z an OJornpU Utttoeraita Subrarg Jiljars, Wtw Unrk BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 V Cornell University Library Z7751.J82 C7 1920 olin 3 1924 029 616 368 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924029616368 COMPARATIVE RELIGION A SURVEY OF ITS RECENT LITERATURE PRINTED IN ENGLAND AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS BY FREDERICK HALL SmeruJ-lb/alkerpft. Jc. COMPARATIVE RELIGION A SURVEY OF ITS RECENT LITERATURE BY LOUIS HENRY JORDAN, B.D. (EDIN.) MEMBER OF THE INSTITUT ETHNOGRAPHIQUE INTERNATIONAL, PARIS AUTHOR OF ' COMPARATIVE RELIGION : ITS GENESIS AND GROWTH ' ' THE STUDY OF RELIGION IN THE ITALIAN UNIVERSITIES ', ETC. SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND AUGMENTED VOLUME I 1900-1909 HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY 1920 r-/'/7 Ks^-JH-53 .Firs/ Edition. Edinburgh, 1910 Second Edition. (Revised throughout, but not published.) 1910 Second Edition. London, 1920 Volumes II and III (1910-1915), revised and augmented, will be published next year. CONTENTS Preface FIRST SECTION 1900-1905 Bousset, Das Wesen der Religion ..... Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States .... Farnell, The Evolution, of Religion Forking, Short Studies in the Science of Comparative Religions Frazer, The Colden Sough. A Study in Magic and Religion . Hall, Christian Belief interpreted by Christian Experience . Jordan, Comparative Religion : Its Genesis and Growth Kellogg, A Handbook of Comparative Religion . MacCulloch, Comparative Theology . Mariano, Cristo e Budda, e altri iddii dell' Oriente. religione comparata .... Reinach, Cultes, mythes, et religions Studii di PAGE vii 7 11 13 15 17 19 22 24 31 35 37 FOUR IMPERATIVE REQUIREMENTS A Rigidly Restricted Area of Research ..... 39 Concentration therein upon some Individual Quest ... 40 A Competent Scientific Journal ...... 41 Lectureships in Comparative Religion ..... 42 SECOND SECTION 1906-1909 Allen and Johnson, Transactions of the Third International Congress for the History of Religions ..... 47 Bertholet, Seelenwanderung ....... 48 Dufourcq, Histoire comparee des religions paiennes et de la religion juive .......... 50 Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States ..... 54 Farnell, Inaugural Lecture of the Wilde Lecturer in Natural and Comparative Religion ....... 55 Foucart, La methode comparative dans Vhistoire des religions . 57 Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris . . . . . . .61 Glover, The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire , 62 vi CONTENTS PAGE Hall, Christ and the Eastern Soul 64 Hastings et al., Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics . . ■ 67 Jevons, An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion . 69 Jordan, Comparative Religion : Its Method and Scope . ■ 74 Jordan and Labanca, The Study of Religion in the Italian Univer- sities . ......••• 75 Labanca, Prolegomeni della storia comparativa delle religioni . 77 Lilly, Many Mansions. Studies in Ancient Religions and Modern Thought 79 Major, The Science of Religion and its Bearing upon Christian Claims .......... 80 Marett, The Threshold of Religion 82 Martindale, The Bearing of the Comparative Study of Religions on the Special Claims of Christianity. .... 85 Oesterley, The Evolution of the Messianic Idea .... 88 Pfleiderer, Religion und Religionen . . . . . .91 Rittelmeyer, Buddha oder Christus ? . . . . .93 -Tisdall, Comparative Religion ...... 95 Tisdall, Mythic Christs and the True . . . 98 Troeltsch, Das Wesen der Religion und der ReMgionsmssenschaft. 100 Various Authors, Religion and the Modern Mind . . . 106 Woods, Practice and Science of Religion 110 GAINS, NEEDS, AND TENDENCIES Increased Facilities for Pursuing this Study . . . .115 An Authoritative Exposition of its Range and Limitations . . 117 International Collaboration among Scholars ... . . 121 The Inclusion of Comparative Religion in the University Curri- culum .......... 129 A Revised Estimate of the Contribution likely to be made by Theological Colleges 131 Greater Reserve in the Exercise of Official Religious Authority . 135 An Immensely Broadened Conception of Religion . . .139 An Intelligent Toleration of Institutions Theoretically Imperfect 143 Analytical Index Authors. Subjects. Bibliographies . . . . .147 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION When this volume was published at the beginning of the present year, it was not anticipated that a second edition would be called for. The book- reviews it contains were necessarily compressed within definitely restricted limits. 1 It sought merely to draw attention to selected publications which students of Com- parative Religion ought without fail to note. Already out of print, this initial volume is now issued anew. Advantage has been taken of the oppor- tunity, thus presented, to rearrange and amplify its contents in several important particulars. Numerous footnotes have been added. At the same time it may be said that this second edition is sent to press, not because it is able to claim any outstanding merits of its own, but because it is desirable to preserve the continuity of a serial publication which, whatever its worth meanwhile, hopes to become a survey of sub- stantial and permanent value. Volume II will cover the period 1910-1915, and may be looked for early in 1916. It will contain a series of book-reviews, not supplied previously to a local periodical 1 but written expressly for its own readers. Subsequently, when the supply of suitable material shall have become more abundant, the inter- vals brought successively under review will gradually be shortened, and the help of an organized group of collaborators will be secured. In that event, the books selected for examination will present a complete list of the relevant publications issued within a prescribed 1 Vide infra, pp. 5 and 45. viii PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION period, and they will moreover be classified under appropriate headings. Of the two ' Parts ' which together constitute this volume, the First Section was issued in November 1906, and the Second Section in December 1909. Responding to requests made by Continental corre- spondents — some of whom the author gratefully includes among his more intimate friends, but many of whom it has not as yet been his privilege to meet — a frontis- piece has been provided for this volume. It is a repro- duction of a photograph taken by Messrs. Hills and Saunders of Oxford in 1906, a couple of months prior to the publication of the earlier Section. The inclu- sion of a portrait having been asked for, it is a pleasure to comply with this request. And if it should chance that, as an outcome of this assent, a neighbourly and more personal interest should be quickened amongst individual colleagues working in widely separated portions of this field — an interest which the author invites and has always sought to promote — a double satisfaction will result. Oxford. December 31, 1910. ADDENDUM In view of the early publication of the second volume of this Survey (1910-1915), expanded, of necessity into two volumes but withheld until the end of the war, it has seemed wise that a re- vision of volume I — hitherto an unprinted manuscript should now be published in its augmented form. Eastbourne. October 1, 1920. FIKST SECTION 1900-1905 FOREWORD Ten years ago, the publication of this Survey would have been deemed a very questionable experiment. No responsible editor could be found who would ven- ture to inaugurate it. Even to-day, only a limited number of the leaders of public opinion estimate aright the importance of a study which should already occupy a foremost place in modern scientific inquiry. This period of neglect and silence, however, is drawing to a close. Historical Criticism, the New Apologetics, Anthropology, the Psychology of Religion, and other branches of investigation of a similar kind, are no longer the monopoly of little coteries of students. It is clear that Comparative Religion is at last to be accorded that recognition which is undoubtedly its due. Of the eleven books to which attention is now to be directed, one stands by itself in that it claims to be a formal exposition of Comparative Religion. 1 The remaining ten volumes expressly confine themselves to the treatment of definitely limited topics, and therefore make no attempt to supply a really comprehensive survey of Comparative Religion as it exists and is studied to-day. There have already been published many books in which, with more or less grasp of the situation, a selected faith has been deliberately compared with some earlier or some contemporary religion. In books Cf. Samuel H. Kellogg, A Handbook of Comparative Religion: vide infra, pp. 24 f. B 2 4 FOREWORD of ravel and the like, moreover, such comparisons have often been informally instituted. But the under- takings just referred to render very uncertain assis- tance to students in this field. Anything like a detailed (or even an approximately complete) exposition of Comparative Religion is still a hope awaiting its fulfilment. No critical and exhaustive survey of the many complex problems which this study presents has as yet been seriously attempted. To speak with perfect frankness, the literature of Comparative Religion, properly so-called, is practically non-existent. It does exist in name, but at best it is crude and abortive. The present state of affairs was inevitable, in view of the conditions under which this study has hitherto been prosecuted. The expositions which it has thus far supplied, if judged by any exact and rigid standard, are meagre in quantity and only very moderately satisfactory in quality. Volumes dealing with the History of Religions have of late been multiplied with a most gratifying rapidity, and books which seek to elucidate the themes proper to the Philosophy of Religion have also — especially in Germany — steadily increased in number ; but the bibliography of that wide region which lies between these two well-defined domains can boast of but few works which, even in exceptional cases, possess genuine and permanent merit. Nevertheless, while it is true that not a single existing volume (either in English or in any other language) has undertaken to interpret fully the mes- sage which Comparative Religion is to-day seeking to utter, the books actually available have their own lesser task to fulfil. It will be found that the eleven publications selected for inclusion in this Survey— t FOREWORD 5 although, owing to an editor's strictly enforced em- bargo, 1 they can be only briefly reviewed — embody representative excellences and defects which have been characteristic of this special line of research during the last half-decade. Oxford. November 30, 1906. These sketches were originally written for the pages of the Bcview of Theology and Philosophy, where they appeared in 1906. REVIEWS DAS WESEN DER RELIGION. Dargestellt an ihrer Geschichte, von Wilhelm Bousset. Tubin- gen : J. C. B. Mohr, [3. illustrierte Volksausgabe], 1906. Pp. xii., 240. M. 3. Professor Bousset's book, if its title had accurately foreshadowed its contents, would not have been given a place in the present Survey. It belongs in large measure, as one might anticipate, to the study of the History of Religions ; its author, as it soon becomes evident, intends it to serve as a contribution to the Philosophy of Religion. Inasmuch, however, as it contains a considerable amount of material proper to Comparative Religion, it may suitably be included here. Like its companion treatises- — selected for review in these pages, and all of which have been chosen after making a generous appraisal of their fitness — it may be accepted as a fairly representative volume. It is unnecessary to furnish any detailed criticism of this book. The weak places in its argument have been repeatedly disclosed. Professor Bousset has written, in this instance as always, an exceedingly attractive and stimulating exposition. In singling out and emphasizing certain characteristic features of the teach- ing of various faiths, he endeavours to show that ' there are essential principles which underlie all religions, and which reach their fullest expression in the highest form of religion '.* In his treatment of the subject, he is led to sketch and compare sundry types » Cf. pp. 20 f . 8 COMPARATIVE RELIGION of Primitive and Tribal Religions, National Religions, Prophetic Religions, Legal Religions, and Redemptive Religions. Two closing chapters expound the nature and probable future of Christianity. 'Die Antwort auf die Fraga nach dem Wesen des Christentums liegt doch auch nicht auf der Hand. Wenn wir hier Wesent- liches vom Unwesentlichen in klarer Erkenntnis sondern, in den wechselnden Formen zeitlicher Ausgestaltungen den ewigen bleibenden Grundbestand mit Sicherheit erkennen wollen, so gibt es kein besseres und vor- zuglicheres Mittel als die vergleichende Religions- geschichte.' 1 It does not need to be said that the writer's task is executed in a striking and luminous way. The discussion exhibits wide and exact knowledge, and is full of helpful suggestion. Unfortunately, however, the tendency to enunciate far-reaching generalizations results sometimes in the slurring over of less obvious but significant details ; and one occasionally gets the impression that the personal factor is allowed to pre- determine the direction in which the author guides his readers. It might have been expected that, in a volume dealing with questions germane to Comparative Religion, one would have found proofs of a more intimate acquain- tance with a field which German investigators are in a position to cultivate with exceptional advantage. But those who are familiar with the actual situation are not very hopeful of obtaining material assistance from this quarter, at least in the immediate future. Individual scholars in Germany, it is true, have lent the study of Comparative Religion much impulse in various directions ; but they have been so few in number, and the aid they have furnished thus far has 1 Cf. pp. 7-8. BOUSSET, Das Wesen der Religion 9 been so restricted and sporadic, that very little in reality has been contributed to the general progress of the movement. This result is greatly to be deplored ; and it is all the more regrettable because the right of free inquiry, the evident possession of skill in the use of the historical method, and the outstanding general com- petency of the holders of university chairs in Germany, are qualifications for this undertaking which instructors in other countries do not always possess, or (if they possess them) do not utilize in quite the same measure. Nevertheless, in so far as Comparative Religion is concerned, the position occupied by German scholarship to-day leaves very much to be desired. Its attitude towards this study has, from the outset, been aloof ; in many cases, it has been aggressively unfriendly. Professor Harnack — and, more recently, Professor Troeltsch — have undertaken to defend this anomalous state of affairs ; but their arguments, not very con- vincing, have been effectively met. It does not suffice to object that Comparative Religion represents a field so wide that it can never be adequately tilled ; it is not necessary, nor is it even wise, that any one instructor should attempt to master the whole of it. All that is required is that individual investigators, thoroughly trained for their work, should select definite (and judiciously limited) portions of a vast domain, and then concentrate their attention upon a few definitely selected problems. 1 Such workers need of course to be so multiplied that they can overtake within a reasonable period the task which awaits them ; but that, mean- while, is all that is required. In this way, before many years elapse, the whole wide field can be covered in a thoroughly competent manner ; while, in the interim, 1 Vide infra, pp. 12, 39 f. , etc. 10 COMPARATIVE RELIGION the results secured and verified can be circulated broadcast through popularized excerpts made from the Transactions of various Learned Societies. Countries other than Germany are already making this experiment. Even where unequipped with those facilities which would make similar work in Germany so easy, the attempt has not been in vain. 1 To foreigners it seems something like a reproach that the few investi- gators Germany has supplied in this department ' are still largely dependent upon the scholars of other countries for books and critical apparatus. ... It can afford no ground for pleasant reflections among citizens of the Fatherland that, meanwhile, the majority of existing publications dealing with Comparative Religion — found in considerable numbers in German book-stores, and occasionally cited in German classrooms — bear foreign names on their title-pages. The ablest text- book, thus far, hails from Holland. The ablest review has still to be imported from France. Even in the local Theologischer Jahresbericht, an authority of admittedly high rank, the section allotted to this department of study has long been conducted by a non-German editor'. 2 And yet, notwithstanding its omission to collect and take into account the facts which the History of Religions and Comparative Religion are diligently accumulating, Germany continues to uprear in the name of the Philosophy of Religion those mar- vellous castles of the imagination which, however imposing outwardly, are not the substantial structures which Truth covets and within which alone Truth will consent to dwell. 3 1 Vide infra, pp. 121 f . * C/. Jordan, Comparative Religion: Its Genesis and Growth, p. 515. Edinburgh, 1905. » Vide injra, p. 103. FARNELL, The Cults of the Greek States 11 THE CULTS OF THE GREEK STATES, by Lewis Richard Farnell. Oxford : The Clarendon Press, 1896- , In progress. Pp. xx., 424 +x., 425. £1 125. for the first two volumes. There have already appeared two instalments of this truly monumental work, — a treatise in which the author undertakes to present ' a complete account of the names and ideas that were attached, and the ceremonies that were consecrated, by the Greek States to their chief divinities '.