been united 
with reason and science in a sane       
realism1 now that sympathy is abroad in 
the land1 now that democracy with its   
conception of human brotherhood is astir
 throughout the world1 ethics has       
secured a firm foundation in the free   
aspirations of free men4  ,if noble     

character and rational conduct cannot   
maintain themselves in such a society1  
then the theologian can rightly say that
 man is #ahf by nature corrupt4  ,but   
the present is a time of growing        
loyalties to the common good and of     
vigorous search for the efficient means 
to attain it in greater measure4  ,the  
great spiritual adventures of the future
 will surely be human and humane4       
#ahg  ,,chapter ,,xiv  ,,the ,,church   
,,as ,,an ,,institution--,,the          
,,catholic ,,church  ,even a cursory    
glance at the institutional history of  
,christianity is instructive4           
,beginning as an essentially democratic 
brotherhood of fellow-believers in which
 wisdom and experience1 rather than     
authority1 guided affairs1 the          
,christian community gradually adopted  
the political form of the society in    
which it found itself4  ,the very names 
of the church officials of whom we read 
in the later canonical epistles are     
taken over from the municipal           

governments of the time4  ,the          
presbyters1 or elders1 were old men     
selected by common consent from the     
members of the congregation as a sort of
 advisory council4  ,they were          
committee-men1 ripe in experience and   
capable of dealing sensibly with the    
various problems sure to arise from time
 to time in the social group4  ,from    
among these elders1 overseers1 or       
bishops1 were chosen who had            
administrative functions of an          
indefinite sort4  ,besides these        
officials1 there were deacons1 prophets 
and teachers1 men who took a more or    
less conspicuous part in the life of the
 brotherhood4  ,as time elapsed1 the    
,christian communities took on a more   
formal organization1 an evolution which 
was due to the stress of problems which 
could not be met without a more         
centralized structure4  ,new heresies   
were #ahh constantly arising and leading
 the members into confusion2 moral      
disorders1 like those against which     

,paul had to thunder1 were continually  
appearing4  ,it was only too easy for   
members of unorganized groups to miss   
that sense of a common outlook which is 
so important and yet so difficult to    
maintain in an age of intellectual and  
moral turmoil4  ,this situation was     
grasped by leaders who had decided views
 of their own as to the proper doctrines
 to be taught and the proper mode of    
life to follow4  ,under their guidance1 
a centralization of authority was       
evolved4  ,the bishop became the head of
 the community with power in matters of 
doctrine and morality4 ,naturally1 the  
heads of the more important communities1
 ,rome1 ,antioch1 ,alexandria and       
,constantinople1 had a prestige which   
gave their opinions differential weight4
  ,before long1 councils of bishops were
 called to decide questions of doctrine4
  ,the period of fixed creeds had       
arrived4 ,once this direction was taken1
 it was no long step to the formation of
 a church organization comparable in    

complexity to that of the ,roman ,empire
 and as undemocratic in character4      
,such a development was most natural2   
and it would1 indeed1 have been         
surprising had it not occurred4         
,institutions always possess the imprint
 of their age4  ,it is foolish1 because 
unhistorical1 to expect ideals out of   
their time4  ,the primitive ,christian  
association was more than a church in   
the modern sense4  ,it was a loyal group
 of like-minded people4  ,it was a state
 within the state1 a social unit        
dominating the main part of the lives of
 its members1 and not merely a center   
for worship4  ,it is this aspect of the 
early religious associations which ,i   
wish to stress2 for it is the question1 
whether this phase #ahi of the church   
still exists to justify the church as an
 institution1 into which ,i wish to     
enquire4  ,in the vast loneliness of the
 ,roman ,empire1 men felt the need to   
draw together in order to escape the    
dreariness of life4  ,the teeming       

interests and intense loyalties of the  
old city-state had disappeared and left 
men stranded in a cosmopolitan ,state1  
ordered from above1 in which they had no
 vital participation2 it was too        
gigantic and formal to touch them in a  
personal fashion and to kindle those    
enthusiasms which lift men beyond       
economic cares4  ,it was well to be a   
,roman citizen1 but such an honor did   
not suffice for the more homely needs of
 everyday existence4  ,in the days of   
,athenian greatness1 the individual was 
lost in the citizen2 in the ,roman      
,empire1 the citizen was lost in the    
individual4  ,man is a social animal--to
 adapt ,aristotle's famous              
expression--and the inhabitants of the  
various countries sought to create      
associations of various sorts to fill   
this gap caused by the destruction of   
the old political interests4  ,in other 
words1 men tried to weave a new social  
tissue of a private type to answer their
 craving for companionship and for the  

chance to do something worth doing4     
,remove the business1 artistic1         
political1 trades-union1 literary and   
social interests in their present free  
and varied form from modern life1 and we
 can gain some idea of the              
unsatisfactoriness of human life under  
the ,empire for the lower and poorer    
classes4  ,monotonous as village life is
 to-day1 it is throbbing with life as   
compared with the village or tenement   
district of ancient days4  ,the farmer  
has his newspaper1 the farmer's wife the
 magazine1 and the piano1 and the trip  
to town4  ,small wonder that these men  
and women of the ,hellenistic and ,roman
 worlds #aij formed clubs and           
associations in which to escape from a  
disheartening loneliness and feel       
themselves members one of another4  ,but
 the ,empire essayed to stamp out these 
brotherhoods1 in order that it might be 
all in all and receive the loyalty and  
affection which these private           
organizations evoked4  ,the ancient     

state was unable to conceive that       
division of interests into public and   
private which is so marked a feature of 
modern civilization4  ,as ,renan points 
out1 the ,empire was trying1 out of     
homage to an exaggerated idea of the    
,state1 to isolate the individual1 to   
snap every moral tie between man and    
man1 to defeat a legitimate desire of   
the poor1 the desire to press together  
in a little corner of their own to keep 
one another warm4  ,the intolerable     
sadness inseparable from such a life    
seemed worse than death4  ,associations1
 or clubs1 in which a complete equality 
reigned sprang up on every side in spite
 of the laws against combination4 ,human
 relations of the most kindly and       
intimate sort were established which    
sweetened life and made death less      
lonely4  ,now the ,christian communities
 were just such associations2 while they
 added religious emotions and hopes to  
the attractions of companionship4  ,they
 were social units of a humble and      

spontaneous type within the formal      
structure of the ,empire4  ,they        
justified themselves in a human as well 
as in a superhuman way4  ,an adequate   
psychology of religion remains to be    
written4  ,religion has always had its  
markedly social side4  ,upon the        
foundation of this combined social and  
religious function1 the superstructure  
of the ,church was erected1 much as on  
the political nature of man the ,greek  
city-state arose4  ,creed and hierarchy 
were #aia inevitable products whose     
appearance could have been predicted1   
but they were expressive of a certain   
growing cumbersomeness and a slowing up 
of the thought and action of the mass of
 the people4 ,henceforth1 one of their  
religious duties was to believe         
fanatically what bishops and councils   
promulgated and to obey the advice of   
their superiors in matters of conduct4  
,in this way1 ,christianity became a    
religion of authority4  ,we must not    
over-idealize the early ,christians--a  

reading of ,paul's epistles would help  
to guard us against that tendency--but  
the spirit of the primitive             
congregations was1 beyond much doubt1   
nobler than that which characterized the
 mobs of ,alexandria and of ,byzantium4 
,a perusal of ,hypatia1 for example1 is 
very apt to sober one's enthusiasm4  ,we
 must remember that the bars of         
admission were lowered as ,christianity 
became powerful and popular4 ,selection1
 which is one of the most attractive    
features of a new movement1 no longer   
acted4  ,it was at this period that     
,christianity developed its cult aspect4
  ,it became a religion of the          
imagination1 of the sensuous1 as well as
 of the will and the intellect4         
,ancient art and liturgy gave their     
contributions and ,christianity moved   
from the catacombs to the basilica and  
the cathedral4  ,as ,church and state   
became reconciled1 the early breach     
between public and private life was     
filled4  ,the religious interest and its

 duties joined themselves to those of   
secular life4  ,for the mass of the     
people who did not surrender themselves 
to religion in the intensive way        
reserved for the clergy1 ,christianity  
simply forced a new alignment of social 
relations and values4  ,the ideal was a 
,church-directed civilization in which  
the next world overshadowed this4  ,for 
ordinary life1 #aib however1 a practical
 adjustment was soon reached4  ,life was
 lived in a conventional enough way and 
the compromise was balanced by the      
efficacy of sacraments administered by  
the servants of the authoritative       
,church1 the continuation of the        
incarnation upon the earth4  ,in the    
chaotic ,west1 overrun by barbarians1   
society lost its ancient form and became
 stratified in accordance with a        
decentralized1 military rgime4  ,the    
strongly organized1 international       
,church maintained itself and saw an    
opportunity to realize its ideal1 a     
civilization1 or order1 guided by itself

