Philosophy and Religion: Six Lectures Delivered at CambridgeRashdall, Hastings
Religion
Philosophy and Religion: Six Lectures Delivered at Cambridge
Rashdall, Hastings
Christianity; Philosophy and religion
The literature is here too vast to mention even the works of the very
first importance: I can only select a very few books which have been
useful to myself. The late Sir John Seeley's _Ecce Homo_ may be
regarded as in the light of modern research a somewhat uncritical book,
but it remains to my mind the most striking expression of the appeal
which Christ makes to the Conscience of the modern world. It has
proved a veritable fifth Gospel to many seekers after light. Bishop
Moorhouse's little book, _The Teaching of Christ_, will serve as an
introduction to the study of Christ's life and work. A more elaborate
treatment of the subject, with which I am very much in sympathy, is
Wendt's _Teaching of Jesus_. The ideal life of Christ perhaps remains
to be written. Professor Sanday's Article on 'Jesus Christ' in
Hastings' _Dictionary of the Bible_ may be mentioned as a good
representative of moderate and scholarly Conservatism or Liberal
Conservatism. Professor Oscar Holtzmann's _Life of Jesus_ is based on
more radical, perhaps over-radical, criticism. Professor Harnack's
{189} _What is Christianity?_ has become the typical expression of the
Ritschlian attitude. The ideas of extreme Roman Catholic 'Modernism'
may be gathered from Loisy's _l'Evangile et l'Eglise_ and _Autour d'un
Petit Livre_. Professor Gardner's three books--_Exploratio
Evangelica_, the shorter _An Historic View of the New Testament_, and
_The Growth of Christianity_--may be especially commended to those who
wish to satisfy themselves that a thorough-going recognition of the
results of historical Criticism is compatible with a whole-hearted
personal acceptance of Christianity. Dr. Fairbairn's _Philosophy of
the Christian Religion_ and Bousset's _What is Religion?_ are
especially valuable as vindications of the supreme position of
Christianity combined with the fullest recognition of the measure of
Revelation contained in all the great historical Religions. Allen's
_Continuity of Christian Thought_ suggests what seems to me the right
attitude of the modern thinker towards traditional dogma, though the
author's position is more decidedly 'Hegelian' than mine. I may also
mention Professor Inge's contribution to _Contentio Veritatis_ on 'The
Personal Christ,' and some of the Essays in _Lux Hominum_. Though I
cannot always agree with him, I recognize the high value of the Bishop
of Birmingham's Bampton Lectures on _The Divinity of Jesus Christ the
Son of God_ and the accompanying volume of _Dissertations_.
[1] In their assertion of the necessity of Development, and of the
religious community as the origin of Development, the teaching of the
Abbe Loisy and the Roman Catholic Modernists seems to me to be
complementary to that of the Kitschlians, though I do not always accept
their rather destructive critical conclusions.
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