*■ The two volumes in ques- tion were published simultaneously in 1896, and are devoted to an exposition of the antecedents and ultimate establishment of the Zeus cult, and of the various developments which took place in the growing worship of Artemis and Aphrodite. Other three volumes which are to follow will deal with the cults of Demeter, Poseidon, Apollo, Hermes, Dionysios, etc. The scheme thus outlined, it will be noted, is elaborate and practically exhaustive. Only a scholar of Dr. Far- nelPs equipment and disciplined patience could face this project with any well-grounded hope of ultimately achieving his purpose. The initial volumes, however, are abundantly satisfactory ; and those who know the author feel no doubt that he will bring his task to a successful and worthy conclusion. The comparative method of study is largely in evidence throughout this treatise. As in the magnum opus of Dr. Frazer — to be referred to presently 2 — a bewildering mass of detail is collected and sifted. Numerous theories, plausible yet often insufficiently supported, are weighed and estimated. But the central theme — Greek religion, viewed in the successive stages 1 Cf. p. viii. * Vide infra, pp. 17 f. 12 COMPARATIVE RELIGION of its expansion--is never lost sight of. The region to be explored is sweepingly wide ; nevertheless it has its recognized boundaries, and Dr. Farnell does not overstep them. He very patiently disengages and compares the changing factors which emerge during the vicissitudes of a single selected faith. He has frequently affirmed that anthropologists who would secure the fullest and best results, and comparativists who devote themselves to a scrutiny of rival faiths, 1 must more and more curtail the arena within which their comparisons are framed. Intensive study is the special need of to-day. Dr. Farnell re-enforces this precept by his rigorous practice of it. Within the domain of anthropology, this author exhibits the confidence of one who feels entirely at home. He passes from one complex topic to another with the easy familiarity of an expert. At the same time, the manner in which the comparative method is applied is sometimes open to question. This remark is especially true when strictly ' religious ' phenomena are under consideration ; evidently questions of anthro- pological interest are those which most readily enlist and retain the author's attention. In general, he is more trustworthy when recording facts than when he proceeds to relate and classify them. Nevertheless, students of Comparative Religion have incurred an im- mense debt to Dr. Farnell. The material he is accu- mulating in this compendious treatise will furnish them with a veritable quarry for many years to come. Englishmen to-day can point to several classical scholars who have won, and who have deservedly won, an international reputation. Perhaps, however, no contemporary teacher, British or Continental, has 1 Cf. Farnell, The Evolution of Religion, p. 86 : vide infra, pp. 13 i. FARNELL, The Cults of the Greek States 13 secured that mastery of Greek religion (whether in its popular and in its more philosophical phases) which Dr. Farnell has achieved. Accordingly, The Cults of the Greek States is bound to become a standard work, The origin and history of many forms of worship, alike major and minor, are there presented in detail with a conscientious fidelity. Problems of Greek archae- ology, ethnology, mythology, and religion— estimated in the light of the most recent research — are expounded in a painstaking and competent manner. In a word, the place already won by this scholarly survey, even if it be regarded only as a work of reference, is not likely to be challenged during the present generation. THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION. An Anthro- pological Study, by Lewis Richard Farnell. (The Hibbert Trust Lectures, 1905.) London: Williams and Norgate, 1905. Pp. x., 234. 5*. The title of this book does not suggest that it has necessarily anything to do with Comparative Religion. Its sub-title, on the other hand, puts one instantly upon one's guard ; for many a treatise of this type, even when expressly claiming to expound Comparative Religion, never gets much beyond the remoter horizons of anthropology. And Dr. Farnell, before and beyond all else, is an anthropologist. The first chapter of this volume, containing the substance of two Lectures, is entitled ' The Com- parative Study of Religions : Its Method and Prob- lems '. The student will find here a compact (though necessarily much curtailed) survey of a wide and complicated subject. The writer thinks ' it may be regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the 14 COMPARATIVE RELIGION latter part of the nineteenth century to have raised the comparative study of religion to a high position in the whole domain of inductive speculation and inquiry ',* — a result which, he holds, is largely due to the progress recently made in anthropology. He then goes on to ' offer a very brief summary of the results which the anthropological study of Christianity has hitherto achieved, and may yet achieve '. 2 The remaining two chapters are concerned respec- tively with ritual and prayer ; and here the influence of the author's academic speciality makes its way to the fore. We are presented with a great number of ' suggestions ' supplied by the practices and institu- tions of primitive peoples. As contrasted with Mr. Marett, 3 Dr. Farnell lays a considerably stronger emphasis upon the use and importance of the com- parative method ; nevertheless, he chiefly utilizes that method as an agency for sifting the materials which an anthropologist requires. The result could easily have been foreseen ; Comparative Religion is only to a limited extent in evidence. Dr. Farnell is quite correct in saying that anthropology — ' the study of primitive or savage man, both in the past and the present, in respect of his physical and mental con- ditions ' 4 — has ' dealt much, in England, with re- ligions ', s and has thus thrown considerable light upon the evolution of religion from lower to higher forms ; 6 but he is also well within the mark when he adds : * Anthropology is only a part of the whole.' 7 Com- parative Religion, in reality, has its own individual task to discharge ; and it must accomplish that task in its own way. 1 Cf. p. 3. » Cf. pp. 25 f . 3 Vide infra, pp. 82 f . « Cf. p. 4. « Cf. p. 5. « Cf. p. 6. ' Cf. p. 81. FARNELL, The Evolution of Religion 15 If — as Principal Jevons is ready to concede 1 — the History of Religions is rightly included among the sciences, the claim of Comparative Religion to that distinction is at least equally strong. 2 It is something vastly more than ' the applied science of religion ', 3 and it will never come to maturity if it be sheltered continually under the aegis of some kindred branch of inquiry. Viewed as an independent science on the one hand, and merely as a department of Sociology or Psychology on the other, it presents to the investi- gator two entirely different aspects. Moreover, the guarantee and the measure of its progress are con- ditioned upon the decision which frankly recognizes (or else ignores) this fundamental distinction. SHORT STUDIES IN THE SCIENCE OF COM- PARATIVE RELIGIONS. Embracing All the Religions op Asia, by James George Roche Forlong. London : Bernard Quaritch, 1897. Pp. xxviii., 662. £1 8s. The large-sized page and thick paper selected for this volume make it unnecessarily bulky. It becomes besides a quite wearisome weight, if the reader has to hold it in his hands for any lengthy period. The modest title chosen by the author somewhat belies the contents of this book, which provides us with extended surveys of Jainism, Buddhism, Zoro- astrianism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Mohammedanism, etc. No separate study of Chris- tianity is presented ; but this omission is atoned for in part by summaries of Christian teaching, carefully 1 Vide infra, pp. 69 f . 3 Cf. Jordan, Comparative Religion : Its Method and Scope, pp. 6-13. London, 1908. * Vide infra, pp. 69, 72, and 74. 16 COMPARATIVE RELIGION formulated either in contrast (or in agreement) with those of the other religions which General Forlong passes under review. At the close of each Study, various chronological tables are appended. These compilations, the preparation of which must have cost the author an immense amount of time and labour, register a great variety of dates and events of relevant contemporary interest. Nevertheless this book, viewed as a contribution to Comparative Religion, is very far from being satis- factory. The writer does not claim to be an exact scholar, and his interest in studies which evidently fascinated him has not proved a substitute for the lack of that special training which was demanded by the task he undertook. His military command in India involved naturally its professional exactions, and left him little time in which to secure the qualifi- cations necessary for the competent discharge of a commission of a totally different sort. The fact of the matter is that General Forlong never contemplated writing an exhaustive book on Comparative Religion ; his storm-tossed yet seaworthy craft merely drifted, not without a measure of welcome surprise, into a roomy and convenient harbour. An earlier work from his pen embodies another (and a still larger) under- taking which he did not deliberately project ; * it and its successor contain, in truth, a selection from material — the chips, so to speak — that had accumu- lated in a literary workshop where a diligent student was compiling an Encyclopaedia of religious terms, rites, symbolisms, etc. That work, unfortunately, 1 Cf. Rivers of Life, or Sources and Streams of the Faiths of Man in all Lands. The Evolution of Faiths from the Rudest Symbolisms to the Latest Spiritual Developments. 2 vols. + a folding chart. London 1883. FORLONG, Science of Comparative Religions 17 remained unfinished when its author died in 1904 ; it has already, however, been completed and pub- lished. 1 Like General Forlong's earlier essays, this thesaurus of research is at times not very satisfying. It contains evidence of an incalculable amount of severe and conscientious toil, but it is fitted (as indeed it was intended) to render service of a popular rather than of a scientific order. As auxiliaries of the former sort, all the books which this author has published possess merits which will ensure their continued sale, even at prices which are relatively high. They contain frequently the products of solid and enduring work. Nevertheless, they are certainly not good specimens of the literature of Comparative Religion, as that study is commonly understood to-day. THE GOLDEN BOUGH. A Study in Magic and Religion, by James George Frazer. 3 vols. London : Macmillan and Company, [2nd edition], 1900. Pp. xxviii., 467 +x., 471 +x., 490. £1 16s. For many years, as his intimate friends well know, Dr. Frazer has devoted himself con. amor e to the study of primitive superstition and religion. The firstfruits of this inquiry appeared sixteen years ago ; it was embodied in a substantial exposition, its two volumes covering over eight hundred pages. It was then described by its author as ' A Study in Comparative Religion'. More recently — the subject-matter having been revised and the sub-title altered — a third volume has been added. Not only so, but next year will witness the publication of the first section of the forth- 1 Cf. Faiths of Man. A Cyclopaedia of 'Religions. 3 vols. London, 1906. 18 COMPARATIVE RELIGION coming third edition of The Golden Bough. The two volumes of which it consisted in 1890, and which became three volumes in 1900, are now to be increased to five volumes. It is not at all unlikely that they will grow presently to ten or even twelve volumes. Be that as it may, this comprehensive treatise, built up upon lines which its author has finally selected, bids fair to reach somewhat formidable proportions. A survey so extended, and still expanding, is the natural sequence of Dr. Frazer's method. He seeks to demonstrate the remarkable agreements which can be traced between the religious beliefs and practices of various primitive peoples. Instance after instance of such resemblances is cited. The accompanying comments and explanations are acute ; but very often they are ingenious and arresting rather than final and satisfying. In any case, even were they more convincing than they are, one grows perplexed and overburdened by the very multiplicity of the ' proofs ' which the author has collected in seemingly endless store. Such an undertaking as Dr. Frazer has courageously faced has its value ; in some respects, indeed, it possesses a very rare value. Moreover, no one could carry forward such researches more successfully than this widely read and extraordinarily diligent student. His scholarship is unchallenged. His enthusiasm is unbounded. His charm of style, and the fascination he frequently weaves around his work, are universally admitted. Yet one is not sorry that the original sub-title of his exposition has been dropped. Com- parisons without number are drawn, it is true, between beliefs and customs which bear a curious resemblance to one another ; but the permanent product of the FRAZER, The Golden Bough 19 task which this investigator has taken in hand will be found to lie in the collecting (rather than in the sifting and assorting and appraising) of the data with which the expert in Comparative Religion will sub- sequently have to do. The facts, but not necessarily their actual and fundamental inter-relations, are dis- closed in this treatise with an unrivalled fullness. It is to be noted, further, that Dr. Frazer's quest is limited to those phenomena which accompany the religious conceptions of savage (or at best, semi- civilized) peoples ; whereas Comparative Religion con- cerns itself chiefly (though not exclusively) with the higher faiths, and with their organized and formu- lated beliefs. Finally, the element of conjecture is permitted by this writer to enter much too largely into his line of argument. In the meantime, such conjectures cannot be excluded ; for the explorer's task leads him constantly into obscure and unfamiliar regions. In view of this handicap, however, the ver- dicts which Dr. Frazer has announced must in many an instance be accepted with reserve. Already he himself has revised and altered several of them. CHRISTIAN BELIEF INTERPRETED BY CHRIS- TIAN EXPERIENCE, by Charles Cuthbert Hall. (The Barrows Lectures on Comparative Religion, 1902-1903.) Chicago : The University Press, 1905. Pp. xli., 255. $1.50. It was in October 1894 that Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell endowed the well-known Barrows Lectureship of the University of Chicago. The donor made it a stipulation that ' these lectures . . . are to be given in Calcutta . . . and in other of the chief cities of C2 20 COMPARATIVE RELIGION Hindustan ... in a friendly, temperate, conciliatory way . . . — the great truths of Christianity, its harmonies with the truths of other religions, its rightful claims and the best methods of setting them forth, being presented to the scholarly and thoughtful people of India.' 1 It was on this foundation — on which also non-Christian teachers are eligible to serve — that President Barrows delivered the initial course (1896- 1897), 2 which was immediately followed by the still unpublished lectures of Principal Fairbairn (1898- 1899). Mrs. Haskell's generosity has set a worthy example to prospective benefactors of other American and European universities. It was quite natural that President Hall, on the suggestion of his newly made Indian friends, should be invited to deliver a further course (1906-1907), 3 — a high honour indeed, yet fully warranted when we recall the interest awakened by the volume now to be examined. The subjects dealt with, foreshadowed and eluci- dated in an unusually comprehensive syllabus prefixed to the volume, are God, Jesus, sin, and holiness, inter- preted from the standpoint of Christianity and then compared with the corresponding beliefs of various Oriental faiths. The opening lecture presents an exposition of the true nature of religion, while the sixth and closing discourse gives a summary of the reasons why Christianity makes bold to press its claim to be the supreme and final religion. These lectures, in harmony with the aim of their founder, are not addressed to the man in the street, but to university teachers, the representatives of the various professions, and the more thoughtful among 1 Extract from a formal explanatory letter dated October 12, 1894. 2 Cf. John H. Barrows, Christianity, the World Religion. Chicago, 1897. * Vide infra, pp. 64 f. HALL, Christian Belief 21 the populations of the East. They are intended to supplement the work of the Christian missionary, and they have undoubtedly influenced many who pre- viously had remained unmoved by the preaching of official Christian propagandists. The weaknesses of the pantheistic conception of God are boldly pointed out, while the doctrine of the divine personality is competently and skilfully re- affirmed. The place occupied by Jesus among the founders of religions is described with evident and glowing conviction. Thereafter the ethical teaching of Christianity is set over against the counterparts and substitutes by which, in so many quarters, it has been threatened and sometimes successfully under- mined. Dr. Hall makes no endeavour to sail under false colours. He speaks always as one who is ' fully per- suaded ' concerning the reliability of the faith which he expounds. Yet he is not more firm and candid than he is open-minded and genuinely sympathetic. As a sample of the way in which he discharged his difficult task, the following sentences may perhaps be quoted. ' The most impressive experience of my intellectual life has been the discovery, during these three years of humble preparation for this Eastern Lectureship, that I, a Christian of the West, scarcely had begun to realize the absolutely world-wide scope of the fundamental ideas of the religion of Christ, until I beheld them illuminated by Eastern philosophy and stated in terms of Oriental thought. Then it dawned upon me that the West needs the East, quite as much as the East needs the West, if humanity is to measure the depth and height and breadth and length of the Gospel of the Son of God. ... I, a Christian of the 22 COMPARATIVE RELIGION West, had been taught to believe that in Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. . . . But, when I sought the atmosphere of Eastern culture — only to find the leading conceptions of Christianity taking on there a new wealth of meaning that came to me as with the glory of a fresh revelation — I said in my joy : Behold the half was not told me.' 1 And again : ' Firmly I believe that the greatness of essential Christianity has not yet been adequately expressed, and never can be, until the East co-operates in that expression, and (as the teacher of the West) contri- butes elements of thought and feeling comparatively lacking there.' 2 It is not surprising that, under the guidance of so stimulating a leader, and of one so manifestly animated by sentiments appreciative of an unfamiliar environ- ment, India is anxious to hear from President Hall again concerning this matter. COMPARATIVE RELIGION. Its Genesis and Growth, by Louis Henry Jordan. Edinburgh : T. and T. Clark, 1905. Pp. xx., 668. 