 and obedient to religious values4      
,should not the vice-regent of ,god rule
 upon the earth and make the divine law 
the law of the nations8  ,in the        
conflict between the ,roman ,church1 as 
reorganized by ,hildebrand1 and the     
,holy ,roman ,empire1 we have a striking
 instance of that recurrent struggle    
between the supernatural and the secular
 so peculiar to the ,christian world4   
,had not the emperors possessed some    
religious sanction for their claims and 
authority1 they would have been         
completely overridden by the popes4  ,it
 was the growth from beneath of national
 and human interests and of a more      
varied and stimulating social life that 
ultimately defeated the political aims  
of the ,church4  ,humanism always       
flourishes when peace and contentment   
are abroad1 and humanism is the         
deadliest enemy that supernaturalism has
 to meet4  ,thus the tradition of the   
,roman ,empire tided secular authority  
over until the rise of vigorous nations 

with distinct customs1 languages1 and   
loyalties ceased to make the imperial   
and theocratic aspirations of the       
,church practical4  ,but we must never  
forget that these aspirations of the    
,medival ,church were natural outgrowths
 of the #aic religious view of the      
world4  ,if man is but a sojourner here1
 undergoing his tests for the life to   
come1 who can be a better guide in all  
things than the divine institution      
established by ,god himself8  ,the      
center of gravity of man's life falls   
outside this world4  ,but social        
tendencies and relations are always more
 complex and uncontrollable than theory 
or doctrine wishes to allow4  ,human    
values have a way of asserting          
themselves in all sorts of unexpected   
ways4 ,the very act of living forces man
 to feel and achieve1 to strive for this
 thing and for that1 to enter into warm 
human relations which lead out into     
ambitions and desires4  ,so1 in spite of
 the official1 and generally accepted1  

denial of human values1 these sprang up 
at the least encouragement and flowered 
in custom and art4  ,thus1 even during  
the ,middle ,ages1 social activities had
 their innings and fair measure of      
attention4  ,men loved1 and sinned1 and 
fought1 and dreamed much as they did in 
other days and do now4  ,the thought of 
another world only tempered their       
moments of reflection and deepened their
 periods of contrition4  ,there is good 
reason to believe1 moreover1 that men   
alternated between extremes of mood more
 than we do to-day with our settled     
horizon4  ,the medival outlook did not  
favor that quiet temperance which the   
,greeks achieved in their happiest days4
  ,with the rise of the cities and the  
national states came the revival of     
learning and a fresh interest in all    
phases of human life4  ,the complete    
control of human life by a              
supernaturalistic religion was then no  
longer even a theoretical possibility4  
,life became a thing of interest for its

 own sake1 something frankly to be      
enjoyed4  ,humanism had once more       
appeared in the world4  #aid  ,but the  
,church had an organized breadth which  
went far beyond the purely religious    
functions which ,protestantism is       
inclined to associate with the          
institution4  ,within this socially     
flexible organization arose the monastic
 orders whose ideals varied from age to 
age4  ,to establish industries1 to clear
 the land1 to preach the nobility of    
work and to foster commerce1 to nurse   
the sick1 to found schools and          
universities1 to distribute charity1 to 
offer hospitality to wayfarers1 to      
nourish art and literature1 all these   
activities grew out of the initiative of
 noble men who found the atmosphere or  
associations of organized ,christianity 
favorable to their endeavors4  ,it was  
under the shelter of religion that the  
finer phases of morality manifested     
themselves4 ,secular life did not       
possess a stability or organs adequate  

to the tasks of social ethics4          
,whatever new movement appeared         
naturally drifted into contact with the 
,church1 even though the ,church was not
 certain what to do with it4  ,sometimes
 these vital movements1 in which ethical
 idealism of a rare type was displayed1 
almost threatened the existence of the  
hierarchical body which was in control  
of the organization through which they  
had to work4  ,this was the situation   
which developed as a result of the      
spread of the ideals of the mendicant   
orders of the thirteenth century4  ,such
 an occurrence makes us realize that the
 social life of the time was creative1  
and that this creativeness could with   
difficulty be kept within the control of
 the formal ,church2 yet the organs     
which were necessary for the application
 of these ideas and enthusiasms were    
molded in accordance with ecclesiastical
 institutions1 because no other model   
was at hand4 ,secular life was too      
narrow to give either financial support 

or suggestions4  ,it #aie had so long   
been accustomed to assign the moral     
field to religious institutions4  ,in   
spite of the undercurrent of criticism  
against the worldliness of the clergy   
which discovers itself to the historian 
of the later ,middle ,ages1 the social  
movements connected with incorporated   
,christianity were vital enough to      
justify the existence of the ,church4   
,it acted as the traditional center of  
philanthropy1 and its immense wealth    
made this feature a real force among the
 poor4  ,but the other associated       
functions were slowly separating        
themselves from their original          
connection and striking roots in the    
secular life of the time4  ,in place of 
the cathedral towns clustered around the
 cathedral and the bishop's palace1 the 
commercial towns pushed to the front    
both in wealth and importance4  ,the    
wealthy merchant or banker vied in      
riches with the churchman4  ,art and    
literature passed from the hands of the 

,church to the laity4  ,this process was
 very gradual1 but steady and           
persistent4  ,by the time of the        
reformation1 it was in full swing4      
,beneath the framework of feudalism and 
the ,medival ,church1 a new society had 
been forming1 far more complex than the 
old and full of potentialities which we 
are only now beginning to measure4      
,industry1 commerce1 geographical       
discovery1 national literature1 guilds1 
municipal governments1 courts1 science1 
secular art1 philosophy1 all were       
present either in bud or in full flower4
  ,out of the fertile and fearless life 
which came from the interplay of these  
tendencies and activities1 new ideas and
 values were born and soon found or     
created appropriate organs for their    
expression apart from the ,church4  ,try
 as it would1 ,mother ,church could not 
cover them with her wings4  ,many of    
these activities were alien to #aif her 
genius and1 as they waxed in strength   
and confidence1 stepped boldly out into 

the arena of secular life4  ,one has    
only to take a broad survey of modern   
society to realize how completely       
secular life has found means to perform 
functions which were formerly carried by
 the ,church4  ,the very control which  
the ,church wished to exercise repelled 
them and drove them into the world with 
its freedom and tolerance4  ,free       
association1 individual enterprise1 the 
creative fervor of genius1 and1 later1  
governmental policy have worked wonders 
in overcoming the meagerness of secular 
life4  ,education is now almost         
universal1 and so the masses live lives 
which touch a myriad interests never    
known to them in other days4  ,art has  
broadened its scope and now touches with
 magic fingers all phases of human life1
 nature and man being alike raised to a 
higher spiritual level by her work4     
,science has reached out into all parts 
of nature and thrown a transforming     
light upon all things4  ,philosophy has 
left the old scholastic concepts and    

mated with science to explain the world 
in which we live4  ,charity is giving   
way to a broader conception of social   
justice4  ,in short1 the old division of
 life into two spheres1 the earthly and 
the spiritual1 no longer has its old    
significance4  ,the spiritual has made  
its home in man's daily life1 in his    
reading1 his art1 his thinking and his  
doing4  ,wherever there are genuine     
values1 there is the spiritual4  ,is not
 loyalty to these spiritual values of   
human life coming to be the sole meaning
 of religion8  ,is it within the power  
of an institution1 still dominated by   
beliefs hostile to this frank humanism1 
to cherish and guide the unfolding of   
the spiritual life of the present8      
,that is the query which ,i bring with  
me when ,i contemplate the #aig ,church4
  ,has not the free life of the present 
outgrown any centralized and            
institutionalized control8  ,to-day1    
ideas and enthusiasms find their organs 
in the teeming secular world4  ,moral   

idealism is at home upon the earth in   
fellowships and loyalties in which men  
discover much of their reason for being4
  ,the pulse of society beats time to   
the songs of its true poets1 and throbs 
at the call to battle for some noble    
achievement1 while the ,church dreams of
 the past and the days of her greatness1
 or tenderly stoops to comfort those who
 cling to her sanctions and her vision  
of a heavenly kingdom1 not of this      
world4  ,she played her part1 and she   
played it greatly--that much we must    
avow1 even while we point out her       
present limitations--but the world has  
passed beyond her tutelage and runs     
lithesomely and courageously into fields
 where she cannot bring herself to      
follow4  ,thus is it1 and thus has it   
always been--institutions and ideas have
 their period of usefulness when they   
serve as organizing centers for social  
tendencies2 but the time inevitably     
comes when they lose their creative     
power and are outgrown by the life which

 has made them and is greater than they4
  ,and yet there is hope4  ,will the    
dethroned monarch recognize the         
inevitableness of the massive revolution
 which is surging round her and give up 
her outgrown pretensions1 willingly     
consenting to play a lesser role in full
 harmony with the spirit of the time8   
,not yet will this voluntary abdication 
come4  ,but1 some time in the future1   
the new loyalties will surely seep into 
the ,church and prepare it for the great
 sacrifice in which it will find its    
saving service4  ,modernism can afford  
to wait patiently1 for time fights on   
its side4     #aih  ,,chapter ,,xv      
,,the ,,church ,,as ,,an                
,,institution--,,protestantism  ,the    
rise of ,protestantism was the          
consequence of many factors which       
temporarily combined and worked in the  
same direction4  ,there are those who   
maintain that it was an unhappy         
accident1 which threw back the wheels of
 progress some hundreds of years4  ,but 

those who bewail the division of the    
,christian ,church forget that division 
is a sign of incompatible tendencies    
within a body not flexible enough to    
contain them4  ,strife is irrational    
only when we cease to be realists4  ,the
 appearance of ,protestantism in the    
sixteenth century is only one instance  
among many of the inadequacy of any one 
institution to comprehend the life of   
its time4  ,were we to call the roll of 
the heresies of the past1 the names     
which would appear upon the list would  
be far more numerous than popular       
history records4  ,just because         
,christians believed that they possessed
 a final truth they were intolerant and 
persecuting4  ,the natural desire of an 
institution to maintain itself and its  
interests intact added its force to this
 unfortunate characteristic4  ,but the  
tragedy of the situation was1 that this 
final truth could not prove itself by an
 appeal to experience and reason4  ,it  
had1 therefore1 to resort to violence4  

