4. At what points did Jesus clarify and elevate the hereditary hope of his nation? Summarize the conception of the Kingdom as it lay in the mind of Jesus. III. _Present Possibilities of the Kingdom Idea_ 1. What value would the preaching of the Kingdom of God have in evangelistic work today? 2. How would it affect religious education and the moral outlook of the young? 3. How would the possession of the Kingdom faith equip the Church for leadership in an age of social movements and unrest? 4. How does the Kingdom hope add to the joyousness of the Christian life? 5. How does Jesus’ conception of the Kingdom of God connect with the great social and national hopes of today? IV. _For Special Discussion_ 1. How does a man realize himself in seeking the Kingdom? How does a man realize the Kingdom in developing himself? 2. Does the idea seem to offer a religious vehicle for conceptions you have derived from sociological work? 3. Does a social concept like the “Kingdom of God” gain anything for its practical efficiency today from being ancient, and from being religious? 4. Will such a concept ever be effective with the masses unless it is essentially religious? Chapter V. The Kingdom Of God: Its Tasks _The Right Social Order is the Supreme Task for Each_ The perfect social order is the highest good. In so far as it is a gift of God, offered to the individual like the fertile earth and the oxygen of the air, we must appropriate it and enjoy every approximation to the perfect society. But what is the responsibility of the individual toward the achievement of the ideal social order? What task does it lay on him? How did Jesus see this problem? It is finely stated in the words with which Émile de Laveleye closes his book “Sur la propriété”: “There is a social order which is the best. Necessarily it is not always the present order. Else why should we seek to change the latter? But it is that order which ought to exist to realize the greatest good for humanity. God knows it and wills it. It is for man to discover and establish it.” What, then, is the responsibility of the individual with regard to the achievement of this highest good? DAILY READINGS First Day: The Kingdom of Hard Work