12s. Detailed reference to this volume here would obviously be out of place. Critics more competent than the author to pass judgement upon it have already recorded their verdicts. These estimates, revealing on the whole an understanding of the limited aims and tentative character of the book, have been extremely gratifying. If the labour involved was exacting and prolonged, it has certainly been accorded a prompt and ample reward. The present occasion, however, may be used to 1 Cf. pp. 238-9. * Cf. p. 121. JORDAN, Comparative Religion 23 correct one or two erroneous impressions which have gained wide currency. It would appear that the author, quite unwittingly, has himself been partially to blame. It was supposed that the purpose of this volume had been made perfectly clear ; it was intended to be merely an introductory treatise. Although it is affirmed that it ' might yield service as a university handbook V it is nowhere stated that it was prepared with that object in view. On the contrary, when it was pressed upon the author's attention that, by a slight modification of its contents, the volume might be offered as a full and competent exposition, the proposal was not entertained. Nothing was more remote from the writer's design than the issue of a ' Text-book ' of Comparative Religion. The time for such an undertaking has not yet come ; the em- ployment of the present volume therefore, in college or university classrooms, can be no more than an expedient fitted to meet purely local and temporary conditions. An American critic describes the situation quite accurately when he says : ' This work is not a treatise in Comparative Religion but on Com- parative Religion.' 2 The volume, in a word, is nothing more than a General Introduction to the subject. At the same time, its extensive sale would seem to justify the publishers and the author in believing that the urgent demand for such a work has in a fair measure been supplied. Yet others imagine, it seems, that not only was this volume offered to its readers as a Text-book, but 1 Cf. p. xiii. 2 Cf. William B. Greene, jun. in The Princeton Theological Review, vol. iv, p. 402. Princeton, 1906. 24 COMPARATIVE RELIGION that it is proposed to enlarge it by the addition of two supplementary treatises. In this instance, the author is entirely blameless. As for the series of books which he has promised to write, it was distinctly announced that ' each volume will be complete in itself '. A General Introduction having been provided, a further publication will shortly appear under the title Comparative Religion : Its Opportunity and Out- look. 1 It will embody a plea for the more systematic prosecution of this study, and it will point out how opportune is the present occasion for inaugurating a well-organized advance in connexion with the pro- motion of such researches. Thereafter the demand for the preparation of a competent Text-book will be resolutely faced. This task is confronted by diffi- culties not only numerous but exceedingly complex ; nevertheless, before very long, a book dealing ex- haustively with this theme will be published under the title Comparative Religion : Its Principles and Prob- lems. Work upon this treatise has been begun, but some years must elapse before it can be completed. Its subject-matter will be restricted to the processes and progress of Comparative Religion proper, with a catalogue and analysis of its literature up to date. A HANDBOOK OF COMPARATIVE RELIGION, by Samuel Henry Kellogg. (The Westminster Handbooks.) Philadelphia : The Westminster Press, 1899. Pp. viii., 179. 75 c. Dr. Kellogg's book does not in itself furnish any specially important contribution to Comparative Reli- 1 The author's scheme has since been modified : vide Jordan, Comparative Religion : Its Adjuncts and Allies, soon to be published. KELLOGG, Handbook of Comparative Religion 25 gion. It was designed indeed to serve merely as a sketch or outline. It deserves notice chiefly because, up to the date at which it was published, it was the only ' Handbook ' that had been prepared with the aim of directly promoting this study. Though it came out too early to give it any right to claim admis- sion to this Survey, it must nevertheless be included ; for it still occupies its absolutely unique place in the recent literature of this subject. That this volume made its appearance in the United States is a useful reminder of the fact that to America belongs the honour of having inaugurated this par- ticular branch of inquiry. It was a professor in Princeton Theological Seminary who, more than thirty years ago, sent an arresting and very significant treatise to the press. 1 It was a professor in Harvard University who issued the first formal exposition of the history and comparison of religions. 2 Further, it was a professor in Boston University who was installed in the first university chair established expressly for the advancement of such researches. 3 The date of this historic foundation was 1873, i. e. two years before the late George Smith began his famous correspondence in the London Daily Telegraph, and three years before he printed the startling narrative he embodied in a subsequent volume. 4 The shadow of this British pioneer has become distant and dim to-day ; but, before he gave his first hint that a profound though 1 Cf. James C. Moffat, A Comparative History of Religions. 2 vols. New York, 1871-1873. 2 Cf. J. Freeman Clarke, Ten Great Religions. A Comparison of all Religions. 2 vols. Boston, 1871-1883. s This chair was allotted to ' Comparative Theology, and the History and Philosophy of Religion '. Its first occupant was the President of the University, namely, Dr. William F. Warren. ' Cf. George Smith, The Chaldean Account of Genesis. London, 1876. 26 COMPARATIVE RELIGION unsuspected relationship joined indissolubly together the Hebrew and Babylonian religions, and before Holland and France (under much wider horizons) had identified themselves so helpfully with the expanding interests of this science, American scholars had entered upon a quest which had for its goal the solution of the very problems with which Comparative Religion is occupied to-day. It need hardly be said that Dr. Kellogg was in a position to employ methods and announce results which were of a higher and more reliable order than those arrived at by General Forlong. 1 First of all, he approached his subject from a different point of view. He had been for many years a professor in the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pennsylvania. His training for this post, the experience he gained while filling it, and his exact and varied scholarship, afforded him no inconsiderable help when he addressed himself to the task now specially under consideration. Yet further, long periods of residence in India, where he laboured diligently as missionary and author, brought him into direct daily contact with those who confided to him (often quite frankly) their mental and spiritual perplexities. In this way he secured additional qualifi- cation for an undertaking which, as he foresaw, would tax his resources to the utmost. Any one who has read his ' Stone Lectures ', delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary, 2 will be able to take correct measure of the man, and to bear witness to the standard and maturity of his intellectual equipment. One is not surprised therefore that, in the volume now under review, the writer gives abundant evidence 1 Vide supra, pp. 15 f. a Cf. Kellogg, The Genesis and Growth of Religion. New York, 1892. KELLOGG, Handbook of Comparative Religion 27 of patient, competent, and penetrative insight. Never- theless, in some respects, Dr. Kellogg appears to be at a disadvantage when brought into comparison with General Forlong. His close identification with Chris- tianity as one of its official sponsors unfortunately tended to obscure in faiths which were antagonistic to his own the presence of qualities which must other- wise have won his esteem. In his Handbook he occupies, without concealment or apology, the stand- point of a militant Christian missionary. He writes with the avowed purpose of exhibiting ' the Divine authority and unique supremacy of Christianity ',* and ' the exclusive position held by Christianity as the one only divinely revealed system of saving truth '. 2 Nay, more : he holds it to be a blunder ' to exhibit that broad " sympathy " with the ethnic religions which, we are now taught by many, it is the first duty of the intelligent Christian to cherish '. 3 ' It is not through any lack of charity, [he goes on] but under the constraint of an imperious logical necessity, that we affirm that Islam, Hindooism, Buddhism, Confucianism — in a word, all religions what- soever other than that of Christ — must be regarded as false.' 4 Any contrary belief is declared to run counter to the express teaching both of the Old Testament and the New, 5 and to jeopardize very seriously the pros- pects of the modern Christian propaganda. 6 Further quotations, or fuller explanation of the general purport of this Handbook, are unnecessary. The issue raised turns really, not on a question of " charity ", but on the measure of knowledge (more or less ample) with which one has provided himself ; and 1 Cf. p. 167. 2 Cf. p. v. " Cf. p. 160. 4 Cf. p. 173. Cf. also pp. 161, 170, etc. 6 Cf. pp. 160-6. 6 Cf. pp. vii, 178, etc. 28 COMPARATIVE RELIGION we can neither gain nor properly utilize such knowledge without the possession of a profoundly quickened sympathy. Certainly General Forlong's conception of his task is more to be commended — regarded from the purely scientific point of view — than that which re- veals itself everywhere in the teaching of Dr. Kellogg. Both investigators have since passed away. The Englishman, it is true, had his limitations. As com- pared with his American co-worker, he was less systematic in study, less acute in thought, and much less dexterous with his pen ; but at least he never made the mistake of confusing Comparative Religion with Christian Apologetics. He applied as well as he could the principles of a science with which he was imper- fectly acquainted. He loved his work ; and, towards the end of his life, he laboured incessantly and with singleness of purpose to promote its tardy advance. He was dominated by one aim, conscientious and unwavering, namely, to keep his mind ever open for the reception of fuller light. He could not bring himself to further the interest of one faith to the exclusion (and, much less, to the injury) of the interests of the rest ; he never sought to disparage any of the religions of mankind. Dr. Kellogg, on the other hand, addresses himself expressly to Christian readers, whom he seeks to confirm in the faith which they have already em- braced. The American theologian may, or may not, have been warranted in reaching the conclusions at which he arrived ; but certainly the registering of such verdicts as he frequently announced was out of place, and most glaringly out of place, in a 'Handbook' offered as an exposition of Comparative Religion. A reliable manual in this field must ever speak in absolutely dispassionate tones. Hence, while this KELLOGG, Handbook of Comparative Religion 29 brief treatise may serve a special purpose in the theo- logical classroom, 1 it is not likely to lend much help to the larger cause which ostensibly it seeks to pro- mote. It can win but scanty favour in the estimate of a Shintoist, a Mohammedan, or a Hindu who, desiring to deal fairly with sundry conflicting beliefs, discovers that debate has already been summarily closed. In these circumstances, a just weighing of the issues which a study of religions is sure to bring into view becomes an unrealizable dream. Apart, however, from the mental attitude which seriously hampered Dr. Kellogg when fulfilling the task he undertook, this volume is unsatisfactory for two additional reasons. On the one hand, the limited amount of space put at the writer's disposal — less than two hundred small-sized pages — rendered it impossible for him to do full justice to the subject. His exposition, consequently, furnishes us with very little more than the contents of a carefully arranged primer. On the other hand, possibly for the reason just mentioned, this volume restricts itself to merely one department of Comparative Religion. It presents the reader with a survey of the doctrines of God, sin, salvation, and the future life, — together with some account of the moral standards of half a dozen selected nationalities. It would have been better therefore, when the author was choosing a title for this little treatise, if he had called it ' A Handbook of Com- parative Theology '. A comparison of the more or less carefully formulated beliefs of the various religious systems of mankind constitutes, of course, a very useful discipline ; 2 but it represents only a small part 1 Vide infra, pp.131 f. a Cf. John A. MacCulloch, Comparative Theology : vide infra, pp. 31 f . 30 COMPARATIVE RELIGION of that domain which is coterminous with ' Com- parative Religion '. Questions relating to early en vironment, historical development, organization, ritual, literature, and indebtedness to alien cults — not to mention other relevant topics — bulk largely in all comparative estimates which are sufficiently compre- hensive in character. Comparative Religion can never be compressed within an area which concerns itself exclusively with dogma, — important as Dogmatics is, and must be held to be, when viewed as a study by itself Had Dr. Kellogg been spared to return to America, he was to have been appointed to fill once more a theological chair. Generous friends had begun to provide funds for its endowment. If this intention had not been rendered futile by Dr. Kellogg's sudden death, there is little doubt that his growing interest in Com- parative Religion would have led him before long to prepare a larger text-book, artd one that would have proved a worthier memorial of his busy and studious career. It is questionable, however, for the reasons already stated, whether this author would have pub- lished any exposition of the subject which could meet the needs of the majority of students to-day. As matters stand, Dr. Kellogg is more likely to be remem- bered by a volume he completed a dozen years earlier. 1 In it, apart from its being restricted and coloured by the writer's pronounced theological leanings, Dr. Kel- logg reveals his splendid competency to have faced the tasks to which the new science of Comparative Religion was continuously inviting him. In this earlier work, the author singles out Buddhism and Christianity ; and then, carefully comparing and • Cf. The Light of Asia and the Light of the World. New York, 1885. KELLOGG, Handbook of Comparative Religion 31 contrasting them, he subjects them to the severest possible scrutiny. It is in this connexion that Dr. Kel- logg has rendered inquirers a real and permanent service. This undertaking was executed by him in a thorough and competent manner. Although the task had often been attempted before — attempted more than a score of times within merely the last decade — it has very seldom been accomplished with greater penetration and skill. COMPARATIVE THEOLOGY, by John Arnott Mae- Culloch. (The Churchman's Library.) London: Methuen and Company, 1902. Pp. xii., 332. 6s. Canon MacCulloch has provided scholars with a book which deserves very high praise. It is of compact and convenient size. The paper upon which it is printed is thin and light ; hence one can read it without any unpleasant consciousness that the book is steadily growing in weight ! Its contents, however, are weighty ; it is a treatise destined to awaken in every studious reader's mind a sense of liveliest gratitude. In the quiet study of the rectory at Portree in Skye, investiga- tions which have been in progress during many years are now bearing fruit in various timely publications. 1 The books already issued are but excellent samples, it may be hoped, of many similar contributions yet in store. The ground covered is unfortunately too narrow to permit of this volume being accepted as a compe- tent treatise on Comparative Religion. Similarly to Dr. Kellogg's Handbook, 2 it confines itself to merely 1 Cf. Religion : Its Origin and Forms. London, 1904 ; The Childhood of Fiction : A Study of Folk Tales and Primitive Thought. London, J 905 ; etc. 2 Vide supra, pp. 24 f . 32 COMPARATIVE RELIGION one aspect of the subject. As its title indicates, the volume presents a comparison of theological doctrines, a wide variety of which are brought successively under review. The question is first put : What do these numerous religions teach concerning God, the Trinity, creation, sin, inspiration, incarnation, atone- ment, the future life, etc., etc. ? Thereafter, the answers severally offered are carefully compared and classified. Canon MacCulldch, in undertaking this task, does not of course claim that his book is the first of its kind. He is undoubtedly a pioneer in this field ; neverthe- less, he was anticipated by the late Professor Freeman Clarke, to whose researches allusion has already been made. 1 The second volume of Dr. Clarke's Ten Great Religions, issued more than thirty years ago, deals substantially with the successive topics which Canon MacCulloch handles anew in these pages. But whereas the earlier book was one of the first attempts of this sort, and whereas Dr. Kellogg had to compress his statements within a severely compacted form, 2 the present author has not only had considerably more space in which to express his views, but he has profited by the fruits of a wider and more accurate scholarship. He has wisely included in his survey the various products of his studies in Anthropology, Psychology, the History of Religions, etc., — domains which are being so diligently cultivated to-day. His book, accordingly, possesses the distinction of being the best attempt made within recent years to place the whole range of the dogmatic teaching of numerous faiths side by side, with the purpose of elucidating their agreements and differences ; and it must be said 1 Vide supra, p. 25. * Vide supra, p. 29. MacCULLOCH, Comparative Theology 33 that the writer's aim has been achieved in a highly- satisfactory manner. The point of view of the author of this manual must not be overlooked, for it has undoubtedly exercised influence in shaping the conclusions to which he has been led. Canon MacCulloch believes Christianity to be the absolute and final religion ; he holds that it is intended for, as it is offered to, the entire human race. He finds in it (and in it alone) the power to satisfy man's deepest longings and to fulfil his loftiest spiritual hopes. 