,the logic of revelation is the logic of
 the auto da fe4  ,the logic of science 
is the logic of tested #aii fact4       
,science can have hope of agreement2    
theological religion has no right to    
such a hope4  ,protestantism had its    
ethical1 political1 economic and        
doctrinal sides4 ,it was not merely a   
religious movement4  ,had it been so1 it
 might more readily have run its course 
as a reform movement within the         
institutional life of the time4  ,had   
the ,northern nations possessed greater 
power in the councils of the ,church1 it
 is just possible that the change would 
have been brought about without the     
occurrence of an open rupture4  ,but the
 ,church was too centralized and too    
rich to escape conflict with the growing
 nationalism4  ,for our present purpose1
 however1 this larger social setting of 
,protestantism is not important4 ,what  
we wish to study is the religious       
tendencies covered by this term4 ,what  
advance did they contain8  ,what was the

 weakness of the movement8  ,the setting
 of ,protestantism was entirely         
supernaturalistic4  ,so far as the      
fundamental doctrinal assumptions are   
concerned1 there is practically no      
difference between ,catholic and        
,protestant4 ,protestantism represented 
a reform1 and not a revolution4  ,or1 to
 put it more deeply1 human nature is    
such that the real revolutions take     
centuries of growth and come like the   
thief in the night4  ,the modern        
scientific view of the world is         
revolutionary in the philosophical and  
true sense of the term2 while the sharp 
sectarian conflict is only a battle over
 secondary things4  ,since it has so    
commonly been assumed that the          
,protestant reformation represented a   
decisive break with the outlook of the  
,middle ,ages and somehow marked a      
milestone in man's intellectual         
progress1 it may be worth while to      
consider whether such really was the    
case4  ,a disinterested study #bjj of   

the reformation must1 ,i feel sure1     
convince the student that the crisis in 
the ,church was concerned more with     
matters of theological doctrine and     
church polity than with the ideas       
underlying ,christianity4  ,it brought  
no essential change in the inherited and
 firmly entrenched tale of the past4    
,the puritan poet1 ,milton1 sings of    
man's first disobedience in much the way
 that ,st4 ,augustine would have done4  
,the weapons of the great advance had   
not yet been forged4  ,we are the ones  
who will be called upon to face the     
vision of the ,new ,spiritual ,world and
 to be faithful to its demands upon our 
loyalty and integrity4  ,the defection  
of the ,protestants from the ,roman     
,catholic ,church1 writes ,professor    
,robinson1 is not connected with any    
decisive intellectual revision4 ,such   
ardent emphasis has been constantly     
placed upon the differences between     
,protestantism and ,catholicism by      
representatives of both parties that the

 close intellectual resemblance of the  
two systems1 indeed their identity in   
nine parts out of ten1 has tended to    
escape us4  ,the early ,protestants1 of 
course1 accepted1 as did the ,catholics1
 the whole patristic outlook on the     
world2 their historical perspective was 
similar1 their notions of the origin of 
man1 of the ,bible1 with its types1     
prophecies and miracles1 of heaven and  
hell1 of demons and angels1 are all     
identical4444  ,early ,protestantism is1
 from an intellectual standpoint1       
essentially a phase of medival history4 
,but when we look at ,protestantism as a
 social and religious movement rather   
than an intellectual movement1 we see   
that it stood for certain relatively new
 emphases which did indicate a breaking 
loose from medivalism4  ,many sincere   
men felt the need for a deeper1 more    
personal assurance of salvation than    
that #bja offered by the traditional1   
substantial sacraments of the ,church4  
,religion seemed to them a more personal

 affair than it had overtly come to be4 
,by means of an act of faith1 the       
individual hoped to secure a new        
relation to ,god in which his sins were 
forgiven and salvation attained4        
,salvation thus became a more internal  
act than it had been1 and particularly  
one in which the ecclesiastical         
institution played a far less important 
part4  ,the new tendency emphasized the 
individual and personal as against the  
institutional and formal4  ,catholicism 
had inherited too much ritualistic and  
magical trapping to harmonize completely
 with the keen ethical sense of the     
younger and simpler people who were     
growing to adulthood4  ,a new movement  
is on the defensive and1 when too       
completely estranged from the           
institutions of which it is a reform1   
almost inevitably tends to be narrow and
 intense4  ,now ,protestantism was      
essentially an emphasis on the soul's   
salvation by meeting certain            
requirements of a doctrinal and ethical 

type1 and so it tended to drop those    
functions and relations which the       
,medival ,church included within its    
scope4  ,it is this clear-cut           
intensification of one factor and the   
exclusion of others which we must bear  
in mind when we compare the early       
,protestant sects with the ,catholic    
,church of the ,middle ,ages4  ,deep    
religious fervor easily leads to        
narrowness1 especially when the         
spiritual values regarded as essential  
are subjective and rather formal4       
,because confessional ,protestantism was
 as other-worldly as the ,medival       
,church1 it cut itself loose from       
aspects of life which might otherwise   
have mellowed it and saved it from      
formalism and hardness4 ,we may laugh   
with #bjb ,swift at the freaks of ,jack1
 at his dourness and savagery1 his      
strained interpretation of the          
scriptures and his lack of social tact1 
but we must1 if we would be just1 always
 bear in mind the outlook which ,jack   

had inherited4  ,the ,protestant of     
to-day does not usually realize how     
different the ,protestantism of the     
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was 
from that which he sees around him4     
,protestantism has mellowed and absorbed
 values and interests which it would    
once have repudiated as irrelevant to   
the tremendous drama of salvation4      
,take medival ,catholicism1 with its    
ideal of a ,church-directed society1 its
 doctrines of sin and redemption1 its   
belief in another world overshadowing   
this one1 its strain of asceticism1 and 
remove the sacramental power of the     
,church1 and you have early             
,protestantism before you4  ,instead of 
fleeing the world and its temptations1  
the ,christian was ordered to live in it
 like a sentinel on his guard4  ,he was 
not to set his heart on creaturely      
comforts nor love the things and        
interests of this life overmuch1 but    
rather to trample them underfoot while  
gazing upwards4  ,no wonder that the    

early ,protestants were a stern people2 
they were a community of secular monks4 
,they had the joy of union with ,god and
 assured redemption from sin1 but this  
world was not their true home4  ,whereas
 the ,medival ,church had tempered the  
asceticism of historical ,christianity  
by the distinction between what was     
imposed upon clergy and what was        
demanded of the laity1 ,protestantism   
was unable to continue this distinction 
because all believers were priests4     
,all had to come up to the same high    
standard or risk damnation4  ,this      
exaltation has in large measure departed
 from ,protestantism1 and we who #bjc   
have grown into a mellower idea of      
salvation are inclined to judge this set
 of ideals as narrow and even morbid4   
,we forget that puritanism was the      
expression of an ascetic religious view 
of the world4  ,it was in the sphere of 
church government that ,protestantism   
made its great changes by attempting to 
return to the polity of the early       

associational form of ,christianity4    
,the more radical forms of              
,protestantism1 especially1 inaugurated 
a movement in the direction of what we  
now call democracy4  ,there can be      
little doubt1 in fact1 that these waves 
of religious individualism assisted the 
growth of democratic and republican     
forms of government4  ,this influence   
was unplanned and relatively accidental 
because religious individualism was more
 concerned with the right to worship    
according to the dictates of conscience 
than with political rights4  ,but man is
 a psychological whole1 and so a reform 
along one line is bound to affect other 
phases of life4  ,as we have already    
pointed out1 the alterations introduced 
on the theological side were by no means
 revolutionary from an intellectual     
standpoint4  ,and yet the spirit and    
mood of religion was deeply altered4    
,the process of salvation was           
differently conceived1 and this led to  
the thought of a more direct relation   

