The Doctrine of Evolution: Its Basis and Its ScopeCrampton, Henry Edward
Science
The Doctrine of Evolution: Its Basis and Its Scope
Crampton, Henry Edward
Evolution
This is another way of saying that the more highly evolved religions owe
their character to the greatly varied and abundant intellectual elements
which are built into them. And this is why religion in the highest form,
more clearly than in the lowest forms, is to be spoken of as an outlook
upon the world which is determined by the total intellectual equipment of
the individual man who thinks about the universe and directs his course of
action by what he finds.
* * * * *
We come now to a closer concrete study of the basic elements of religion;
that is, of those beliefs that are invariably present, in one form or
another, in every system of piety and worship, and that constitute the
innermost framework beneath the secondary creeds added to them. Following
Mallock and others, we may distinguish three such elemental conceptions.
These are, first, the belief in the existence of a supernatural being or
beings, endowed with intelligence like, but superior to, our own; second,
the idea of human responsibility to this or these powers; and, third, the
belief in immortality as an attribute of the supreme powers and of human
individuals also. Let us see how these beliefs appear in characteristic
systems of religion.
In all forms of Christianity the central idea is the conception of a
triple unity personified as God. He is regarded as the Creator who has
made all things and who demands reverence from his subjects. He is the
Author and Finisher of the faith as well as the sole Cause of the universe
itself. Much of this element is directly derived from Judaism, the
progenitor of Christianity; but a difference consists in the triple nature
of the supreme being according to the newer creed. As the original and
supreme being, God is not only the Creator, but the watchful Judge as
well, demanding reverent obedience to the laws of the world in which he
has placed man, and imposing sacrifices and penitential observances when
his mandates have been disobeyed. As the God of Mercy he is incarnated in
the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and offered as a vicarious sacrifice for
sinners who are thus enabled to escape the penalties they would otherwise
have suffered. As the Holy Ghost, God is the vaguely personified ultimate
source of the higher and nobler elements of human thought, aspiration, and
life in general. The second basic tenet of Christianity is that of human
responsibility to God, to whom man is related as the created to a creator,
as a subject to a ruler, and as one saved to his redeemer. The
institutions of sacrifice and ritual are outward signs of human subjection
to God himself and to his laws, according to which the universe is
conceived to operate. Finally, Christianity teaches that just as God in
his single and triune form is eternal, so the soul of man is immortal,
with or without its earthly temple of flesh and blood. The essential
thinking individual is believed to pass to heaven, where rewards for right
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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