1 Yet he is far from undervaluing the functions fulfilled by other religions ; it is frankly conceded that these alien systems may, in certain particulars, prove to be very little inferior to Chris- tianity itself. Indeed, the wonderful resemblances between Christianity and some of the non-Christian faiths are shown to be traceable to the fact that Christianity has deliberately borrowed from her neigh- bours. A process of assimilation, more or less con- scious, has been going on for ages ; and multifarious changes, the nature and measure of which are quite unknown to the majority of Christians, have in conse- quence been indubitably wrought into its very warp and woof. In this way Christianity stands related not merely to Judaism but also to Greek thought, to Zoroastrianism, to Babylonian religion, and to various additional contributory sources. Nevertheless, Canon MacCulloch is convinced that the essence of Christianity is not to be found in what it has borrowed, but rather in those inherent factors which are original and unique. In certain respects at least, Christianity is not the debtor of any other faith. Its spirit and atmosphere, for example, are entirely its own. The most striking 1 Cf. pp. 3, 4, 15, etc. D 34 COMPARATIVE RELIGION of the results which it places within the reach of those who sincerely embrace it are likewise due to its innate and subjective qualities. One feels inclined to remark that the author's aim in writing this book — an aim which, openly avowed, is practical and apologetic rather than strictly scientific — inevitably weakens the force of some of his theses, arguments, and conclusions. Nevertheless, as already stated, the task attempted has been executed with skill and suggestiveness. The writer's outlook is wide, his charity is unfailing, his estimates are appreciative, while his temper is dispassionate and calm. If offered as a manual of Comparative Religion, this book must be pronounced inadequate. A worthy survey of that field involves, as it has been shown, 1 a comparison of faiths viewed in relation to their entire historical product, — their origin, their gradual expan- sion, their assimilative functions, their dogmas, their ritual, in fact every link in the long chain of circum- stances which account for their present features of likeness or unlikeness. Such an assemblage and scrutiny of particulars would involve, of course, a com- prehensiveness of inquiry which Canon MacCulloch does not profess to undertake. His treatise confines itself, quite legitimately, to a very much narrower field. It contains a competent exposition of Comparative Theology, but it does not really claim to supply anything more. This author has made a special study of the religion of the Ancient Celts, and will publish a volume on that subject at an early date. The theme is a contentious one, and is in need of a fuller and more searching discussion. 1 Vide supra, p. 80. MARIANO, Cristo e Budda 35 CRISTO E BUDDA, E ALTRI IDDII DEL- L' ORIENTE. Studii di Religione Comparata, di Raffaele Mariano. Firenze, G. Barbera, 1900. Pp. vi., 343. L. 3.50. Professor Mariano, speaking from the standpoint of philosophy rather than theology, deals with Com- parative Religion in the initial volume of his Collected Works. 1 In the forefront of his book, he places a revision and amplification of an essay which he printed sixteen years ago, 2 and which reaches in this volume a second ' revised ' edition. In the appendix, there is a brief excursus dealing with the Krishna legend, and its bearing upon the authoritative records of the life of Christ. 3 Then follows a somewhat sharp criticism of Dr. Berry's study of Buddhism. 4 Finally, we have a section devoted to an examination of ' Points of Relationship between the Oriental Religions and Christianity '. This volume, viewed as a whole, is well worthy of the labour its preparation has evidently entailed. It exhibits, in a clear and forcible way, the fundamental differences 5 which seem to leave Buddhism far out- stripped by its more vigorous younger rival. In this way, the writer attempts to ' measure the distance that separates these two religions, — a distance in » Cf. Scritti varii. 12 vols. Firenze, 1900- . In progress. 2 Cf. Buddismo e Crislianesimo. Studio di religione comparata. Napoli, 1890. , . . a Qf pp. 228-34, under the heading : Bramanismo, Knshnaismo e Crislianesimo. > Cf. Thomas S. Berry, Christianity and Buddhism, : A Comparison and a Contrast. London, 1891. ' 'Vi s'indagano e con alquanta particularity, e precisione vi si determinano le differenze ' (p. 43). D2 36 COMPARATIVE RELIGION virtue of which Christianity (raised to a sublime height) occupies its own proper and solitary place '- 1 This citation discloses the theological goal at which Professor Mariano has arrived, and his verdict is fitted to give no little satisfaction to theologians generally. Having undertaken the examination of this old but irrepressible problem, Dr. Mariano has been led to adopt a conclusion identical with that which is accepted and taught in all Roman Catholic colleges, and which is equally held to-day by the majority of scholars belonging to the various Pro- testant Churches. It is very encouraging to note that Italy has at last become anxious to claim a place among the students of Comparative Religion. In a volume about to be published, an attempt will be made to present a summary view of contemporary religious conditions in that country. 2 In particular, a great deal of in- formation will be furnished bearing upon the actual university teaching hitherto available, — its earlier and later forms, its ruthless suppression, the creation of chairs devoted to giving instruction in the History of Christianity, and the beginnings of an effort to promote directly the study of Comparative Religion. This latter tendency has found fullest expression, thus far, in the somewhat informal endeavours of the Modernists ; 3 it is likely that this ambition may yet take definite shape, and become a factor of real im- portance in promoting the progress of theological 1 ' Misurare la distanza che li separa, e par la quale il Cristianesimo si erge sublime e tiene un suo posto proprio e spiccato ' (p. 43). 8 Cf. Jordan and Baldassare Labanca, The Study of Religion in the Italian Universities : vide infra, pp. 75 f. 3 Cf. sundry articles in 11 Rinnovamento, and other Modernist reviews. MARIANO, Cristo e Budda 37 inquiry, both in Italy and beyond it. But others besides Modernists are to-day looking wistfully in the same direction. The late Professor Abignente, Pro- fessor Mariano, and Professor Labanca have uttered strong testimony in favour of Comparative Religion ; nay more, each of these scholars has endorsed his confidence in this study by lending it his practical support. Not a few others have adopted the same course. As a consequence, many have come to under- stand as never before the framework within which Christianity was slowly evolved, while they have also learned how to employ a new and most effective method for advancing the propaganda of missions throughout the world. CULTES, MYTHES, ET RELIGIONS, par Salomon Reinach. Paris : Ernest Leroux, 1905- In progress. Vol. i : pp. vii., 468. Fr. 7.50. M. Reinach has written articles and books upon so many themes, and always with such felicity of thought and diction, that any contribution from his pen is certain to secure a very wide circle of readers. The study of religion, especially in its primitive manifestations, has from the outset enlisted and held the profound interest of this writer. Animism, fetish- ism, totemism, henotheism, polytheism — not to men- tion magic, taboo, exogamy, ancestor worship, the cruder types of sacrifice, and a score of kindred cults — have claimed his eager attention ; and he has sought, in a patient and serious way, to determine their true origin and meaning. Unfortunately he has never been able to devote to these quests that amount of time and concentration which they demand, and 38 COMPARATIVE RELIGION accordingly many of his conclusions have provoked dissent and often heated rejoinder. ' The primitive life of humanity,' writes M. Reinach, ' in so far as it is not purely animal, is religious. Religion is the parent stem which has thrown off (one by one) art, agriculture, law, morality, politics, — and even rationalism, which sooner or later must eliminate all religions.' x In the judgement of this author, totemism was the original faith of the human race. He supports his plea in an ingenious and daring way, though it cannot be said that his arguments are convincing. On the other hand, M. Reinach deserves credit for emphasizing the importance of studying the cults and mythologies of peoples of every name. Many are the germs of subsequently formulated beliefs which are traceable to these much-too-neglected sources. M. Reinach, further, has awakened in these topics an interest which, had it not been for his rare skill as an engaging writer and popularizer, would never have been aroused in non-academic quarters. His investigations belong, it is true, rather to the domain of Anthropology than to researches in Comparative Religion. Nevertheless, the present volume of essays and the other similar volumes by which it is to be followed, contain matter well worthy of being re- printed. It is to be hoped that they may soon obtain that wider circulation which they would be certain to secure if some one would take the pains to translate them into English. 1 Cf. p. vii. FOUR IMPERATIVE REQUIRE- MENTS The foregoing Survey, brief though it is, throws a good deal of light upon the present status of Com- parative Religion. A science still in the making, the literature of this subject is only very slowly taking form. Thus far, indeed, Comparative Religion can hardly be said to have any literature. The nucleus of a new departure in this direction has for more than a quarter of a century been distinctly traceable ; but it is found in books of many kinds, and it must be sought for in volumes which bear a great variety of titles. What of the future ? It is well to be reminded that this study has suffered greatly owing to mistakes inseparable from immature inquiry. The risks which threaten conclusions based upon purely a priori reasoning are invariably hazardous, but they are especially dangerous when adventured by students in this particular field. There are four requirements which, at the present time, are of pressing and supreme importance. 1. A Rigidly Restricted Area of Research. The hour is past when it is any longer pardonable if one confuse Anthropology or Ethnology or Sociology or Mythology or the History of Religions with Comparative Religion. The line of demarcation which separates each of these domains from various related but independent studies will be sharply drawn in a work which is soon to be published. 1 Meanwhile, investigators in Comparative 1 Cf. Jordan, Comparative Religion : Its Adjuncts and Allies. In preparation. 40 COMPARATIVE RELIGION Religion must be on their guard lest they be led to expend their energies upon merely secondary issues. This new science has a definite sphere of its own to cultivate, and it is only for the examination and exact evaluation of the treasures discoverable there that it can legitimately be held responsible. Its task consists in framing comparisons — honest, accurate, and com- prehensive comparisons — between such religious beliefs and practices as it is possible to appraise in the light of their historical development. Beyond this boundary it must resolutely refuse to go. 2. Concentration therein upon some Individual Quest. The demand for rigid limitation must go consider- ably further. It is not enough that Comparative Religion be kept within its own restricted sphere ; every student in this field must concentrate his ener- gies upon one or two individual problems, and then pursue his quest — and it only — to the very end. For a good many years to come, the study and comparison of merely two religions promises to furnish even the foremost investigators with a task which will involve the fullest drain upon their powers. 1 Buddhism and Christianity have, of course, often been compared ; 2 but who has yet expounded the true relationship of Judaism to Zoroastrianism, or even the relationship of Hebrew religion to Babylonian religion ? In truth, millions of essential data have still to be ascertained ; and, because of their absence, the progress of Com- parative Religion is continually being arrested. Great prizes are at stake. It must be remembered, however, that these rewards will not necessarily be bestowed upon the swift or the strong ; the real guarantees of 1 Vide supra, pp. 9, ]2, etc., and infra, footnote, p. 56, etc. 2 Vide supra, pp. 30, 35, etc. FOUR IMPERATIVE REQUIREMENTS 41 success are a patient endurance and an unfaltering will. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, high attainment is absolutely restricted to the student who, having made a deliberate choice, limits himself un- swervingly to the problems he has selected. 3. A Competent Scientific Journal. Comparative Religion will presently win its rightful recognition in Great Britain ; that result, at least, has already been placed beyond doubt. But Comparative Religion will come to its own in this country only when, in addition to periodical Surveys of its tentative literature, it proceeds to found a monthly or quarterly Journal in whose pages busy workers in all lands can interchange ideas, offer and weigh criticisms, present summaries of the results of important current investigations, and impart and receive those many subtle impulses which prove so helpful in work of this kind. The splendid service which France has rendered in this connexion deserves unstinted praise. 1 Through the agency of a similar organ in Great Britain, this field — marked by steady expansion elsewhere, and with its immeasur- able needs — could be brought, constantly and directly, under public attention. The multiplication and ready sale in England to-day of various primers show that a genuinely popular interest in this department of study has already been aroused, and now requires only to be deepened in a clear-sighted and systematic 1 Cf. the Revue de Vhistoire des religions. 54 vols. Paris, 1880- In progress. 3 Cf. Non-Christian Religious Systems. 11 vols. London, 1877-1905 ; The Religions of the World. Edinburgh, 1894. [Revised and enlarged edition, 1901] ; The Message of the World's Religions. New York, 1898 ; The World's Religion. London, 1904- . . In progress ; Religions Ancient and Modern. London, 1905- . In progress ; The Wisdom of the East. London, 1905- . In progress ; etc. 42 COMPARATIVE RELIGION 4. Lectureships in Comparative Religion. As an illustration of the impetus already lent in this way to this new study, attention has been directed to the founding of a noteworthy Lectureship by a benefactor of the University of Chicago. 1 Similar action has been taken by Hartford Theological Seminary, Connecticut, where the first of a series of lectures on the Hartford- Lamson Foundation will be delivered next year by the Principal of Hatfield's Hall, Durham. 2 Inasmuch as the lectures thus given are usually published shortly after their delivery, a very valuable addition to the literature of Comparative Religion is at present being made. How soon will some friend or friends of the universities of Great Britain emulate these excellent examples ? They cannot act too soon. 1 Vide supra, p. 19. 2 Cf. Frank B. Jevons, An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion : vide infra, pp. 69 f . SECOND SECTION 1906-1909 FOREWORD The major part of this Survey, written at the request of the editor of the Review of Theology and Philosophy, was published in that journal in its Novem- ber and December issues during the current year. It should be explained, however, that the following pages are not merely a reprint of the articles to which reference has just been made. Whilst engaged upon this earlier task, the author felt that, if an adequate literary reconnaissance was to be made, he ought to have taken into account certain publications for the examination of which space could not be granted in the Review. Accordingly, he has sought and obtained the permission of its editor to issue this revised state- ment, — which, far from being a reproduction merely of opinions already expressed, will be found to have been supplemented (a) by fuller criticisms of some of the books previously considered ; (b) by an estimate of several additional volumes which certainly deserve a place in this select list ; and (c) by a reasoned sum- mary of the conclusions to which, as regards the present outlook of Comparative Religion, every open- minded reader must be led. Oxford. December 31, 1909. REVIEWS TRANSACTIONS OF THE THIRD INTERNA- TIONAL CONGRESS FOR THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS, edited by Percy Stafford Allen and John de Monins Johnson. 2 vols. Oxford : The Clarendon Press, 1908. Pp. xl., 327+viii., 458. £1 Is. The inclusion of these volumes in the present Sur- vey, notwithstanding that their avowed aim is to furnish a series of studies in the History of Religions, is due to the fact that they contain at the same time contributions to the study of Comparative Religion. And this comprehensiveness is significant, seeing that it occurs for the first time in the records of these quadrennial Congresses. The papers bearing upon Comparative Religion, found in these volumes, do not occupy much space ; and they cannot be said to possess the merit of out- standing importance. Nevertheless, the Oxford Con- gress will always be distinguished from its predecessors by the fact that, in an additional and newly-created ' Section ', a special place was made for Comparative Religion. As was to have been expected, the wisdom of this action was challenged ; it is open to question whether even the President of the new Section fully approved of it. In a contribution he made shortly afterwards to a Belgian Review, he remarks that — while it must frankly be admitted that the historical method is by itself insufficient as an interpretative agency, and must be supplemented by the employment 48 COMPARATIVE RELIGION of the comparative method — ' nous eumes ainsi plusieurs communications dont je n'h£site pas a recon- naitre la haute valeur philosophique, mais qui, comme je trouvai l'occasion de le faire observer dans les felicitations que j'adressai a leurs auteurs, me parais- sent quelque peu sortir de notre cadre \ x But Com- parative Religion could wish for no greater good fortune, in the meantime, than to have secured the official recognition accorded to it upon its first intro- duction to the experts of an older department of inquiry. Its future is secure ; but the measure and rapidity of its expansion into a fully-developed science will be very greatly aided by that innovation which the latest of these International Congresses has inaugurated. SEELENWANDERUNG, von Alfred Bertholet. (Religionsgeschichtliche Volksbucher. Reihe III.) Tubingen, J. C. B. Mohr, 1906. Pp. 62. Pf. 50. Professor Bertholet presents us with a volume containing an able intensive study of a problem which has refused to be silenced, and which has found sym- pathetic interpreters in all ages and amongst represen- tatives of all the races of mankind. Happily, this book has already been translated into English, 2 and thus a much wider circle of readers will now have occasion to thank the author for his truly admirable sketch of man's belief in metempsychosis. The survey he furnishes is quite wide in its range, covering both ancient and modern times. 