between man and ,god than had been      
admitted in the older ,church4  ,god was
 believed to have guaranteed redemption 
to those who had faith in ,jesus ,christ
 as the redeemer4  ,this tenet led to an
 emphasis on the bible and on personal  
experience4  ,it was through a study of 
the bible that men were led to this     
personal faith1 and the bible was       
accordingly conceived as the            
representative of ,god upon earth4      
,what wonder that it was #bjd           
substituted for the ,church and         
tradition as an infallible and          
unchanging authority6  ,the logic of the
 movement is clear4  ,it has been       
pointed out by one scholar that         
,protestantism introduced the doctrine  
of infallibility before the ,roman      
,catholic ,church did4  ,calvinism      
selected the ,augustinian dogmas of     
election and original sin as its        
foundation1 and used them in such a way 
as to become a fighting church1 a       
congregation of the elect1 fearless and 

self-reliant4  ,bibliolatry soon        
flourished1 and sects sprang up on every
 hand1 ready to suffer persecution for  
their particular interpretation of      
passages4 ,theology became a series of  
fanatically held dogmas supported by    
copious quotations4  ,and the           
intellectual atmosphere within which    
these dogmatic theories arose was of the
 most conventional and limited sort4    
,broadness of outlook upon life was the 
exception rather than the rule4 ,the    
general assumption of the ,christian    
scheme of the world remained            
unchallenged1 while the bitterest       
disputes broke out in regard to points  
which seem to the educated man of to-day
 quite unimportant4 ,such a course of   
events was to be expected1 and could not
 have been prevented4  ,perhaps it did  
more good than harm1 because it         
encouraged independence on the part of  
the masses4  ,its only cure was not     
authority but education4  ,and the world
 was not yet ready for universal        

education4  ,at certain periods1 a      
tremendous waste of mental and moral    
energy is simply inevitable3 men cannot 
help going around and around in the same
 circle of ideas in the most            
pathetically earnest fashion4  ,the     
conditions of progress are not always   
ready4  ,take the knowledge of the      
clergy4  ,it was confined to the        
classics1 the patristics1 to massive    
tomes of theology1 to #bje the bible in 
its ,hebrew and ,greek original4 ,it was
 not from these fields that             
enlightenment was to come4  ,the truth  
is1 that ,protestantism was slowly      
modified and mellowed1 almost in spite  
of itself1 by the pervasive influence of
 the great world civilization that grew 
up around it and to which it was more   
susceptible than was the reorganized    
,catholic ,church4  ,let us look at this
 point more closely4  ,the reformation  
was an effect as much as a cause4  ,the 
nations were coming to their own in the 
midst of a more complex social life full

 of human interests and values4  ,the   
,confessional ,churches which sprang up 
were unable to establish themselves     
securely enough to dominate the civil   
powers4  ,the consequence was1 that     
secular civilization was released from  
the sway of religion and its            
supernaturalism4 ,government1 science1  
art1 industry1 and literature flourished
 in a freedom they had seldom before    
experienced4  ,the disorganization of   
religious institutions enabled many     
tendencies1 hitherto kept in the        
background of men's consciousness1 to   
push to the front and reveal their power
 over the human soul4  ,do we not know  
that many great medival doctors had to  
fight against their love of literature  
and art8 ,protestantism may be said to  
have been an unintentional cause of the 
modern world4  ,protestantism broke up  
into an array of sects and tendencies as
 it fell upon the prism of human        
temperament4  ,radical sects appeared1  
like the ,independents1 the ,quakers1   

the ,baptists1 the ,pietists1 and the   
,congregationalists4  ,these were       
radical in a social way rather than in  
an intellectual way4  ,they were        
subjective variations of the inherited  
motives4  ,largely1 they represented a  
revolt against authoritism1 and #bjf    
emphasized the inner light or a very    
mild appeal to reason4  ,yet we must    
call them sects1 just because they had  
much the same spirit and assumptions1   
and exaggerated what must be regarded as
 slight differences4  ,still their very 
number gave a milder direction to       
religion and made the idea of toleration
 more natural4  ,there was safety in    
numbers4  ,on the intellectual side1 the
 ,unitarian movement deserves attention 
for its aid in the dethronement of the  
old dogmatic structure4  ,alongside of  
these more subjective and emotional     
offshoots of ,protestantism arose       
philosophical idealism to add a touch of
 vague pantheism and a flavor of kindly 
mysticism4  ,in short1 the confessional 

type of ,protestantism mellowed under   
the influence of a more rational social 
organization with its gentler life4     
,reason was gaining in concreteness and 
power1 and human values were gaining in 
attractiveness4  ,the ,old ,testament   
gradually gave way to the synoptic      
gospels of the ,new1 while asceticism   
dropped away like a mantle4  ,i1 myself1
 well remember when religion was largely
 a matter of taboos on the moral side4  
,thou shalt not outbalanced by far the  
suggestion of concrete lines of positive
 endeavor4  ,such spiritualism was      
passive and suspicious rather than      
active and creative4  ,during the last  
thirty years1 ,protestantism has passed 
insensibly into a gentle religion of the
 spirit1 sentimentally inclined toward  
life and permeated with popular notions 
of science and philosophy4  ,the sermon 
of the ,puritan concerned itself with   
the two dispensations2 the sermon of the
 modern minister is full of quotations  
from the poets and reveals the growing  

influence of the social sciences4  ,the 
negative note is hardly audible4 ,this  
#bjg world and its spiritual problems   
occupies the focus of attention4        
,modern ,protestantism is not over      
certain of its creed4  ,in fact1 so     
uncertain is it of the doctrines it     
wishes to champion that it much prefers 
to discuss human problems1 and to expend
 its enthusiasm in the advance of a     
gentle code of ethics attached to the   
teaching of ,jesus of ,nazareth4  ,in a 
very real sense1 this attitude is to its
 credit1 for it is positive and         
genuinely spiritual4  ,moreover1 it     
bears witness to a consciousness of the 
decay of the supernaturalistic          
perspective which dominated and misled  
the world for so many centuries4  ,the  
spirit and knowledge of the present age 
has undermined the traditional beliefs1 
and the average protestant is too well  
educated and too much in touch with     
current movements to be unaware of this 
situation4  ,he is not certain whither  

he is being led nor does he so very much
 care2 he is content to drift with the  
tide of human development1 assured that 
the world is becoming better and broader
 in its purposes and possibilities4     
,creed and dogma are dropping into the  
background and will soon be discarded1  
while the spiritual values which grow   
out of1 and express1 human nature and   
life are steadily forging to the front4 
,the church as an institution is only   
one among many4  ,and it must further be
 remembered that the life of society    
reaches beyond institutions1 much as the
 life of an organism is greater than the
 habits and structure which it uses4    
,religious institutions did not create  
the modern world with its gigantic      
advances in commerce1 its acute         
applications of science1 its subtle art1
 its daring adventures in living1 its   
bold philosophies1 its high #bjh level  
of education1 its experiments in new    
social forms4  ,they have had their     
share in the work1 no doubt2 but they   

have been acted upon even more than they
 have acted4  ,because of its lack of   
internal unity and its antagonism to    
authority1 ,protestantism could offer no
 effective barrier to the growth of the 
new outlook4  ,often suspicious1 it yet 
fought in the open4  ,the trial of      
strength went against it ultimately     
because its foundation was inadequate4  
,myth cannot fight against science and  
hope to win4  ,the verdict of the       
hard-fought contest is becoming evident 
to both winner and loser4  ,let us hope 
that the loser will take his defeat     
manfully and gradually adapt himself to 
the ,new ,world that is dawning4  ,the  
,protestant ,churches may then become   
groups of voluntary associations filled 
with high spiritual purpose and         
ministering to the growth of a finer    
social and economic life4  ,the main    
necessity is to find a function that is 
real and vital in the judgment and      
conscience of the time4  ,it is         
undeniable that the various churches    

will long play a beneficent role in the 
social economy1 but the question may    
well be asked whether this role would   
not be more significant and sanely      
creative if the hampering traditions and
 beliefs of the past were shaken off4   
,for these traditions are the shelter of
 interpretations and social habits which
 are ill-adapted to the needs of the    
present4  ,they slow down the energy of 
institutions and cloud their vision4    
,they lead the sincerest of people to   
use tools which have lost edge4  ,for   
instance1 is not civic and moral        
education far more effective than       
melodramatic revivals which stir        
people's emotions and leave them without
 chart and compass before the problems  
of their every-day life8  ,the church   
must #bji learn prevention2 it must go  
to school to the social and mental      
sciences4  ,only so will it conquer that
 dilettantism which accompanies the     
absence of methodical intelligence4     
,but the churches have the right to     

