The Churches and Modern Thought: An inquiry into the grounds of unbelief and an appeal for candourPhelips, Vivian
Religion
The Churches and Modern Thought: An inquiry into the grounds of unbelief and an appeal for candour
Phelips, Vivian
Rationalism
The time, then, has arrived when the pastor can no longer ignore or
gloze over the thoughts that are stirring the minds of the intelligent
portion of his flock. The cheap literature problem cannot be solved
by applying disparaging adjectives, such as "shallow," to writings
emanating from the pens of Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, S. Laing, Matthew
Arnold, Sir Leslie Stephen, Renan, Haeckel, etc., easy though it be
to excite prejudice by the use of a condemnatory adjective. Books
that are still costly will some day be available at popular prices,
and increase the perplexities of the people. I refer to books of the
type of Lecky's Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe, Buckle's
History of Civilisation in England, Frazer's Golden Bough, Forlong's
Short Studies of the Science of Comparative Religions, Doane's Bible
Myths and their Parallels in other Religions, J. M. Robertson's
Christianity and Mythology and Pagan Christs, Spencer's Principles
of Sociology (Vol. I., Part I., giving the Data of Sociology),
Metchnikoff's The Nature of Man, Haeckel's The Evolution of Man, [25]
etc. Will not the Encyclopædia Biblica, with a title so innocent,
and with an editor and many of its contributors in Holy Orders, soon
find its way into our public libraries and be a thorn in the side of
the orthodox? Think how a book such as Nunquam's (Robert Blatchford)
God and My Neighbour must already have been read by and have affected
the convictions of thousands of the working class. And the grave doubts
of a hard-headed artisan are not in the least likely to be dispelled
by Anti-Nunquam, [26] or any of the literature so far published as a
panacea "in relief of doubt." [27] Indeed, some apologetic works are
enough in themselves to create mistrust, though the reader had not
read a single anti-Christian work! The extraordinary divergence in
the views of the authors, to say nothing of the transparency of some
of their arguments, prevents all chance of apologetics convincing any
but those already determined to be convinced. The writer in one stage
of thought absolutely contradicts a writer in another stage. Compare
Goulburn and Pusey in their awful assertions of everlasting punishment
with Allin's Universalism Asserted and Larger Hope leaflets, or the
views of a Wace regarding Evolution with the views of a Waggett. If
we confine ourselves to making comparisons only between the advanced
thinkers themselves, compare the opinions of Dr. Gore, Bishop of
Birmingham (late of Worcester), with those of Canons Henson and
Cheyne. The deplorable state of religious apologetics is becoming
notorious, and articles bearing on the subject are now appearing from
time to time in our leading magazines. [28]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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