1 Cf. Goblet d'Alviella, Revue de rUniversite de Bruxelles, p. 24. BruxelJes, December 1908. Cf. also his Oxford Lectures, delivered in September 1909. [Not yet published.] ! Cf. Bertholet, The Transmigration of Souls. New York, 1909. BERTHOLET, Seelenwanderung 49 This handy little volume is divided into two Parts. The former section, in extent about a third of the whole, deals with ideas that were the natural ante' cedents to this doctrine, — namely, the belief that man has a soul which can be separated from his body, the belief that organisms other than human likewise possess souls of a not dissimilar nature, and the belief that all souls (whether of men or of such lower species as animals, plants, and even inanimate objects) may pass from one organism to another. The second Part deals with metempsychosis properly so-called, and traces the rise of this belief in Hinduism, Buddhism, Greek religion, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Apparently, at the very beginning of religious consciousness, the doctrine of metempsychosis was — as it continues to be — world-wide. Pre-Animistic faiths, Animism, Fetishism, Spiritism, Totemism, etc., may all be cited as furnishing cases in point. But this belief shows a tendency to persist, and to commend itself, even amid less likely surroundings. Among philosophical thinkers, in various parts of the world, it has found able defenders ; and it continues to be one of the distinctive teachings of the majority of Theosophists to-day. Among Christians, this doctrine has never gathered strength sufficient to maintain its footing for any length of time ; wherever it has come to the fore, 1 it has been forcibly suppressed, often- times with a cruel and ruthless vigour. It is an Oriental conception, and only in the East can it ever luxuriantly flourish. Yet it is bound to appear, and reappear, in the unfolding history of humanity. Man's hopes are ' shattered by the stern fact of death ; and then the doctrine of metempsychosis, in its noblest 1 Cf., e. g., its emergence among the Manichseans. K 50 COMPARATIVE RELIGION form, comes to compensate the ever-present con- sciousness of human inadequacy '- 1 We hear the call, both from without and from within, summoning us into the presence of the Highest. We ' aspire to the infinite. . . . We must in some way rise beyond the limits of ourselves. Metempsychosis is an ancient and serious (though a feeble) attempt to decipher the meaning of this fiery message \ 2 Professor Bertholet, whose earlier researches in Comparative Religion lend weight to his conclusion, 8 is fully warranted in the judgement he reaches in a closing passage : ' The solution of the great problem of existence which metempsychosis professes to offer leaves, in general, many difficulties unanswered. Therefore, if the theory be examined from the religious point of view, it is more than ever difficult to recognize it as the means specially chosen by God for uplifting the human soul to Himself.' 4 HISTOIRE COMPAREE DES RELIGIONS PAIENNES ET DE LA RELIGION JUIVE, par Albert Dufourcq. Paris : Bloud et C ie , [4th edition, revised and augmented], 1909. Pp. xxvi., 330. Fr. 3.50. Professor Dufourcq is now busy upon a compre- hensive work, L'Avenir du Christianisme, which will run into many volumes. As at present projected, this compendium of the history of Christianity will deal successively with the following periods : (c) L'epoque 1 Cf. p. 121. ' Cf. p. 133. 3 Cf. Bertholet, Buddhismus und Chrislenlum. Tubingen, 1902. [2nd edition, revised and enlarged, 1909.] Cf. also Beligionsgeschicht- liches Lesebuch. Tubingen, 1908. ' Cf. p. 132. DUFOURCQ, Religions Paiennes et la Religion Juive 51 orientale, (b) L'epoque syneretiste (the history of the origins of Christianity), (c) L'epoque mediterran£enne (the history of the Church down to the eleventh century), and (d) L'epoque occidentale (the Church from the eleventh to the eighteenth century). The first volume of this work is the only one with which we are concerned in this Survey. It has already passed through three editions. The out- standing characteristics of the life and thought of the pre-Christian age are brought under careful review ; while, in particular, a comparison is instituted between Judaism and some of the more aggressive of those faiths by which it was successively confronted. On several grounds, this volume is deserving of hearty commendation. It opens with a brief but competent introduction, in which it is shown that the existence of striking parallelisms between the faiths of mankind can no longer be denied ; that these likenesses are more numerous, and more fundamental, than many suspect ; that practically every religion is more or less dependent upon others; that all have ' borrowed ', and have made important ' adaptations ' ; and that even those making the highest claim to a supernatural origin can be shown to be exceedingly ' human ' in countless particulars. Plainly ' the full- ness of time ' 1 was approaching just before Christ came ; his advent was but the culmination of a long series of premonitory events. There is another feature of this book which renders it notable and attractive ; its author is conspicuously open-minded. He represents in this way an attitude which many suppose to be rare in the Roman Catholic Church. 2 He says : ' L'Eglise catholique a . . . main- 1 Cf. p. xix. 2 Vide infra, pp. 86, 137 f, etc. E2 52 COMPARATIVE RELIGION tenu que la nature humaine, dans son etat actuel, est capable de quelque bien, que la loi de Dieu est gravee dans la conscience, que Dieu peut meme donner un secours surnaturel aux pai'ens independamment des sacrements ecclesiastiques ; " l'identite des instincts religieux (naturels) auxquels les diverses religions doivent necessairement s'adapter " explique certaines des coincidences qu'on a dites.' * He recognizes an unbroken continuity in the stream of time, and that ' il est vrai de dire que, en un sens, le Christianisme est sorti de terre.' 2 He has also provided an excellent bibliography, though unfortunately it is marred by defects. Under the heading of ' Revues ', he refers to certain journals as still current, — when, in point of fact, they no longer exist. 3 On the other hand, impor- tant works not a few seem to have been overlooked. Nevertheless, in attempting a task which seldom attains perfection, the list furnished is commendably comprehensive, while the footnotes enlarge it to a very considerable extent. It is specially to be observed that a number of the authorities quoted are drawn from Roman Catholic sources. If that Church has allowed itself to be outdistanced in these studies hitherto, it now certainly appreciates their necessity and their steadily increasing value. Three of the six chapters of which this book con- sists are devoted to non-Jewish religions, while the other three are assigned to Judaism itself. First, a chapter is set apart to a study of the Egyptian 1 Cf. pp. xviii-xix. The reference here is to the late Abbe de Broglie, Professor of the History of Religions in the Institut Catholique, Paris. 2 Cf. p. xvii. 8 Cf. p. 12. Take, for example, The New World, Boston. [Ceased to appear in 1900] ; The Critical Review, Edinburgh. [Ceased to appear in 1904] ; the Rivista di Studi Religiosi, Florence. [Ceased to appear in 1907] ; etc. DUFOURCQ, Religions Paiennes et la Religion Juive 53 religions, as embodied in their earlier and subsequent forms. Then a chapter is allotted to Semitic religions, including some account of their general characteristics, their various cults, and their gradual but persistent expansion. A later section deals with the Aryan religions, embracing the Persian, Greek, Roman, and Celtic systems of belief. Chapter iv is restricted to Mosaism. Chapter v expounds the religion of the prophets of Israel, with special reference to the in- fluence of Isaiah. Chapter vi gives a summary account of the Israelitish Church, — its beginning, its moral and religious life, and its high Messianic hopes. At the same time, while this book is admirable in its spirit and quality, it belongs rather to the History of Religions than to Comparative Religion. The details of actual agreements and disagreements are left for others to determine. Only six pages of the volume are devoted to a ' comparaison de la religion juive avec les religions paiennes \ x The author in no wise misrepre- sents the situation when he writes : ' Arretons-nous un moment pour comparer ces religions, l'une avec l'autre.' 2 In another respect, moreover, this investi- gator reveals that he is not busying himself with Com- parative Religion ; his work as a whole, and in its ultimate purpose, is an undisguised glorification of the Christian religion. No doubt Professor Dufourcq is sincere, and he courageously gives voice to his personal convictions ; but surely such a line of procedure fore- stalls and predetermines the issue. A theologian of a former century might write after this manner ; but one is surprised to encounter such aberrations in the work of a distinguished student of a modern inductive science. Christianity, however glorious its achieve- 1 Cf. pp. 317-22. 2 Cf. p. 317. 54 COMPARATIVE RELIGION ments, is not the only great religious force in the world to-day. Nor is it quite accurate to conclude that ' le rapport des religions pai'ennes et juive, jusqu'au temps d' Alexandre, se deftnit d'un mot : divergence \ x Hence one cannot wholly escape a feeling of disappointment that a scholar who thoroughly understands the factors which Comparative Religion must take into account, their various agreements, and their persistent reciprocal influences, has not devoted himself more fully to the task of instituting crucial and effective comparisons. THE CULTS OF THE GREEK STATES, by Lewis Richard Farnell. 5 vols. Oxford : The Clarendon Press, 1896-1909. Pp. xx., 424 + x., 425 + xii., 393 + viii., 454 + xii., 495. £4 2s. 6d. To Volumes i and ii of this work, reference has already been made. 2 Since 1905, three additional volumes have been published, and thus ' a task which has occupied the author . . . for twenty years ' 3 has been brought to a successful conclusion. Volumes iii and iv, issued in 1907, are devoted to an exposition of the cults of Demeter, Apollo, etc., while Volume v, which appeared in 1909, deals in a similarly exhaustive manner with the cults of Hermes, Dionysios, Hestia, etc. The ideal embodied in the two initial volumes is exemplified with equal fidelity in their successors. Dr. Farnell has produced a treatise of international importance. If students of Comparative Religion derive from it a smaller measure of direct aid than some of them had hoped to secure, they have reason 1 Cf. p. 322. 2 Vide supra, pp. H f. 3 Cf. vol. v, p. iii. FARNELL, The Cults of the Greek States 55 nevertheless to thank its author for the sidelights, and the allusive relevant suggestions, with which his work abounds. INAUGURAL LECTURE OF THE WILDE LEC- TURER IN NATURAL AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION, by Lewis Richard Farnell. Oxford : B. H. Blackwell, 1909. Pp. 31. Is. The Trust Deed of this recent foundation, created in May 1908, declares that ' Comparative Religion shall be taken to mean the modes of causation, rites, observances, and other concepts involved in the higher historical religions, as distinguished from the naturalistic ideas and fetishisms of the lower races of mankind \ Moreover, the lecturer himself affirms that he does not propose to occupy himself with ' the religious psychology, ritual, and institutions ' * of various savage peoples. But, yielding to the bent which his earlier studies have given him, and remembering that his field includes ' Natural ' as well as ' Com- parative ' Religion, it is not in the least surprising to find frequent references made to beliefs probably held by c the primitive Hellene ', 2 the early Babylonian, 3 the prehistoric Egyptian, 4 etc. In like manner, allu- sions bearing upon belief in magic, 5 incantations, and other kindred topics, crop up continually. Dr. Farnell is unmistakably an anthropologist. We feel we are still under the guidance of the author of The Evolution of Religion. 6 Nay, more. Dr. Farnell definitely raises the ques- i Cf. p. 4. 2 Cf. pp. 10, 14, etc. • Cf. p. 11. " Cf. p. 19. 5 Of- PP- 20 > etc * ' vide su P ra > PP- 13 f - 56 COMPARATIVE RELIGION tion whether ' the main object of this comparative study is to answer the inquiry as to the reciprocal influences of adjacent religions, to distinguish between the alien and the native elements of any particular system, — to estimate, for instance, what Greece owed to Babylon, to Egypt, to India. ... I should hesitate to allow . . . that the value of our study is to be measured by our success in solving it.' * This opinion, if expressed by some contemporary teachers, would create no little surprise. Perhaps' it is sufficiently met by citing the contrary conviction of Professor Adolphe Lods, who declares that ' in the Comparative History of Religions, to confine oneself merely to noting similarities [and differences] is labour lost ; ... we must establish inter-connexion '. 2 The work most demanded to-day is the competent comparison of at least two selected religions, this com- parison being instituted by one who has made himself a thorough master of the history and contents of the faiths brought under review. 3 Much inquiry thus far conducted in this domain has been manifestly super- ficial, while all of it has stood in need of being supple- mented by a more complete survey of the facts. During the ensuing two years, Dr. Farnell proposes to continue his study and comparison of the religions of the Mediterranean area, — bringing all of them successively to the touchstone of early Greek religion. 1 Cf. p. 9. 1 Cf. an article in the Revue de Vhistoire des religions, vol. 1, p. 87. Paris, 1904. a Dr. Farnell elsewhere strongly endorses this need. ' There must be added', he says, 'a sympathetic and minute knowledge of at least two of the great world-religions.' (Cf. The Evolution of Religion, p. 86.) His own course, in the present Lecture, is to make the Greek religion (with which he is completely in touch) ' the point of departure for wider excursions into outlying tracts of the more or less adjacent religious systems ' (pp. 4-5). FARNELL, Natural and Comparative Religion 57 In his Inaugural Lecture, he deals briefly with the worship of the dead among the Greeks, and the in- fluence of anthropomorphism on Greek religion. The sketches he gives of ' the more developed features of Hellenic religion . . . and of how each of these [features] contrasts with or resembles the cults of the other leading peoples of this area,' x are extremely well done. Nevertheless, all such investigation represents purely preliminary work. It is but a preparing of the way. In the main, it is a form of historical inquiry. The time for instituting more penetrative comparisons, i. e. comparisons of a really searching and sifting sort, will come by and by. LA METHODE COMPARATIVE DANS L'HIS- TOIRE DES RELIGIONS, par George Foucart. Paris : Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1909. Pp. 238. Fr. 3.50. Passing from England to France, Professor Foucart has furnished us with a book of genuine and con- spicuous merit. It is a great pleasure to welcome into the literary arena a new and most promising advocate of the claims of Comparative Religion. In this volume, one is reminded again and again of Dr. Far- nell, and of various statements contained in the latter's Inaugural Lecture ; a but, as we shall see in a moment, these two authorities are nevertheless separated by fundamental differences. Professor Foucart resembles Dr. Farnell in selecting a prominent historic faith, and then instituting a com- parison between it and all others that can be brought into traceable relationship with it. As might have 1 Cf. pp. 9 and 10. % Vide supra, pp. S5 f. 58 COMPARATIVE RELIGION been foreseen, the religion he chooses for this purpose is the religion of Egypt. 1 He is satisfied that it offers in this connexion advantages which cannot be equalled, seeing that it constitutes ' un fait unique dans l'his- toire de l'humanite '. Its antiquity, its persistent duration, its freedom (during all its lengthy evolution) from the intrusion of foreign ideas and the eruption of local reforms, the unrivalled number and value of its texts and monuments, the additions which are being made to such data literally every day, etc., impart to it an unapproachable distinction and pre- eminence. It is with a magnificent personal equips ment for carrying forward his quest that Professor Foucart proposes 'etudier, dans les conditions les plus favorables, " PHistoire comparee des Religions ",' 2 At the same time, direct issue is joined with the Oxford School because of its partiality for anthro- pological and sociological methods of study. 3 This author is convinced that it is a mistake to base our comparisons upon the similarities which can be detected between the dogmas of a given religion and the beliefs characteristic of some so-called ' primitive ' faith. Such procedure, Dr. Foucart holds, is based upon a twofold error. First, it tends to become doctrinaire. It allows a ' part excessive au raisonnement, en d&laignant les donnees positives de l'Histoire. On s'attache a definir a priori, par l'analyse logique, au 1 In a footnote he remarks that he speaks throughout of ' la religion egyptienne ; " les religions " serait un terme plus exact, que nous n'employons pas ici pour rester clairs ' (p. 34). While Professor Foucart is persuaded that the Egyptian religion supplies the student with the best possible unit for purposes of comparison, Dr. Farnell (as already intimated, vide supra, p. 56) prefers the Greek religion, Dr. John P. Peters prefers the Hebrew religion, while other authorities express themselves strongly in favour of still other possible choices. » Cf. p. 42. 3 Vide infra, pp. 82 f., 118 f., etc. FOUCART, Methode Comparative dans . . . Religions 59 lieu de resumer dans une definition les connaissances acquises par l'6tude des phenomenes.' x Secondly, this procedure tends to lay exaggerated stress upon isolated items (such as prayer, magic, sacrifice, etc.) without taking fully into account the corpus and general tendency of the various faiths with which they stand associated. These reasons being duly elaborated, the author concludes : ' En somme, l'His- toire des Religions n'a rien a esperer de la methode sociologique.' 2 Dr. Foucart, it is interesting to note, is of the opinion that the Greek religion is scarcely suitable for use as ' le terme de comparaison '. Having shown that Natural Religions, of whatsoever type, are incapable of serving as the ' point de depart a une histoire generate du phenomene religieux, et encore moins servir de mesure commune a laquelle on ramenerait par comparaison les autres religions ', 3 he mentions two reasons why one ought not to select the Greek cults as a standard before which various other faiths are to be successively arraigned. There is (1) the lack of monuments and inscriptions of an early date. Accordingly, opinion is still greatly divided as to the real significance of numerous religious practices and beliefs. ' La tradition litteraire ne fournit que des mythes defigures et obscurcis par les fantaisies des poetes ou des artistes, non moins que par les specula- tions des systemes philosophiques. II est inutile de 1 Cf. p. 7. 2 Cf. p. 9. Note also what this author has to say, deliberately and somewhat satirically, about (a) the so-called ' primitive ' religion : ' A la verite, cette religion n'a jamais existe reellement, mais la tenacite subtile de ses fondateurs lui a communique une vie factice ' (pp. 21 f.) ; and about (6) its divers expositions according to the theories of anthropologists. ' Cf. p. 17. 