respond that they are not the only      
sinners in this regard4  ,institutions  
of all kinds display the same tendency  
to retardation1 to conservatism1 to     
waste of energy1 the beliefs and habits 
of the past clinging heavily about them 
as impedimenta4  ,it is seldom that a   
new life wells up quickly enough within 
them to break this inertia4  ,perhaps   
all that the younger generation has the 
right to ask is a spirit of tolerance   
and even respect for all loyalties which
 attach themselves to things of good    
repute1 and a more catholic admission of
 all human values into the class of     
spiritual things4  ,the scientist is    
working for things of the spirit1 and so
 is the artist1 and so is the social    
reformer1 and so is the educator1 and so
 is the day-laborer who does his work   
for the sake of some dear one4  ,the sea
 of faith of which ,matthew ,arnold sang
 is indeed at its ebb2 but a new sea of 
faith is welling up in the human soul1  
faith in humanity1 in this life here and

 now1 a faith in common things and      
common people1 a faith in noble things  
and their gifted creators1 a faith      
founded in sympathy and in mental       
integrity and rooted in the actualities 
of life4 ,it is a faith grounded on the 
high will to assimilate and carry       
further the spiritual values which the  
human race has slowly achieved in its   
travail of the centuries4  ,not to      
relinquish but to surpass1 not to deny  
but to transform3 thus will the new day 
be won4  ,let the spiritual forces which
 have grown up around religion1         
industry1 science1 philosophy1 #baj     
citizenship and art fall to with a will1
 to bring some fuller measure of the    
long-dreamed-of ,kingdom upon this      
earth1 which has been and forever will  
be man's sole home4     #baa  ,,chapter 
,,xvi  ,,the ,,humanist',s ,,religion   
,in the preceding pages we have no doubt
 often hurt--but we have hurt to heal4  
,the good surgeon probes deeply in order
 that he may not have the operation to  

perform again4  ,even a minute amount of
 diseased tissues left behind can       
prevent the return of vigorous and      
creative health4 ,thus what may seem to 
the anxious patient unnecessary cruelty 
may be the greatest kindness4  ,a       
sentimental compromise is never welcomed
 by the mature judgment of the brave    
man4  ,and in this day when so many have
 willingly given their lives for the    
sake of a human ideal1 is it just and   
right to flinch in the spiritual warfare
 which confronts our generation8  ,we   
are seeking nothing less than a         
renaissance in which men's energies will
 be wisely and loyally directed to what 
is greatly human and humanly great4  ,in
 such a service we must will to be hard 
on ourselves and on others4  ,in the    
past1 religion has only too often been  
formal and negative and world-fleeing4  
,it has said nay to life rather than    
yea4  ,past religion rested upon man's  
sense of his own helplessness in a world
 which he did not understand4  ,by the  

very instinct of self-preservation1 he  
created supernatural powers which were  
to be on his side in the grim and       
unequal struggle in which he was        
engaged4  ,but this subterfuge by which 
he thought to conquer had its           
treacherous effects1 for it turned man  
#bab from comprehending and mastering   
his world4  ,he became but a pilgrim    
here1 intent on heavenly joys and       
splendors1 which threw this world into  
darkness4  ,what these joys and         
splendors were he hardly knew3 yet he   
hugged the thought of them to his heart 
and despised things merely human4  ,and 
if1 as often became the case1 the world 
grew upon him1 his conscience was torn  
and tormented4  ,he was a man divided   
against himself1 unable to throw himself
 whole-heartedly into any enterprise4   
,but the humanist's religion is the     
religion of one who says yea to life    
here and now1 of one who is self-reliant
 and fearless1 intelligent and creative4
  ,it is the religion of the will to    

power1 of one who is hard on himself and
 yet joyous in himself4  ,it is the     
religion of courage and purpose and     
transforming energy4  ,its motto is1    
,what hath not man wrought8  ,its goal  
is the mastery of things that they may  
become servants and instrumentalities to
 man's spiritual comradeship4 ,whatever 
mixture of magic1 fear1 ritual and      
adoration religion may have been in     
man's early days1 it is now1 and        
henceforth must be1 that which concerns 
man's nobilities1 his discovery of1 and 
loyalty to1 the pervasive values of     
life4  ,the religious man will now be he
 who seeks out causes to be loyal to1   
social mistakes to correct1 wounds to   
heal1 achievements to further4  ,he will
 be constructive1 fearless1 loyal1      
sensitive to the good wherever found1 a 
believer in mankind1 a fighter for      
things worth while4  ,when old ideas    
become enfeebled1 they clog the         
spiritual system4 ,conventionality1     
routine and sentimentalism take the     

place of the fresh vigor which always   
accompanies profound conviction4  ,a    
gospel cannot be #bac a heritage        
enjoyed3 it must be a portion earned4   
,and to-day1 especially1 there is       
pressing need for a brave criticism of  
past standards1 succeeded by an act of  
intelligent will which presses          
fearlessly on to a reformulation and    
reaffirmation of values4  ,because the  
old religions did not have this power to
 exalt significant human ideals1        
relevant to the changing crisis of the  
times1 the nations drifted into the     
materialism of commercialism and        
militarism4  ,and a religion insistent  
upon a rational and wise interpretation 
of the ways of life will1 alone1 be able
 to rescue them4  ,watchwords by        
themselves1 if they remain vague        
generalities untranslatable into new    
directions of effort1 will fail4  ,what 
is necessary is a new goal1 or else a   
pragmatic development of past dreams    
into programs which awaken loyalty and  

hope4  ,but the center of gravity and   
endeavor of such a religion will lie    
within society4  ,it will be1 to all    
intents and purposes1 a humanist's      
religion4  ,it will save men's souls by 
making them worth saving4  ,for it1     
salvation will be no magical hocus-pocus
 external to the reach and timbre of    
man's personality3 it will be his loyal 
and intelligent union with those values 
and possibilities of life which have    
come within his ken4  ,to convert will  
be to educate and redirect the energies 
of the soul4  ,and society will need    
conversion as pressingly as scattered   
individuals in slums and tenements4     
,does it to-day stress the most         
important things8  ,the ,state has been 
the servant of things as they are1 not  
of things as they might be4  ,a         
humanist's religion can admit no cunning
 division into the things which are     
,god's and the things which are ,csar's4
  ,human values are as jealous as the   
,yahweh of ,moses4  ,to sin against them

 is to die spiritually4  #bad  ,the     
common opinion that critical work is    
ever merely negative is a great error4  
,it is the willing error of a dogmatism 
which feels itself insecure4  ,it is the
 error of a spiritual plane which has   
settled into ease and hates to be       
disturbed4  ,sooner or later1 criticism 
leads to something positive1 to a new   
vision and a new goal4  ,all that is    
needed is the patience which is founded 
upon faith and is willing to try all    
things in the firm belief that the truth
 will prevail4  ,moreover1 criticism has
 a positive psychological effect in that
 it calls attention to the actual       
situation and directs attention to the  
living problems4  ,it is that spur to   
the soul which prevents it from going to
 sleep4  ,without it1 problems are      
avoided rather than sought4  ,who can   
deny that this lethargy has been the    
disheartening temper of the ,christian  
,church1 now when every domain of life  
cries aloud for vigorous thought8       

,surely religion has to do with more    
than the common decencies of life1      
important as they are4  ,its place is in
 the van of the fighting2 it has to do  
with last hopes and glimpsed visions1   
with what is to come as well as with    
what is4  ,religion at its tensest has  
to do with ultimate loyalties4  ,habit  
and tradition are helpless in such      
matters1 which are of things hoped      
for--upon this earth4  ,but enough of   
the critical side4  ,we have said that  
the coming religion will say yea to     
human life4  ,yet it will not affirm it 
in a blind and sentimental way4  ,it    
will be realistic and striving4  ,all   
great religions of the past have        
recognized the tragic aspects of human  
life1 its brevity1 its littlenesses1 its
 fussy selfishness1 its lack of vision1 
its suffering2 but they have too often  
been led to despise humanity by seeing  
it on the illimitable background of     
celestial omnipotences and perfections4 
#bae ,religion as loyalty to human      

values will lose no whit of this tragic 
sense1 and yet the palsying background  
of supernaturalism will disappear4      
,some measure of tragedy will remain2   
but its morbidity will have been        
separated out and courageously rejected4
  ,social groups will fall to with a    
will to live largely and widely4  ,they 
will seek a tingling welfare woven of   
the threefold values of truth1 beauty   
and goodness4  ,the saint will not be   
the groveling sinner1 but the man of    
mellow wisdom4  ,he will be immersed in 
the currents of life and yet master of  
himself4  ,he will be at once the       
servant of concrete and compassable     
ideals and their possessor and enjoyer4 
,the shadow of the ,great ,war will     
lighten to the coming generation soon   
after peace is declared4  ,then will    
come the time for the taking of stock   
and the revaluation of human endeavor4  
,man must ask himself more seriously    
than ever before what things are worth  
while1 and thereupon bend his political 

