Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 4: Essays Chiefly on the Science of LanguageMüller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Religion
Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 4: Essays Chiefly on the Science of Language
Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Comparative linguistics; Folklore; Literature -- History and criticism; Mythology; Religions
whether you would like to suppress a profession that can call forth such
self-denial, such heroism, such sanctity, such love. It has been my
privilege to have known some of the finest and noblest spirits which
England has produced during this century, but there is none to whose
memory I look up with greater reverence, none by whose friendship I feel
more deeply humbled than by that of that true saint, that true martyr,
that truly parental missionary.
The work of the parental missionary is clear, and its success
undeniable, not only in Polynesia and Melanesia, but in many parts of
India--(think only of the bright light of Tinnevelly)--in Africa, in
China, in America, in Syria, in Turkey, aye, in the very heart of
London.
The case is different with the controversial missionary, who has to
attack the faith of men brought up in other religions, in religions
which contain much truth, though mixed up with much error. Here the
difficulties are immense, the results very discouraging. Nor need we
wonder at this. We know, each of us, but too well, how little argument
avails in theological discussion; how often it produces the very
opposite result of what we expected; confirming rather than shaking
opinions no less erroneous, no less indefensible, than many articles of
the Mohammedan or Buddhist faith.
And even when argument proves successful, when it forces a verdict from
an unwilling judge, how often has the result been disappointing; because
in tearing up the rotten stem on which the tree rested, its tenderest
fibres have been injured, its roots unsettled, its life destroyed.
We have little ground to expect that these controversial weapons will
carry the day in the struggle between the three great religions of the
world.
But there is a third kind of missionary activity, which has produced the
most important results, and through which alone, I believe, the final
victory will be gained. Whenever two religions are brought into contact,
when members of each live together in peace, abstaining from all direct
attempts at conversion, whether by force or by argument, though
conscious all the time of the fact that they and their religion are on
their trial, that they are being watched, that they are responsible for
all they say and do--the effect has always been the greatest blessing to
both. It calls out all the best elements in each, and at the same time
keeps under all that is felt to be of doubtful value, of uncertain
truth. Whenever this has happened in the history of the world, it has
generally led either to the reform of both systems, or to the foundation
of a new religion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account