60 COMPARATIVE RELIGION rappeler les echecs suceessifs des theories sur les religions de la Grece — fondees, depuis un siecle, sur le symbolisme, les mythes solaires, ou la philologie com- paree. On n'a reussi qu'a epaissir les tenebres, a ehaque experience qui a mal tourne.' 1 Yet further (2) the divinities of Greece are of a very heterogeneous order. ' La moitie des dieux n'est pas indigene. Bien loin d'eclaircir l'Histoire des Religions, ce sont les religions helleniques qui ont besoin d'etre elucidees par la comparaison avec d'autres, plus anciennes et moins melangees.' x One may safely leave to Dr. Farnell the settlement of this issue ; but, as regards the general merits of Dr. Foucart's work, they are incontestable. In the eight chapters of this volume — wherein we find a systematic and competent comparison of different types of animal worship, sacrifice, magic, rites of the dead, priesthood, etc., as practised in Egypt and in other countries both European and Asiatic — we have one of the best contributions to the science of Com- parative Religion that have appeared during recent years. France is again pressing forward to a place in the van of a study which she has hitherto done much to promote. Professor Reinach, in addition to the volumes to which attention has already been called, 2 has given us a book with which we would be exceed- ingly loath to part ; 3 but in none of them has he offered to the world an interpretation so distinctive in itself, so successful in its aim, and so fitted to meet one of the insistent needs of our time, as that con- ' Cf. p. 18. * Vide supra, pp. 37 f. Three volumes of these collected essays have now been published. 3 Cf. Salomon Reinach, Orpheus : Histoire generate des religions. Paris, 1909. FOUCART, Methode Comparative dans . . . Religions 61 tained in the volume which Dr. Foucart has just published. The latter recognizes clearly that the study of the History of Religions and the study of Comparative Religion are very far from being the same thing. He recognizes, further, that the method which each employs is characteristically its own. These differences of scope and agency he has empha- sized, illustrated, and reinforced in a truly admirable manner. ADONIS, ATTIS, OSIRIS, by James George Frazer. London : Macmillan and Company, 1906. Pp. xvi., 339. 10s. This volume, as already indicated, 1 foreshadows the appearance of a thoroughly revised (third) edition of The Golden Bough. It has ventured indeed to start upon an independent and daring career of its own. It will eventually constitute ' Part IV ' in the larger work ; but, only a year after its publication, it was reissued in a considerably augmented form. If current rumour prove correct, it will grow into two volumes before very long. All will recall that Totemism and Exogamy — beginning with a single volume on Totemism in 1887, and enlarged to two volumes in 1908, has been expanded into three volumes during the present year ; and a fourth volume will very probably be added. In the book now under review, comparisons are instituted between (a) the myth of Adonis as it existed in Babylonia (whence Greece borrowed it in the seventh century, b. c), (b) the corresponding myth of Attis in Phrygia, and (c) the similar legends of Osiris 1 Vide supra, p. 18. 62 COMPARATIVE RELIGION in Egypt ; but in Dr. Frazer's hands, as he himself acknowledges, these studies pertain primarily to the History of Religions. The method employed, while comparative indeed, is not always applied with adequate skill. After reading this book, the general impression left on the mind of most advanced students is that the author is sometimes carried away by the plausibility of likenesses which really have no his- torical connexion with one another. For example : although the cults of Adonis and Attis make so much of the death and resurrection of a god whose earthly life had to be surrendered in the interests of those who were to come after him, it seems far-fetched in the extreme to link this widespread belief with the doctrine early current among Christians that Jesus was a divine being, who must needs be sacrificed for the salvation of the whole human race. THE CONFLICT OF RELIGIONS IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE, by Terrot Reaveley Glover. London : Methuen and Company, 1909. Pp. vii., 360. 7*. Qd. Mr. Glover's book, while not a direct contribution to Comparative Religion, will prove none the less a very valuable auxiliary in the promotion of that study. Like many of the other volumes embraced within this Survey, this series of studies originated in a course of academic Lectures. They were prepared, two years ago, at the request of the Trustees of the Dale foundation of Mansfield College, Oxford. In the interval, the material accumulated has been care- fully revised and expanded ; and it is now presented in a sifted and permanent form. GLOVER, Religions in Early Roman Empire 63 In its aim, this book is historical. It singles out a few great personages and epochs, and around these rallying points the tide of the story alternately ebbs and flows. Stoics and Greeks, Jews and Christians, outstanding teachers like Virgil and Plutarch, Celsus and Clement and Tertullian, play each a part in this fascinating and ever-changing drama. In the centre of it all there stands the Man of Nazareth, — not indeed as some zealot might have sketched him, yet unique in his career and in the mystery of his un- official authority. ' To see the Founder of the Chris- tian movement, and some of His followers, as they appeared among their contemporaries ; to represent Christian and pagan with equal goodwill and equal honesty, and in one perspective ; to recapture some of the colour and movement of life, using imagination to interpret the data, and controlling it by them ; to follow the conflict of ideals, not in the abstract but as they show themselves in character and personality,' x — these are worthy aims indeed, and very worthily have they been realized. Thus, by many a sidelight, Mr. Glover shows how nature-worship, superstition, philosophic scepticism, and lofty idealism existed side by side, and struggled for the mastery. In particular, he demonstrates with convincing force that there was something about Christianity that set it quite apart from all its rivals. It possessed a spiritual dynamic in which they were conspicuously lacking. It ' changed the thoughts and lives of men '. It nerved men to face without fear the most cruel of martyrdoms. * That the gospel could capture such a man as Ter^- tullian, and (with all his faults of mind and temper) make him what it did, was a measure of its power to 1 Cf. p. v. 64 COMPARATIVE RELIGION transform the old world and a prophecy of its power to hold the modern world too,— and to make more of it, as the ideas of Jesus find fuller realization and verification in every generation of Christian character and experience.' x With these words, Mr. Glover closes his argument. They are also the final words of his book. Very prob- ably some will feel inclined to cavil at their dogmatic ring. They reveal, as it often occurs elsewhere in this Survey, that we are dealing with a volume which is apologetic rather than rigidly scientific. Every student of Comparative Religion, strictly so-called, will feel constrained to demur. But this sentence marks the culmination of an argument which, at no point overstrained, reveals the significance of its pre- mises more and more fully at each successive stage. Many will thank Mr. Glover for his book, and for the courage and literary skill with which he presents in it's pages his own clear and definite convictions, — whether in regard to Christianity, or to the numerous other faiths with which from the very outset it was compelled to contend. CHRIST AND THE EASTERN SOUL. The Wit- NESS OF THE ORIENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS TO JESUS Christ, by Charles Cuthbert Hall. (The Barrows Lectures on Comparative Religion, 1906-1907.) Chicago : The University Press, 1909. Pp. xli., 208. $1.25. Unhappily for a very wide circle of admirers and friends, Dr. Hall has already passed into the great Church Invisible. He was but fifty-six years of age. 1 Cf. p. 347. HALL, Christ and the Eastern Soul 65 Endowed with rare natural talents, from early life a diligent student, ever most genial as a companion, and cautious yet progressive in his ideals, many felt that this teacher had entered upon a career of excep- tional opportunity when he was chosen to fill the President's chair at Union Theological Seminary, New York. This post, particularly during the earlier period of his occupancy of it, was an extremely exact- ing one ; but the perfect confidence his supporters reposed in him was entirely justified. Dr. Hall had a genius for interpreting, bringing closer together, and ultimately reconciling, religious beliefs which seemed not only antagonistic but contra- dictory ; and it was here that, before the end, the potentialities of a busy and richly dowered life revealed themselves in a truly extraordinary fullness. President Hall could quickly grasp ' the other man's ' point of view, allow it full weight, and then frame a concilia- tory utterance. In 1902, he was invited to accept the Barrows Lectureship on Comparative Religion. Proceeding in due course to India, he delivered there — and elsewhere in the Orient — that admirable course of lectures which disclosed the rare qualities of the man, and gained for him at once an international reputation. 1 Never before perhaps were the claims of Christianity presented more fairly, more clearly, and more persuasively to the peoples of the East. The speaker manifested continually his insight and sympathy ; but, what was more, his words possessed the unmistakable ring of sincerity. Four years later, he was asked to deliver a second course of Barrows Lectures. As a result, we now have another volume of the same type as before, — though it comes to us, alas ! 1 Vide supra, pp. 19 f. 66 COMPARATIVE RELIGION as a posthumous publication. Few can read it without pronouncing it a noble irenicon. President Hall sought out on every hand the deposits of permanent value which lie buried in alien faiths, and accorded them the fullest recognition. As Dr. Frazer has spared no pains to show how useful the influence of super- stition, and even of crass superstition, has proved in the growth of primitive institutions, 1 so Dr. Hall cheerfully allowed credit to every wholesome result achieved by the venerable religions of the East. Nay, he boldly proclaimed : ' Christianity may become more vital through the introduction of certain mystic strains, and Oriental mysticism more virile by know- ledge of the personal God of the Western World.' Or again : ' To-day the greatest religious need of the world is a Christianity deepened and spiritualized through the recovery of elements germane to the Oriental consciousness, and best interpreted thereby.' If we contrast still further the work of Dr. Frazer and Dr. Hall, the former views his material from the standpoint of the anthropologist ; the latter, on the other hand, views his material from the standpoint of the theologian, — though, it must be added, from the standpoint of a clear-sighted and broad-minded theologian. The one is severely intent upon securing scientific results ; the other is equally intent upon securing practical results. In the case of President Hall, the needs of men — not their academic aspira- tions — fairly fascinated and obsessed him. He lived in the throbbing stricken present, not in the dim and silent past ; and hence many in India and Japan — as evidenced by those very remarkable Memorial Services 1 Cf. James G. Frazer, Psyche's Task. London, 1909. [2nd edition, 1913.] HALL, Christ and the Eastern Soul 67 which were recently held throughout the East, and in which non-Christians took so conspicuous a part — as well as his former colleagues and parishioners in America, will long miss the high impulse of his chival- rous and sympathetic spirit. In Dr. Hall's estimate, both East and West are brothers, partners in a common effort to solve the higher mysteries of the soul. Each needs the help of the other. Both need the light which Christianity brings, and both must earnestly strive to understand the message it proclaims. The verdict of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bombay, penned after he had listened to the lectures which constituted the former of Dr. Hall's two courses, is not one whit less applicable to the contents of the present volume. He writes : ' We could hardly con- ceive of anything better — at once as an exposition of the essential truths of Christianity, and as a recom- mendation of these truths to minds trained in the philosophical and religious atmosphere of the East — than the six lectures now before us. . . . The breadth of the book, its philosophical grasp, its utter freedom from the controversial temper, its perfect courtesy and sweet reasonableness, gave it a charm which every reader must feel.' x ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS, edited by James Hastings and other scholars. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1908- . In progress. Vol. i : pp. xxii., 903. Vol. ii : pp. xxii., 901. £1 8s. each volume. Comparative Religion, using the name in both its broader and narrower significations, possesses no truer 1 Cf. Dugald Mackichan in an ' Introductory Note ' to Christian Belief Interpreted by Christian Experience : vide supra, pp. 19 f. F2 68 COMPARATIVE RELIGION friend than Dr. Hastings. In his monthly magazine, 1 which happily he is still editing at the end of twenty years of labour, this subject is kept constantly in view, and is ever increasing its immense debt to him for stimulus and suggestion of a rare and timely order. And now — although the chief agent in producing several earlier invaluable Dictionaries — Dr. Hastings is busy on the supreme undertaking of his lifetime. Not only does this work promise to be his magnum opus ; it will assuredly take rank as a literary land- mark among modern historical studies. When it was announced that this new Encyclopaedia would treat every theme from the ' comparative ' point of view, no statement could have awakened in certain quarters a profounder or more lively gratitude. This hope, it now appears, was somewhat premature. The successive articles in the Encyclopaedia, instead of achieving the end so ardently anticipated, furnish instead the materials out of which a competent com- parison may be framed. Take two illustrations. Altar is discussed under such sub-headings as Assyrian, Babylonian, Chinese, etc. Ancestor Wor- ship is expounded under its Christian, Egyptian, Hindu, Persian, Roman, and other forms. And so with every other topic. All of this research, be it noted, is performed by different scholars, each of whom confines himself strictly to his allotted task ; the ultimate synthesis has unfortunately been postponed ! Still, it is not in one's heart to frame a complaint, when so much has been accomplished and accom- plished with unquestionable skill. An admirable system of cross-references places the contents of each volume at the ready disposal of the student. Thus 1 Cf. The Expository Times. Edinburgh, 1889- . In progress. HASTINGS, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics 69 each investigator, if duly qualified to achieve the task, can institute the required comparison for himself ; and, if he possess the requisite knowledge and patience, he will in future attempt this undertaking with far greater prospects of success than have been open to him hitherto. Twelve volumes are promised. The world of scholarship has already greeted with satisfac- tion the appearance of Volume ii ; and none can fail to hope that Dr. Hastings and his editorial collabora- tors may be spared to see the completion of their great enterprise, — the most masterly, comprehensive, and reliable collection of data bearing upon Compara- tive Religion that has ever been attempted. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF COM- PARATIVE RELIGION, by Frank Byron Jevons. (The Hartford-Lamson Lectures on the Religions of the World, 1907.) New York : The Macmillan Company, 1908. Pp. xxv., 283. $1.50. Principal Jevons recently enjoyed the distinction of inaugurating in Connecticut a new academic founda- tion. In his book, he alludes to this event as follows : ..' Hartford Theological Seminary may, I believe, justly claim to be the first institution in the world which has deliberately and consciously set to work to create, by courses of lectures, ... an applied science of religion.' 1 This undertaking is intended primarily to be a tribute to the memory of the late Rev. Dr. Lamson, whose keen interest in the propagation of Christianity never blinded him to the merits of those other faiths by which the Christian religion is confronted. This 1 Cf. p. 2. 70 COMPARATIVE RELIGION lectureship, at the same time, will keep in view a definite purpose of its own. During the first decade of its existence, it means to provide a series of com- petent Introductions, — adapted, in particular, for sup- plying information and stimulus to men who are about to enter the Foreign Mission field — in which will be presented a survey of the chief religions of the world. Thus far, Professor De Groot x in 1908 and Professor Macdonald 2 in 1909 have delivered two important courses dealing respectively with the spirit and teaching of two outstanding faiths. To Dr. Jevons was assigned the task of providing a General Introduction to this entire group of studies. It would have been wiser, probably, if this volume had been placed last in the series ; in that case, it would have occupied its proper chronological position. As it now stands, its title is misleading. It exhibits everywhere those evidences of scholarship, and that competency for grappling with a difficult undertaking, which all who know Principal Jevons are able in- variably to predict ; but it is certainly not an intro- duction to the study of Comparative Religion, as that line of research is understood to-day. Principal Jevons writes very appositely of the aims and methods of the History of Religions. He recog- nizes how much this department of inquiry may ultimately contribute towards a disclosure of the origins of man's religious consciousness. He recognizes also that 'religion, in all its forms, is ... a yearning and aspiration after God '. 3 . . . ' The truth and the good inherent in all forms of religion is that, in all, 1 Cf. Jan J. M. De Groot, The Religion of the Chinese. New York, 1910. 2 Cf. Duncan B. Macdonald, Aspects of Islam. New York, 1911. 3 Cf. p. 28. JEVONS, Study of Comparative Religion 71 man seeks after God.' x Again : ' The different forms of religion realize the end of religion [i. e. communion with God 2 ] in different degrees.' 3 Once again: 'It is proper ... to look upon the long history of religion as man's search for God, and to regard it as the func- tion of the missionary to help others in that search.' 