and economic instrumentalities to their 
furtherance4 ,and here the religion of  
human values must be the leader4  ,does 
democracy yet accord with such a        
religion8  ,or is it still too timid1   
negative1 thin and uninstructed8        
,america1 for example1 has a soul2 but  
it is a soul which needs discipline1    
instruction1 contemplation4  ,the       
religion of human possibilities needs   
prophets who will grip men's souls with 
their description of a society in which 
righteousness1 wisdom and beauty will   
reign together4  ,it is hard to say what
 thought such a society calls up before 
us4  ,yet does it not mean that1 more   
than now and increasingly1 selfish      
luxury will be scorned1 property        
subordinated to welfare1 economic fear  
lessened to the utmost1 knowledge       
unenviously exalted1 and art called #baf
 into service8 ,loyalty to such an ideal
 will surely constitute the heart of the
 humanist's religion4  ,the ideals of a 
religion can never be easy4  ,the       

prophets were stern critics and hard    
taskmasters2 ,jesus knew that his true  
followers would find their way no       
primrose path2 the ,medival saints were 
hard on themselves and their disciples4 
,we can generalize this history for the 
future4  ,and yet a larger measure of   
joy and human satisfaction will play    
around religion in the future than has  
been the case in the past4  ,because of 
its supernaturalisms and distortions1   
religious demands have often been morbid
 and full of unnecessary friction4      
,religion has sought to thwart and      
repress human nature rather than to     
guide and express4  ,but a religion of  
human loyalty can be kindly as well as  
exigent1 mirth-loving as well as stern4 
,as never before1 spiritual values sing 
to us from life4  ,they sing to us of   
the patient love of the parent for the  
child1 of the conquest of nature by     
trained intellect1 of the quiet labor of
 the skilled workman1 of the steady     
loyalties of every-day life1 of the     

willing coperation of citizens1 of the  
sweetness of music1 of plans for greater
 social justice1 and of a world made    
free from war4  ,spiritual values are   
everywhere around us inviting our       
service4  ,he who asks where they are is
 like a man who asks for water when a   
spring is bubbling beneath his feet4    
,and yet we have been so blinded by the 
old ascetic supernaturalisms that we are
 slow to realize that these simple human
 things are nobly spiritual4  ,so long  
as there are things worth while1 there  
will be spiritual values4  ,is not this 
positive enough8  ,need he who has an   
inalienable treasure fear robbery8  #bag
  ,to put the situation bluntly1        
religion must be separated from the     
other-worldly pull of the traditional   
theologies and be sanely grounded in the
 outlook of modern knowledge4  ,there is
 no need for a rabid anti-theism4  ,the 
truth is1 rather1 that mankind is       
outgrowing theism in a gentle and steady
 way until it ceases to have any clear  

meaning4 ,this is a hard saying and     
requires justification4  ,in part1 ,i   
have given the justification in the     
preceding pages2 in part1 ,i have given 
it elsewhere4#a  ,but the drift among   
thinking people is unmistakable4 ,with  
the imminent solution of the mind-body  
problem1 the last bulwark of the old    
supernaturalism will have fallen4  ,man 
will be forced to acknowledge that he is
 an earth-child whose drama has meaning 
only upon her bosom4  ,it is my firm    
conviction that the clear realization of
 this fact will startle men into        
insights and demands of far-reaching    
import4 ,may it not remove a dead-weight
 of inhibitions which has kept the human
 spirit under bonds to past attitudes   
and methods8  ,there will no longer be a
 divided interest and an uncertain      
horizon4  ,to many it will come like a  
plunge in cold water3 but may not such a
 plunge do them good by waking them from
 their dogmatic slumbers8  ,the         
interpretation of the physical world of 

which man is a part must be left to the 
coperative work of #bah science and     
philosophy4  ,these will give to us     
tested and critical knowledge of the    
processes which go on around us1 of the 
drift of the stars in the world-spaces1 
of the spiral movements of nebular      
matter1 of the evolution of the         
elements1 of the integration of organic 
forms1 of the development of historic   
life4  ,the universe is3 it is          
meaningless to ask whence it came1 for  
it always was1 and time is but a term   
for the changes which go on within it4  
,but1 having explored the universe by   
telescope and microscope1 and having    
thus come to some understanding of his  
world1 man must return again to his own 
pressing problems and possibilities1 to 
his need to interpret his own good1 to  
his desire to further and maintain those
 interests and activities in which he   
finds self-expression4  ,his own life1  
as a realm of affection and action1 must
 rightly be for him the significant     

center of the universe4  ,these         
urgencies1 interests1 possibilities1    
satisfactions1 loyalties are inalienably
 human and valid4  ,he can no more      
ignore them than he can his hunger for  
food and his thirst for water4  ,nothing
 can rob him of the values which he has 
created1 nor can any one take from him  
the burden of courageous endeavor4  ,he 
is the master of his own destiny and the
 prompter in his own drama4  ,in his    
tenser moments1 the physical spaces     
around his planet will but contain      
,the endless1 silly merriment of stars4 
,as religion learns to relinquish       
theology and accept the modern view of  
the world1 the spirituality which it has
 fostered will mate with reason4        
,reason by itself is not enough2 feeling
 by itself is not enough4  ,what the    
world awaits is the sane and kindly     
ministry of a #bai concrete reason to   
the goods of human life4  ,thinking and 
experimentation must be instrumental to 
the progressive betterment of life4     

,this idea is not new4  ,many have      
grasped it before in whole or in part2  
but the setting has not always been     
simple enough4  ,comte meant just such a
 humanism in his religion of humanity1  
but he was unable to cut himself loose  
from his associations with organized    
,christianity4  ,there is no adequate   
motive for the retention of the         
ritualism and worship of ,comtism1 nor  
is there any good reason for the        
deification of humanity4  ,humanity is  
not an entity1 nor is it a sort of      
supreme personality which may be        
worshiped4  ,religion will mean the     
valuing of experiences and activities1  
the striving for their realization1 the 
loyalty to their call4  ,taken in this  
way1 religion will agree with and       
commend the purpose expressed by        
,huxley3 ,to promote the increase of    
natural knowledge and to forward the    
application of scientific methods of    
investigation to all the problems of    
life to the best of my ability1 in the  

conviction which has grown with my      
growth1 and strengthened with my        
strength1 that there is no alleviation  
for the sufferings of mankind except    
veracity of thought and action1 and the 
resolute facing of the world as it is1  
when the garment of make-believe by     
which pious hands have hidden its uglier
 features is stripped off4  ,this       
outlook has been called the marriage of 
naturalism with philanthropy2 it is     
better to speak of it as the marriage of
 naturalism with humanism4  ,it is the  
belief that a rational spirituality is  
possible1 natural to man1 and1 above all
 things1 desirable4  ,but if men find   
their salvation in love for1 and loyalty
 to1 values of various kinds1 the       
practical question #bbj becomes that of 
the furtherance and support of these    
values4  ,what are some of the social   
conditions of a noble life8  ,surely    
education1 opportunity and free         
association4  ,it is no longer granted  
to trust the coming of a supernatural   

grace which will illuminate life4  ,such
 subjective illumination is only too apt
 to reflect the temperament of the      
individual and to lack that training and
 breadth of interest which only         
education and opportunity for a varied  
experience can give4  ,many of the      
values which we prize most highly to-day
 need the soil of culture and of a      
complex civilization before they will   
flourish4  ,to distribute them widely is
 the dearest hope of a democracy which  
looks beyond the merely political       
aspects of social institutions4  ,but   
such a distribution is a goal which has 
conditions which must be mastered by the
 bending of a keen social intelligence  
into the service of a genuine desire for
 the extension of well-used leisure4  ,i
 mean that the task of modern democracy 
is the securing of economic well-being  
and a fair degree of leisure for the    
mass of the citizens in order that they 
may have the time1 the energy1 and the  
opportunity to develop themselves and to

 put themselves coperatively into touch 
with the pleasant and creative side of  
life4  ,but ,i have already touched upon
 these problems of social method and aim
 in another volume4#b  ,it is time that 
,i discussed a question which1 ,i have  
no doubt1 has been hovering in the      
background of many a reader's mind4  ,is
 it justifiable to retain the term      
religion when its ancient setting has   
been so completely discarded8  ,i have  
myself asked this question many a #bba  
time4  ,for many years1 ,i felt that it 
would be better to give up the word     
entirely as indissolubly bound up with  
those ideas and beliefs which the modern
 trained mind is outgrowing4  ,but ,i   
could not hide from myself the fact that
 the consciousness of the time was      
beginning to employ it in a freer and   
more constructive way4  ,it had sensed  
the element of devotion and loyalty     
which religion had1 in spite of its many
 shortcomings1 nourished4  ,how common  
the phrase is that a man has made a     

religion of some interest6  ,the        
socialist is said to make a religion of 
socialism1 the social reformer of his   
work of constructive philanthropy1 the  
artist of his art4  ,we mean that he has
 thrown himself whole-heartedly into    
some one of these fields4  ,and1        
positively1 this means that he has found
 that concrete and living salvation     
which ideal effort always brings to a   
man4  ,he is filled with the spirit of  
consuming loyalty to what he values4    
,he has left the mere conventionalities1
 the run of use-and-wont behind and has 
exalted himself with a living purpose   
which illuminates and concentrates his  
being4  ,i think that this spirit and   
attitude is coming to be called         
religious1 no matter to what objects it 
attaches itself4  ,have we not here a   
mark of identity which justifies the    
retention of the age-old word8          
,morality is too cold a word in the ears
 of most men4  ,besides1 moral values   
are only a part of the immense throng of

