Unfortunately such indifference--at least the negative--is countenanced in the name of science by some "men of science" whose qualifications, however high, are gained in the physical and not in the "human" sciences, and who apply to the latter critical standards of a laxity which they would refuse to recognize in their own province. By such propagandists, ultimate questions of historic truth are never subjected to scientific examination at all, and tradition is at many points accepted more uncritically than by many of the more scrupulous theological scholars. At the same time the expediency of cultivating "religious fervour" is taken for granted without any ostensible inquiry as to how religious fervour has affected society in the past. In the following survey, the historical and the sociological problems are alike sought to be treated as scientific issues, calling for strictly scientific examination. The only relevant answer, therefore, from the author's point of view, will be one which shows either that the historical statement is false or that the sociological inferences are fallacious. Yet another phase of the professional defence of the faith calls for notice. At the close of a very comprehensive and catholic survey of the religions of the world, Professor J. E. Carpenter writes:-- There is no doubt whatever of the dependence of Christianity upon Jewish Messianic expectation. Its pictures of human destiny ... are pictures drawn by Jewish hands. Its promises of the Advent of the Son of Man ... are couched in the language of earlier Jewish books. For one religion builds upon another, and must use the speech of its country and its time. Its forms must therefore change from age to age.... But it will always embody man's highest thought concerning the mysteries that surround him, and will express his finest attitude to life. Its beliefs may be gradually modified; ... but history shows it to be among the most permanent of social forces, and the most effective agent for the slow elevation of the race. [2]