4 In this connexion, the author gives some admirable injunctions, touching the absolute necessity of pro- viding a prospective missionary with the highest possible equipment for his work. 5 In fine, no one can read this book without feeling constrained to admit that its counsels are excellent ; but, unfortunately, their bearing upon Comparative Religion is merely indirect. They are at best the outcome of an exact and sympathetic study of man's spiritual history. Hence, as a General Introduction to a series of exposi- tions of the History of Religions — the function which this volume really fulfils — it must be pronounced a valuable and even admirable record ; but its title, in view of citations already reproduced from its pages, 6 is singularly inappropriate. Lest it seem to any that this criticism is too drastic, it is only necessary to recall the treatment accorded to the successive topics with which the volume deals, namely, immortality, magic, fetishism, prayer, sacri- fice, morality, and Christianity. Upon examination, it proves that they are all viewed as so much material which had been furnished by a study of Sociology. 7 In a book on Anthropology, these subjects could quite fitly have been thus regarded ; and Principal Jevons has shown us elsewhere how ably he can utilize 1 Cf. p. 258. a Cf. pp. 256, etc. 3 Cf. pp. xxv and 259. « Cf. pp. x, 30, 258, 263, etc. 5 Cf. pp. 27, 258, etc. « Cf. pp. 10-11. ' Cf. p. 5. Vide infra, pp. 83 f., 171, etc. 72 COMPARATIVE RELIGION such data in their proper connexions. 1 A mere glance at the bibliography he has selected, supplied in an appendix to this volume, reinforces the impression that the book is really an anthropological treatise. Anthropology, however, is a study totally different from Comparative Religion, as was pointed out when some previously mentioned publications were under review. 2 It must be remarked, further, that Dr. Jevons — by whom the phrase ' The Science of Religion ' is used as if it were synonymous with ' The History of Religions ' 3 — uniformly employs the phrase ' The Applied Science of Religion ' as though it were inter- changeable with ' Comparative Religion '.* But Com- parative Religion is a pure science quite as truly as the History of Religions ; it is its business, likewise, ' to ascertain the facts and state the truth '. 6 The use to which the facts and truth thus secured may after- wards be put ' is a question with which pure science has nothing to do '. 6 This is a dictum, even on Dr. Jevons's own showing, which is quite as applic- able to Comparative Religion as to the History of Religions ; and yet we find this author discoursing on ' the finality ' 7 of Christianity, and affirming that it is the aim of Comparative Religion to demonstrate that ' Christianity is the highest manifestation of the religious spirit '. 8 Such an employment of Compara- tive Religion is not infrequent. It is familiar among theologians, and it may have been specially welcomed 1 Cf. An Introduction to the History of Religion. London, 1896. [A third edition has just appeared.] 2 Vide supra, pp. 13 f., 19, 55, etc. ' Cf. pp. 6, 11, etc. « Cf. pp. 2, 20, etc. 5 Cf. pp. 3, 5, 256, etc. • Cf. p. 3. ' Cf. p. 258. » Cf. pp. 2, 258, etc. JEVONS, Study of Comparative Religion 78 by the audience that greeted Dr. Jevons at Hartford ; but pains ought to have been taken to point out that such procedure was merely ' an aside ', and not the main purpose of this study. On the whole, the last lecture (the one dealing with Christianity) is par- ticularly unsatisfactory. Far from its presenting a comparison of that faith with other religions, it attempts only to give an estimate of its place in the gradual development of religion. 1 The book turns out, in short, to be an exposition of evolution, — of evolution in general, of the evolution of humanity, and of the evolution of religion. Only half a dozen pages are directly relevant, 2 — unless, indeed, this volume aims at promoting the study of Anthropology. To aver that ' the applied science of religion is concerned with the practical business of bringing home the difference between Christianity and other forms of religion to the hearts of those whose salvation may turn on whether the missionary has been properly equipped for his work ', 3 or to say that all research will yet concur in the opinion that Chris tianity is veritably the pre-eminent faith existent among men, 4 was practically to ignore the subject with which the lecturer was professedly dealing. Such a course tends to confuse Comparative Religion with Apologetics, — a branch of study which non-Christians not less than Christians are busily pursuing, and with results which they deem entirely satisfactory. Pos- sibly Principal Jevons felt the force of this difficulty, for he employs the title ' Comparative Religion ' much more sparingly 5 than he uses its questionable sub- 1 Cf. pp. 239 f. % Cf. pp. 258-65. 3 Cf. p. 26. ' Cf. pp. 16-17, etc. 6 It appears for the first time on p. 20 ! 74 COMPARATIVE RELIGION stitute, ' The Applied Science of Religion '. It is, however, extremely to be regretted that terms which have acquired a definite and definitely-restricted meaning should deliberately be interchanged with others of a similar but different import. COMPARATIVE RELIGION. Its Method and Scope, by Louis Henry Jordan. London : The Oxford University Press, 1908. Pp. 20. Is. A brochure, published a year ago, may perhaps be mentioned in these pages. While emphasizing the lessons which Professor Foucart teaches, 1 it arrives at its conclusions after a different manner. Moreover, carrying Dr. Foucart's arguments somewhat farther than he suggests, it shows that a well-grounded hope may be entertained of achieving the common end in view. It is not enough that, forewarned against mistakes, the student should be made acquainted with the proper methods of research ; he must be taught also how to use them aright. In the employment of any instrument, ' a certain dexterity is essential ; and it can be acquired, like skill of other kinds, only by careful training under capable masters.' 2 Those who aspire to leadership in this field must be sys- tematically prepared for their work ; for then, and then only, will ' individual aptitudes (whether natural or acquired) be utilized to their fullest capacity '. 3 It is a step equally imperative that institutions of learning should be so equipped that they can competently impart this instruction, in order (a) that the tasks set by Comparative Religion may be worthily dis- 1 Vide supra, pp. 57 f. 2 Cf. p. 13. • Cf. p. 15. JORDAN, Comparative Religion 75 charged, and (6) that men may be educated who, in turn teaching others, shall ensure the continuance and growth of a body of eminent specialists. 1 In a word, the problem that has been confronting students of religion for a considerable time can be solved only by a reasonable subdivision of labour. Subjects which essentially differ must no longer be confused. 3 ' It was quite natural and legitimate that, for a time, Comparative Religion should have been studied as a sort of by-product of the History of Religions. But this relationship — convenient, happy, and even essen- tial at the outset — ought not to be unduly prolonged.' 3 ' No real advance is possible in any science to-day without specialisation.' 4 It is only through the agency of trained workers, men who are in a position to devote their undivided attention to the one department or to the other, that the interests of either can now be properly conserved. THE STUDY OF RELIGION IN THE ITALIAN UNIVERSITIES, by Louis Henry Jordan, in collaboration with Commendatore Baldassare La- banca. London : The Oxford University Press, 1909. Pp. xxviii., 324. 6s. For many years, Professor Labanca . has been an ardent advocate of the employment of the comparative method in the study of religion. 5 When selecting a topic for his Inaugural Lecture, on his appointment to a chair in the University of Rome, he finally resolved to direct express attention to the study of Com- 1 For details, cf. pp. 16-18. 2 Cf. pp. 6-13. » Cf. p. 8. ' Cf. p. 13. s Vide infra, pp. 77 f. 76 COMPARATIVE RELIGION parative Religion. 1 Having pointed out that ' the old and artificial classifications of religions are being superseded by a natural classification, based upon the gradual evolution of the various forms of belief ', 2 he affirmed that it was only by means of comparisons that the ultimate value of any religion — and, pre- eminently, of the Christian religion — could be made indubitably clear. In any case, if a man would appre- ciate his own faith aright, he must weigh it in the presence of other efficient faiths by which it is sur- rounded. A few years later, this writer issued a booklet which gave rise to considerable controversy. 3 By chance it fell into the hands of an English student, who was at the moment preparing the prospectus of a series of volumes on ' The Study of Religion in the Universities of Europe and America '. After conference with Professor Labanca, it was arranged that the substance of this booklet, expanded in various directions by its English translator, should constitute the initial volume of the projected series. The general procedure adopted in this timely survey will be followed in its successors. A brief account is given of the inauguration of the study of religion in the universities of Italy, its admission to (and subsequent exclusion from) the Theological Facul- ties, the attitude of Church authorities towards such inquiries, the hindrances it has had to encounter, the widely prevailing apathy which it has contrived to overcome, brief biographical sketches of its earliest 1 Cf. Baldassare Labanca, La religione per le universita & un problema, non un assioma. Torino, 1886. 3 Cf. Ibid., p. 21. 3 Cf. Difficoltd. anliche e nuove degli studi religiosi in Italia. Milano, 1890. JORDAN, Study of Religion in Italian Universities 77 official teachers and the measure of aid they respec- tively rendered, the assistance derived from various university colleagues (philologists, orientalists, archaeo- logists, philosophical writers, and others), the crea- tion of ' Schools of Oriental Studies ', the founding of reviews devoted to the study of the ' storia delle religioni ', etc., etc. If Italy thus far has rendered only very scanty direct aid to the study of Comparative Religion, at least a beginning has been made, — as the publication next mentioned will sufficiently show. PROLEGOMENI DELLA STORIA COMPARATIVA DELLE RELIGIONI, di Baldassare Labanca. Lugano : Casa Editrice del Ccenobium, 1909. Pp. 56. L. 1. Professor Labanca was invited to fill the first university chair which the educational authorities of Italy devoted to the study of the History of Religions. This foundation, largely created through the assistance which Professor Labanca personally contributed to the movement, was established in the University of Rome ; but unhappily its existence was of very brief duration. Nevertheless, even after this chair had been officially allotted to a study of the History of Christianity, its occupant did not limit himself exclusively to the subject assigned to him. His warm advocacy of the employment of the comparative method did not cease ; on the contrary, it became tenfold more earnest and aggressive within its new environment. 1 1 Cf. Conlemporanee tenderize fra i cuttori del Cristianesimo e del Buddhismo. Lugano, 1907. 78 COMPARATIVE RELIGION It awakened no surprise therefore that, in the autumn of the year during which Professor Labanca had collaborated with Mr. Jordan in publishing a book in London, 1 he sent to press the booklet now under review. It is not free from defects ; its bibliography, in particular, seems to have been hastily thrown together, while the proof-reading of some of it is inexcusably careless. Nevertheless, it fulfilled in no small measure its mission. It drew attention to the importance of framing a trustworthy definition of Teligion, of sifting and adjusting the various current theories concerning the origin of religion, of arriving at a right classification of religions, of distinguishing sharply between the History of Religions and Com- parative Religion, of comparing closely the concepts of God, sin, the future life, etc., which have to be interpreted in the study of Comparative Theology, and of examining (and reaching an adequate con- clusion concerning) a score of kindred issues. Pro- fessor Labanca is not so anxious to supply answers to his own innumerable questions as to set his readers thinking. In this aim, he has certainly achieved success, — even though his exposition might easily have been strengthened at various points. The publication of this booklet is a sign of the times. It is both a product and a portent. It is likely that, before many years elapse, its influence — and that of some other notable contemporary pamphlets — will become manifest throughout the Italian kingdom. It is interesting to observe how Professor Labanca — approaching this study somewhat late in life, and governed unmistakably by conservative instincts — yielded gradual acquiescence to its suggestions and demands. 1 Vide supra, pp. 75 f. LILLY, Many Mansions 79 MANY MANSIONS. Studies in Ancient Religions and Modern Thought, by William Samuel Lilly. London : Chapman and Hall, 1907. Pp. xi., 252. 12s. 6d. This volume is included in the present Survey, not because it is a treatise on Comparative Religion — a claim which its author would scarcely advance on its behalf — but because it is frequently referred to as if it exhibited an up-to-date application of the com- parative method. It consists of a collection of essays, most of which had previously appeared in print. 1 These varied discussions, now carefully revised, are here united in a single publication. ' The Sacred Books of the East ' are dealt with in the opening fifty pages. A paper entitled ' The Message of Buddhism to the Western World ' undertakes to institute a com- parison between the Buddhist and Kantian philo- sophies ; an additional paper, ' Kant and the Buddha,' is more personal in its quality ; but no serious attempt is made to solve the deeper questions with which Comparative Religion is concerned. Mr. Lilly pays a well-deserved tribute to the late Professor Max Miiller, and accords him high praise for the ' departure ' he initiated. He shows also in how ar the scientific study of religion throws light upon the origin and gradual expansion of man's religious beliefs. The volume is made up of chapters which belong, for the most part, to the Philosophy of Religion. This writer takes a deep interest in ethical questions, concerning the treatment of some of which he will publish presently a substantial volume. 1 Compare its contents with Mr. Lilly's Ancient Religion and Modern Thought. London, 1884. [3rd edition, 1896.] 80 COMPARATIVE RELIGION THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION AND ITS BEAR- ING UPON CHRISTIAN CLAIMS, by Henry Dewsbury Alves Major. (Essays for the Times, No. 39.) London : Francis Griffiths, 1909. Pp. 48. 6d. Mr. Major's booklet introduces itself as one of ' a series of studies on biblical, religious, and theo- logical subjects, written (in the light of modern criti- cism) in defence and exposition of the Christian faith '. Its purpose conditions its character ; it is frankly apologetic. It attempts to demonstrate that ' the religion of Christ is the truest of all the religions of the world, and also the only possible religion for humanity in the future V At the same time — as in the case of Mr. Clark 2 — this writer recognizes that any such attempt exhibits, not the proper aim of Comparative Religion, but rather an incidental appli- cation of its teachings. Comparative Religion, he affirms, ' holds no brief for Christianity ; and to pursue it in an apologetic spirit would be to subject its student to the temptation to depart from the scien- tific method.' 3 Exactly. ' Nevertheless,' he goes on, ' the results at which it [Comparative Religion] has arrived . . . have a bearing upon Christianity . . . and upon the claims of that religion.' 4 Mr. Major gives us a summary of the ' conclusions ' reached by representative students in this field. In substance they agree closely with those framed by 1 Cf. p. 6. a Vide infra, pp. 109 f. * Cf. p. 9. Vide, also, pp. 23, 31, 32, etc. * Cf. pp. 9-10. The writer takes pains elsewhere to specify a number of particulars concerning which Comparative Religion lends no support to ' certain current views with regard to religion, and especially the Christian form of it ' (cf. pp. 31-4). MAJOR, The Science of Religion 81 Canon MacCulloch, 1 Mr. Clark, 2 and others whose work we have already examined. Thereafter, when ex- pounding the bearing of Comparative Religion upon the claims of Christianity, he shows in detail (a) its essential differences from other religions ; (b) its various permanent elements, and its marvellous power of adaptation to varying conditions ; and (c) its unparalleled racial distribution. An express com- parison is instituted between three selected systems of belief, namely, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, and Christianity, 3 with the purpose of showing that ' the only one of the great existing religions which has any prospect of becoming universal is Christianity '.* ' This is Christianity's especial claim, and the [scientific] study of religion gives it ample support.' 5 It remains true, however, that scores of non-Christian apologists, speaking with equal sincerity, arrive at a very different conviction ! 6 It is to be regretted that, in Mr. Major's book, the several branches of the Science of Religion are not distinguished from one another with sufficient sharp- ness. One is constantly surprised to note an unjustifi- able laxity in the use of terms which have already acquired practical fixity of meaning. It is clear however that, while this publication contains an exposition of Comparative Religion, 7 that designation is continually employed as if it were interchangeable with ' The Science of Religion '. 1 Cf. John A. MacCulloch, Religion and the Modern Mind, pp. 67-73 : vide infra, pp. 106 f. 2 Cf. Peter A. Gordon Clark, ibid., pp. 128-32. 3 Cf. pp. 38 f. ' Cf. p. 45. 5 Cf. p. 47. ' Vide infra, p. 139. 7 Cf. pp. 7, 9-10, 17, etc. 82 COMPARATIVE RELIGION THE THRESHOLD OF RELIGION, by Robert Ranulph Marett. London : Methuen and Com- pany, 1909. Pp. xix., 173. 