 appreciations to which man responds4   
,there is need of a comprehensive term1 
able to take in all those interests and 
activities which give life its variety  
and glory4  ,is there a better term than
 religion8  ,but there must be no       
mistake about the new setting of the    
term2 no casuistic ambiguity must be    
encouraged4  ,we must be firm in our    
negations of the old as #bbb well as    
constructive in our affirmation of the  
new4  ,i have tried to show that the    
belief in superhuman spirits arose in   
primitive times when man knew little    
about the world in which he found       
himself4  ,investigators in the history 
of religion trace the steps from        
polydemonism to polytheism and thence to
 henotheism and monotheism4  ,along with
 this evolution1 which reflected changes
 in social organization1 went a         
corresponding moral transformation of   
these divine beings4  ,yet the setting  
of the outlook was largely the same as  
in earlier days4  ,social relations were

 supposed to control the universe as a  
whole4  ,nature recognized her master in
 ,god much as the subjects of a king    
greeted him as their lord4  ,his was the
 might1 majesty1 dominion and glory4    
,there is a pathetic incident related of
 ,carlyle which has meaning in this     
connection4  ,mr4 ,froude told ,carlyle1
 not long before the latter's death1    
that he could believe only in a ,god who
 did something4  ,with a cry of pain1   
,carlyle answered1 ,he does nothing4    
,how can we harmonize this cry with his 
earlier faith in an ,everlasting ,will  
and a ,providential ,government of the  
world8  ,it is impossible to do so4     
,romantic spiritualism must give way to 
a humanistic naturalism which sees      
clearly the place of man in the world4  
,morality1 science and art are man's    
creation and distinctive possession4    
,what he needs is a stable1 law-abiding 
environment within which to work4  ,he  
has this1 and has gained some mastery of
 it4  ,the further necessary step is    

mastery of himself and of those huge    
institutions which have grown up and now
 threaten to make him circle within     
their orbits4  ,man has battles still to
 fight4  ,the religion of the future    
will increasingly be concerned with two 
things1 virtues and values4  ,the ,greek
 #bbc virtues have been made tenderer by
 the ,christian virtues and more        
steadfast by that training of the will  
and character which we associate with   
puritanism4  ,the experience of the ages
 has deepened and broadened man1 made   
him less hasty in judgment1 more aware  
of his limitations1 more realistic1 more
 efficient4  ,at the same time1 it has  
added that touch of pathos which        
spiritualizes the beauty of life4  ,we  
believe1 also1 that it has nourished    
that sentiment of tenderness for the    
homely fate of the average man that will
 some day find expression in a fuller   
democracy than has as yet dawned upon   
the earth4  ,but1 above all1 religion   
must be catholic in its count of values4

 ,wherever there is loyal endeavor1 it  
will acknowledge the presence of the    
spiritual4  ,it will reverence the      
philosopher who has found salvation in  
the solution of complex intellectual    
problems1 the scientist who has given   
himself to the whole-hearted study of   
nature1 the missionary who has devoted  
himself to the spread of an elevating   
conception of life1 the kindly physician
 who has sought to alleviate human      
suffering1 the social reformer who has  
spent his life in agitating for a saner 
social polity1 the artist who has had a 
vision of beauty and has labored to     
express it in such a way that all men   
could share it1 the man and woman who   
have met the tasks of every day with    
courage and charity4  ,and it will seek 
to bring these values to closer         
acquaintance with each other than has   
hitherto been the case4  ,the guidance  
of a kindly and clear-eyed reason will  
not be regarded with suspicion1 for this
 human faith will have nothing to fear1 

because having no tottering creed to    
sustain4  ,what a relief it will be to  
have the narrow sectarianism1 the cruel 
bigotry1 the obscurantism of #bbd       
supernaturalism purged from religion6   
,these unlovely features of man's       
spiritual life had their rootage in the 
distrust of human nature and of human   
reason1 in a certain slavishness of soul
 continuous with the distant days of    
man's ignorance and fear4  ,they will   
lessen and pass away as knowledge       
increases1 as liberty becomes concrete  
and significant1 as a more spiritual    
courage grows among the mass of men4    
,and1 in my opinion1 there is nothing   
more calculated to hasten the growth of 
this buoyancy and moral courage than a  
larger measure of social justice in the 
common affairs of life4  ,and1 in this  
mission of adjustment and service       
between the various values of life1     
reason will have a co-equal as a helper4
  ,surely1 art will come more and more  
to its own in the life which is opening 

up before us6  ,man's soul will crave   
gracious surroundings1 the harmony of   
well-constructed dwellings1 the         
restfulness of dawn and flowers1 the    
elevation of noble buildings4  ,ugliness
 and squalor will be repugnant to him1  
for he will know their spiritual cost4  
,but man will not only seek healthy and 
beautiful surroundings1 he will also be 
desirous to interpret all phases of his 
life to himself4  ,and in this effort at
 interpretation he will succeed ever    
more fully in seeing the various sides  
of his life as parts of a whole4  ,art  
will set itself the task of giving      
significance and depth to nature1 to    
industry1 to the home1 to public life1  
to science4  ,and1 as art begins to     
perform this mission of interpretation1 
it will cease to be thought of as a mere
 decoration1 the plaything of the rich4 
,it will be conceived as the means for  
the expression of those various         
loyalties which will ennoble and        
spiritualize life4  ,as the human race  

grows healthier #bbe and happier it will
 employ to the full that gift of all    
gifts it has in its possession1 the     
capacity to clothe things with gracious 
forms and give its deepest feelings a   
human voice4  ,art will be the          
high-priest of the religion of loyalty  
to the values of life4  ,to those       
accustomed to the old mythological      
setting of religion with its glance away
 from human life as a whole1 this       
prophecy will but confirm their         
conviction of the revolutionary         
character of the thesis which this book 
has sought to champion4  ,but ,i feel   
certain that1 if they will permit       
themselves a dispassionate study of the 
facts1 they will1 sooner or later1 be   
forced to acknowledge the inevitableness
 of the conclusion4  ,if religion is to 
survive1 it must be human and social4   
,it is they who insist upon a           
supernatural foundation and object who  
are its enemies4  ,man's life is        
spiritual in its own right4 ,so long as 

he shall dream of beauty and goodness   
and truth his life will not lack        
religion4    #a ,those who are          
interested in a constructive            
philosophical position which meets the  
results of modern science may be        
referred to my two books1 ,critical     
,realism and ,the ,essentials of        
,philosophy4  ,i have there shown that  
the mind-body dualism has been due to a 
false way of approach4  ,psychology     
gives knowledge about the functional    
capacities of the nervous system        
additional to that given by the physical
 science1 and in no way conflicting with
 it1 and consciousness is in the brain4 
#b ,see especially ,the ,next ,step in  
,democracy1 ch4 #e4      ,,the ,,end    
,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states  
,,of ,,america      #bbg  ,,index       
,agency1 impersonal1 #aag f42 limits of 
personal1 #aba f4  ,agnosticism1 and    
theodicy1 #aed f4  ,albigenses1 #afb    
,arminianism1 #afa  ,asceticism1 #aef2  
protestant1 #bjb  ,attis1 #bc  ,attis   

mysteries1 #bd   ,balder1 #ba  ,biblical
 criticism1 #ff  ,bibliolatry1 #bjd     
,brain1 discussion of1 #acf  ,buddhism1 
#ach   ,calvinism1 #afd  ,cathars1 #afb 
,christianity1 origins of1 #eh f42      
historical approach to1 #fj f42 setting 
of1 #fh f42 democratic movements in1    
#gc2 in transition1 #ie f42 navet of    
doctrines1 #aja f4  ,christian          
mythology1 #bh  ,church1 organization   
of1 #ib1 #ahg  ,copernican theory1 #ajj 
f4  ,creation1 stories of1 #cj f4       
,criticism1 higher1 #abh1 #aca f4       
,demons1 ,jesus's belief in1 #abg       
,devil1 a personal1 #aee  ,dionysus1 #ah
  ,dogmatism1 tendency to1 #fe  ,dreams1
 influence of1 #adc   ,ethics1 and early
 religion1 #agj f42 in the ,middle      
,ages1 #agc f42 heteronomous1 #age f42  
modern1 #agg f42 #ahd f4  ,evil1 for    
primitive man1 #aec2 and ,satan1 #aef2  
created by ,god1 #aeh2 as illusion1 #afd
 f42 disappearance of problem of1 #afe  
,evolution1 and myth1 #da f42           
biological1 #ajd f4   ,faith cures1 #acb

   ,gnosticism1 #hg f4  ,god1 for       
,christianity1 #aae f42 ideas of1 #aei  
f4  ,great ,war1 #b1 #aa   ,hades1 #adj 
,hell1 #agg  ,humanism1 #aib            
,humanitarianism1 #e   ,immortality1    
arguments for1 #adf f42 and early       
peoples1 #aci f42 and ,christianity1    
#adb2 philosophical aspect of1 #adh f4  
,incarnation1 #ij  ,infallibility1 #bjd 
,insanity1 #adf f4   ,james1 ,wm41 #ade 
,jesus1 #ge1 #gi f42 death of1 #hb2 as  
,messiah1 #he2 become ,god1 #ia2 and the
 ,hebrew prophets1 #aeh f4  ,job1 #aed4 
,kant1 ,immanuel1 #adg f4  ,kempis1     
,thomas 1 #ahj  ,koran1 #fb   ,lang1    
,andrew1 #ag  ,laws1 universal1 #aah    
,lyell1 scientific canon of1 #acb       
,magic1 #dd f4  ,magicians1 #ej         
,manicheism1 #afb  ,mc,giffert1 quoted1 
#g  ,mill1 ,john ,stuart1 #afc          
,miracles1 #abc f42 of ,jesus1 #abg f2  
evidence for1 #acj f42 and their logic1 
#acc  ,mithraism1 #bc1 #fi4  ,monastic  
orders1 #aid  ,monotheism1 ethical1 #ia1
 #aae2 ,christian1 #aaa f42 of ,isaiah1 

#aeh f4  ,morality1 #agc  ,mythology1   
#ad f4  ,myths1 and morality1 #bd f42   
surrendering of1 #ajh   ,name1 influence
 of1 #ea f4  ,naturalism1 #b  ,newman1  
,cardinal1 #ahg   ,original sin1 #aeg   
,osiris1 #bc   ,paul1 #gj1 #gc  ,pauline
 ,christianity1 #hf f4  ,philo1 #ij     
,prometheus1 #ag  ,prophets1 ,hebrew1   
#aga f4  ,protestantism1 beginnings of1 
#ic2 aspects of1 #aii f42 sects of1 #bje
  ,providence1 #add f4   ,reformation1  
#bje  ,reinach1 #ag  ,religion1 new     
perspective in1 #f1 #aj2 of the         
,hebrews1 #bg2 and magic1 #ec f42 in    
early times1 #agj2 social side of1 #aij 
,ritual1 #ai f42 and ,christianity1 #bc 
,robinson1 quoted1 #bjj  ,roman ,empire1
 #ahi1 #aib   ,sacraments1 #aib         
,salvation1 #h f42 and immortality1 #ada
 f41 #bja  ,satan1 #aee  ,savior1 #aeg  
,science1 #fb f4  ,secular life1 growth 
of1 #aie f4  ,sheol1 #ah1 #adj f4       
,skepticism1 #aaj  ,social democracy1 #e
  ,spiritual1 the1 #aa1 #aif  ,spiritual
 courage1 #b  ,spiritualism1 #aa  ,st4  

,augustine1 #aei1 #afb  ,st4 ,francis1  
#gc4  ,strauss1 #fd  ,synoptic gospels1 
#gg f4   ,theology1 and ethics1 #afd    
,totemism1 #ae f4  ,tradition1 harm of1 
#aj  ,tyndall1 #ace   ,unitarian        
movement1 #bjf  ,universe1 new view of1 
#c f4   ,wells1 ,h4 ,g41 #afb1 #ahd f4  
,yahweh1 #bf f4         ,the following  
pages contain advertisements of a few   
of the ,macmillan books on kindred      
subjects4     ,the ,bible at a ,single  
,view  ,with an ,appendix on ,how to    
,read the ,bible  ,,by ,,richard ,g4    
,,moulton1  ,editor of ,the ,modern     
,reader's ,bible  ,cloth1 #abmo4  #a4jj 
,dr4 ,moulton's purpose in this book is1
 as indicated in his title1 to present a
 concise view of the ,bible1 a view     
which shall make clear its general      
character and content and prepare the   
reader for more detailed study          
afterward4  ,dr4 ,moulton's training and
 research--he is the author of many     
books bearing on the ,bible and the     
editor of ,the ,modern ,reader's        

,bible--well fit him for the task which 
he has chosen4  ,this presentation of   
the broad outlines of the ,bible cannot 
but lead to a more general and clearer  
appreciation of the content and real    
spirit of the greatest book in the      
world4  ,the appendix offers a course in
 ,bible reading calculated to conserve  
time and energy and to bring better     
results than disorganized ,bible        
reading4   ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company  
,publishers -- #fd-ff ,fifth ,avenue -- 
,new ,york   ,this ,life and the ,next  
,,the ,,effect ,,on ,,this ,,life ,,of  
,,faith ,,in ,,another  ,,by ,p4 ,t4    
,,forsyth  ,price1 #a4jj   ,immortality 
needs to be mortalized and brought home 
to our daily life without losing its    
mystic spell4  ,so many have turned it  
from a practical task into a theoretical
 problem2 from a ,gospel to our will    
into a riddle to our wits2 from a matter
 of conscience and duty to a matter of  
poetry and speculation1 resting it not  
on the free grace of ,god but on the dim

 presumption of man4  ,the reaction of a
 belief in immortality1 its moral       
rebound1 upon this life--,the egoism of 
,christ and the egoism of the           
anti-egoists--,the egoism of ,god1 the  
blessing of the world--,immortality1 a  
vocation rather than a                  
problem--,immortality as a crushing     
crisis1 a searching judgment on life's  
interior--,time's sacramental           
secret--,the ,kingdom of ,god as the    
real ground of ,christian belief in the 
soul's future--,immortality1 not        
continued but redeemed                  
life--,immortality as behavior in a new 
dimension4   ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company
  ,publishers -- #fd-ff ,fifth ,avenue  
-- ,new ,york   ,religion1 ,its         
,prophets and ,false ,prophets  ,,by    
,,james ,,bishop ,,thomas1 ,,ph4 ,d4    
,professor in the ,theological          
,department of the   ,university of the 
,south4  #a4ej   ,the object of this    
book1 as its title suggests1 is a study 
of the historic conflict between the two

 types of religion1 which may be        
designated as the prophetic and the     
exploiting type4  ,it further seeks to  
ascertain the theological aspects and   
implications of the contest1 to do      
justice to the theological permanence1  
veracity and breadth of vision of       
prophetism and to show how the          
theologies or hierarchies and           
ecclesiasticism were influenced or      
manipulated in the interests of the will
 to exploit4  ,again it may be said that
 the author seeks in this volume to     
discover and state just what            
,christianity is4  ,in order to do this 
he distinguishes between historic       
,christianity and the ,christianity of  
its founder4  ,his conclusion is that   
,the world's greatest need as in the    
past so today1 is to understand and     
follow the ,christianity of ,christ4    
,,the ,,macmillan ,,company  ,publishers
 -- #fd-ff ,fifth ,avenue -- ,new ,york 
,religious ,hand ,books  ,each ,sixty   
,cents   ,new ,horizon of ,state and    

,church  ,by ,w4 ,h4 ,p4 ,,faunce       
,broad1 profound scholarship1 close     
relationship with progressive sentiment 
all over the land1 and unusual powers of
 keen analysis and graphic statement are
 forceful elements in ',the ,new        
,horizon of ,state and                  
,church4'--,philadelphia ,north         
,american4   ,the ,christian ,man1 the  
,church and the ,war  ,,by ,,robert ,e4 
,,speer  ,dr4 ,speer here discusses the 
essentials of a problem which has       
exercised ,christian men since the      
beginning of the war4  ,he deals with it
 sanely and in a manner that will be    
considered distinctly helpful4   ,the   
,assurance of ,immortality  ,,by ,,harry
 ,,emerson ,,fosdick  ,will be welcomed 
by those who need to be shown how much  
it means to this world to believe that  
this life is but part of a vast         
forever4--,boston ,transcript4   ,the   
,church and the ,man  ,,by ,,donald     
,,hankey  ,filled with the wise         
sincerity of a religious conviction that

 cares little for creed and miracle1    
that finds the whole vade mecum of life 
in the simple facts of ,christ's active 
work among men4--,boston ,transcript4   
,are ,you ,human8  ,,by ,,william       
,,dewitt ,,hyde  ,like a stinging fresh 
breeze laden with the very salt of life 
and vigor4444  ,every man ought to get  
and digest this book4--,pacific         
,churchman4   ,the ,best ,man ,i ,know  
,,by ,,william ,,dewitt ,,hyde  ,all the
 virtues and the graces that make for   
fine quality of life are included4      
,they are presented with a vigor that is
 like the sting of salt winds1 bracing  
and wholesome4--,christian ,register4   
,it's ,all in the ,day's ,work  ,,by    
,,henry ,,churchill ,,king  ,good       
bracing counsel 444 a book for all who  
wish to acquit themselves well in the   
battle of life4--,the ,dial4    ,,the   
,,macmillan ,,company  ,publishers --   
#fd-ff ,fifth ,avenue -- ,new ,york