3s. 6d. Before the death of the late Professor Max Muller, 1 Professor Tylor had begun to plead for the fuller recognition of Anthropology in the official teaching of Oxford University. Subsequently, in a formal memo- randum, 2 he urged that regular courses of lectures dealing with Physical Anthropology, Racial Ethno- graphy, and the Comparative Study of Social and Religious Institutions, should be established without delay. He added that a Readership in Comparative Religion should not be overlooked. This appeal, as it has proved, was not made in vain. In October of last year, a School of Anthropology was inaugurated, 3 the lecture-courses embracing the following subjects : (1) General Anthropology, under the direction of Dr. Tylor as heretofore ; (2) Physical Anthropology ; (3) Psychology, including the Psychological Com- parison of Men of Lower and Higher Types of Culture ; (4) Geographical Distribution of Races ; (5) Pre- historic Archaeology, including Ethnology ; (6) Tech- nology ; (7) Sociology, including Religion, Law, Custom, etc. ; (8) Philology ; and (9) Special Courses of Lectures (as occasion might permit, on selected relevant themes). The foregoing scheme is certainly an ambitious one, but none who are interested in the subject can fail to wish it the fullest success. In helping to carry out this programme, Mr. Marett 1 The splendid Oxford edition of The Sacred Books of the East, in forty-nine volumes, will be crowned in a few months by the appearance of its long-promised Index. " Statement of the Needs of the University, pp. 70-4. Oxford, 1902. 3 Vide infra, pp. 3 18 f. MARETT, The Threshold of Religion 83 and Dr. Farnell are active colleagues, — Mr. Marett lecturing regularly on Primitive Religion (in its rela- tion to social life) and Primitive Social Institutions, while Dr. Farnell deals more particularly with Primi- tive Religious and Moral Ideas. It may be mentioned in passing that both of these teachers, Fellows and Tutors in the same College, represent that type of inquiry — already illustrated in the work of Principal Jevons * — which governs for the time-being the study of Comparative Religion in England. The marked development of this tendency within a recent period is directly traceable to the School of Anthropology at Oxford. 2 According to the teaching supplied at this centre, Comparative Religion is merely a department of Sociology. Mr. Marett, in the fifth chapter of the book now under review, formally describes Compara- tive Religion in these very terms, 3 — adding that it is ' a branch of Social Psychology '.* As a consequence, he is led to give voice to another questionable utter- ance, namely, when he declares that ' anthropologists of the British School . . . [hold] the precise method of their researches in Comparative Religion ... to be, broadly speaking, psychological '. 5 It will not be denied that these affirmations mark the gradual drift of a very radical departure, and that a definite cleavage is beginning to reveal itself among the leaders and teachers of this subject in the British Isles. There can be no possible objection to including 1 Vide supra, pp. 71 f. % Vide infra, pp. 118 f . 3 Cf. p. 145. 'I hold', he elsewhere affirms, 'that religion in its psychological aspect is, fundamentally, a mode of social behaviour ' (p. x). ' Cf. pp. 155-69. 5 Cf. p. 143. G 2 84 COMPARATIVE RELIGION within the range of comparative studies in religion a survey of all those social customs and observances with which Anthropology is making us acquainted ; but care must be taken to distinguish such investiga- tions from the work proper to Comparative Religion. In truth, it seems a mistake to link this latter study with others which, in the majority of cases, have exceedingly little to do — and, in some cases, absolutely nothing to do — with man's religious beliefs. As re- gards rudimentary religion, so little is known of it as yet that its study may very well be carried on in the meantime by sociologists or anthropologists. 1 Con- junctly employed, the psychological method will doubtless ultimately yield results of high interest and consequence. But, for the present, an atmo- sphere of hazy uncertainty envelops this whole inde- terminate arena. 2 Different explorers propound the most varied and contradictory theories to account for practices which they have chanced to see or hear of. It will only be after such studies have been advanced to a stage which seems still to be remote that they can begin to be reckoned a really important factor in the promotion of Comparative Religion. Moreover, the study just named is under absolutely no necessity to determine the origins of man's religious beliefs. That is a matter with which the anthropologist and the historian have certainly most to do. Mr. Marett seems practically to concede this contention when he says : ' The function of a psychological treatment of religion is to determine its history.' 3 Again, ' Com- parative Religion . . . aims at describing . . . the 1 Vide supra, footnote, p. 59. 8 ' For me ', says Mr. Marett, ' the first chapter of the history of religion remains in large part indecipherable ' (p. ix). 3 Cf. p. xvi. MARETT, The Threshold of Religion 85 historical tendencies of the human mind, considered in its religious aspect.' 1 In a word : Mr. Marett's book, though it refers constantly • to Comparative Religion, presents us really with a series of studies in (what is commonly termed 2 ) Primitive Religion. His method, moreover, is distinctly open to challenge. Psychological explanations, in view of some recent attempts to account for the phenomena of man's religious emotions, have for the moment incurred distinct disfavour. No doubt it is true, as remarked by Mr. Marett in his preface, that his essays ' belong to a movement of anthropological thought which has for some time demanded a more permanent vehicle of expression than is afforded by periodical literature '. 3 To vindi- cate this claim, Dr. Farnell has written a book which has been referred to in a previous part of this Survey. 4 It will tend however to postpone the advance of Comparative Religion if, as so often to-day, it con- tinues to be confused with Anthropology, Sociology, or Psychology. THE BEARING OF THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGIONS ON THE SPECIAL CLAIMS OF CHRISTIANITY, by Cyril Charles Martin- dale, S.J. (The Ellerton Essay, Oxford, 1907.) [Not yet published.] It is owing to the kindness of Mr. Martindale that reference can be made to his Ellerton Essay ; for it has not yet been printed, and a considerable time may elapse before it can be sent to press. It will prove 1 Cf. p. 168. 1 Vide supra, footnote, p. 59. 3 Cf. p. xvii. * Vide supra, pp. 13 f. 86 COMPARATIVE RELIGION however, when it appears, to have been quite worth waiting for. The author of this brochure secured a distinguished place as a classical student at Oxford, a fact of which one is reminded by his wealth of allusion to early non-Christian treatises. His work evidences, in a score of ways, his wide and patient research. He is sugges- tive, too, while thus fertile in resource. He arrests one by his boldness, and yet he is conservative in his results. His delineation of the parallels between Christianity and various non-Christian faiths — to which a large section of the present Essay is devoted — is exceedingly well done. 1 He shows himself fully alive to the growing importance of Comparative Religion, and presents us with an excellent account of its method and aims. He emphasizes the fact that it cannot fail to impart to the student a broader charity, and to awaken in his breast a profounder regard for the whole human race. Comparative Religion shows conclusively, he maintains, that the religious con- sciousness in man is necessary, universal, and ineradi- cable. This writer is convinced that all humanity has heard the divine call, to which there has been returned an infinitely varied response. As for Chris- tianity, he thinks it was sent into the world to aid, and to bring to a nobler fruition, the groping efforts of man's natural quest for God. Accordingly, in Mr. Martindale's estimate of it, the Christian religion cannot in any true sense be pronounced merely one faith among many, — the last (it may be, the best) in the long series of the world's soul-struggles after the 1 For a similar undertaking, cf. John A. MacCulloch on ' Comparative Religion and the Christian Faith ' in Religion and the Modern Mind, pp. 80-7 : vide infra, p. 108. MARTINDALE, Comparative Study of Religions 87 ideal. In summing up his conclusions, he feels inclined to say that the comparative study of religions has been of incalculable value, — yet less because it has assisted us in correcting some details pertaining to the historical setting of a religion which so many believe to be ' revealed ', than because it has enabled us to discern its profound spiritual qualities. ' Com- parative Religion ', he declares, ' confirms both the natural and supernatural " value " of religion, the historicity of Christianity, and the transcendency of the latter as unique, adequate, and divine.' It is a pleasure to call attention to this writer, because he is one of those now helping to remove the impression that the Roman Catholic Church cares little about the study of Comparative Religion. That communion has, no doubt, considerable leeway to make up in this connexion, but it is at last bracing itself for this task. 1 Quite recently His Holiness the Pope provided 100,000 fr. for the purpose of maintaining a chair in this department in the Institut Catholique in Paris ; and several other similar foundations have been created elsewhere. Mr. Martindale brought the subject prominently to the fore only a few weeks ago when he read a paper in Manchester, on the occasion of the meeting of the Annual Conference of the Catholic Truth Society. He is at present engaged in editing for that Society, in co-operation with a number of distinguished French and English scholars, a series of studies in the History of Religions. 2 When complete, these monographs will be collected into four or five small volumes, and published at the extremely small price of one shilling each. These 1 Vide supra, pp. 51 f., and infra, p. 138. 2 Cf. Lectures on the History of Religions. In preparation. 88 COMPARATIVE RELIGION books, taken together, will constitute the first com- prehensive English manual, written by Catholics, in which a serious attempt is made to approach the deeper problems presented by the study of Com- parative Religion. THE EVOLUTION OF THE MESSIANIC IDEA. A Study in Compabative Religion, by William Oscar Emil Oesterley. London : Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1908. Pp. xiii., 277. 3s. 6d. This volume furnishes an instance of the applica- tion of the comparative method within a definitely limited area. 1 Incidentally one is reminded of the way in which the doctrine of evolution, now generally accepted, has been immensely strengthened by the progress of Comparative Religion. The nearer the student approaches the actual origins of language, literature, philosophy, art, morals, and (not least) religion, the more he becomes convinced that such domains, if he is really to understand them, must be studied in terms of their genesis and growth. En- tirely unlooked-for disclosures will probably result, and the blind faith of not a few is certain to be dis- turbed and perhaps somewhat rudely shaken ; but this way lies the light. Dr. Oesterley has given ample proof of his com- petency to conduct an undertaking of this character. His other books 2 show him to be a scholar who is sober and persistent. Moreover, since the work now under review was recently ' crowned ' by Cam- 1 Vide supra, pp. 9, 12, 39 f., 56, and infra, p. 133. 2 Cf. The Religion and Worship of the Synagogue. London, 1907 ; The Doctrine of the Last Things. Jewish and Christian. London, 1908; etc. OESTERLEY, Evolution of the Messianic Idea 8q bridge University, whose highest theological degree has been bestowed upon the author, the quality of the book is sufficiently attested. It describes the varying conceptions of a ' Saviour ' which have been held in quarters as remote from one another as Baby- lonia, Egypt, and America. Proceeding upon the hypothesis that fear, a sense of dependence, and a yearning for happiness, account in large measure for the universality of the religious consciousness, Dr. Oesterley traces with care the remarkably wide currency of three parallel world-myths. These primi- tive beliefs are : (a) the Tehom Myth, begotten by the spell of the awe-inspiring and all-devouring Deep ; (6) the Jahwe Myth, in which the hope of an all- conquering Deliverer is variously embodied ; and (c) the Paradise Myth, the dream of a golden future. Dr. Oesterley sketches these parallels with a skilful hand, and in a way which (in spite of the occasional influence of an unrestrained imagination) reveals ex- tensive and penetrative research. The author accounts for the modern belief in Satan by presenting it as a development (legitimate or otherwise) of myths of the first class ; the belief among the Jews in a Mes- siah, by its being a corresponding development of myths of the second class ; and the belief in a Mes- sianic era, by its being a development of myths of the third class. In this way, it is made to appear that the most elementary types of religion — even the feeblest and most fitful glimmerings of superstitious faith — may contain germs of imperishable truth. Concerning the merits of this author's conclusions, there will be of course considerable difference of opinion. But at least the method of the investigator is to be warmly commended. Dr. Oesterley has shown 90 COMPARATIVE RELIGION himself to be sincere, courageous, and even daring. While acknowledging his indebtedness to Breysig's able book, 1 he himself is an independent thinker. He holds that myths arise among primitive peoples because it becomes necessary to give expression to various elementary ideas. Such myths everywhere exist. Dr. Oesterley's thesis is that — certain current stories having been accepted, and adapted for a new employment, by the Jewish Prophets — these myths are to be found to-day in the very heart of Christianity. He contends also that, in like manner, ' Eschatology went through a process of development before it assumed that form which the Gospels have made so familiar to us ' ; 2 but, far from this disclosure proving a source of distress and alarm, the fact that Christ accepted the current Eschatology of his day is one of the proofs that it was substantially true. The writer maintains that ' all Christian doctrine is to be discovered in germ, and in process of development, in earlier forms of belief '. 3 The conception of sin, of the need of a Saviour, and of the hope of salvation, are (he thinks) as old as man himself. Christianity has merely enlarged, enriched, and completed these ideas, — imparting to them, at the same time, a clearness and certitude that have transformed them into concep- tions of an entirely different order. Dr. Oesterley has pointed many to a quarry which they will certainly not omit to work. With Dr. J. G. Frazer, he lays due emphasis upon the fact that ' religion, like all other institutions, has been pro- 1 Cf. Kurt Breysig, Die Entstehung des Gottesgedankens unci der Heilbringer. Berlin, 1905. 2 Cf. The Doctrine of the Last Things, p. ix : vide supra, p. 88. 8 Cf. p. 272. OESTERLEY, Evolution of the Messianic Idea 91 foundly influenced by physical environment , . 1 He utters a final and well-grounded conviction when he writes : ' The study of Comparative Religion must in the future become one of the greatest dangers to the Christian religion, or else — its handmaiden. If the former, then Christian Apologetics will have to find new defensive armour ; but if the latter, then its offensive armour will have become stronger than ever.' 2 This book contains a thoroughly sound piece of work, and is bound to exercise a wide and wholesome influence. RELIGION UND RELIGIONEN, von Otto Pfleiderer. Munchen : J. F. Lehmann, 1906. Pp. 249. M. 4. This volume is mentioned here chiefly because it is frequently alluded to as furnishing an illustration of the trend of contemporaneous studies in Comparative Religion. But such citation reveals a serious mis- apprehension. The field just named is one in which Dr. Pfleiderer rendered in reality little service of a lasting character. He remained a student of history — or better, perhaps, of the philosophy of history — down to the end of his life ; and, since many of his historical data were completely misinterpreted, even his philosophical conclusions, though often subtle and acute, must always be accepted with cautious dis- crimination. We owe him no small debt for his great work on Primitive Christianity ; 3 and also because, in 1 Cf. James G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. v : vide supra, pp. 61 f. a Cf. p. 272. 3 Cf. Das Urchristentum, seine Schriften und Lehren. 2 vols. Berlin, 1887. An amplification of his Hibbert Lectures (1885), this work was issued in a greatly enlarged and improved edition in 1902. It is at present in process of translation into English. 92 COMPARATIVE RELIGION The Early Christian Conception of Christ, 1 he throws a great deal of light upon the religious ideas which were current in the East and in Greece at the com- mencement of the Christian era, — with the purpose of showing how these ideas became reflected in that picture of Christ which is presented to us in the pages of the New Testament. Many of his conclusions, however, are of a decidedly radical order. . As regards the volume now under survey, 2 it cannot truthfully be said that it comes to ' close grips ' with its subject. Like much of the early work of the late Professor Max Muller — while scholarly in its form and aim — it is popular rather than scientific. It consists of a series of Lectures delivered in 1906 to a general assemblage of students of the various Faculties of the University of Berlin. First, we have four preliminary chapters. The great world-religions are thereafter suc- cessively expounded. But the book does not exhibit the writer's usual independence ; rather does it give the impression that he is often speaking merely at second hand. Moreover, even if we estimate the volume exclusively from the historical point of view, it is disappointing and defective. While excellent— as one might safely predict— in all that it has to say concerning Greek religion,. it is singularly inapt in its references to Islam, whilst Vedic religion and modern Hinduism are practically omitted. We do not quarrel with Professor Pneiderer because he gives us uniformly a ' critical ' interpretation of €hristianity and its origins. Some of his most fruitful work — although often in form it is far too brusque and 1 Cf. Das Christusbild des urchristlichen Glaubens. Berlin, 1903. 2 Recently translated as Religion and Historic Faiths. New York 1907. PFLEIDERER, Religion und Religionen 93 dogmatic— has been accomplished in this connexion. It must never be overlooked however that, while Professor Pfleiderer is a teacher whose conclusions are predetermined by an undisguised dislike of the super- natural, he recognizes the essential and abiding truth of Christianity. Nay, more : he has on countless occasions proved himself a masterly critic of those who have sought to minimize the claims of the Chris- tian religion, and to present it before the world in an obscured and unfavourable light. BUDDHA ODER CHRISTUS?, von Friedrich Rittel- meyer. Tubingen : J. C. B. Mohr, 1909. Pp. 35. Pf. 60. Dr. Rittelmeyer's answer to 'the question which he here addresses to himself is published as one of the units in a series known as the Sammlung gemein- verstandlicher Vortrage und Schriften aus dem Gebiet der Theologie und Religionsgeschichte, of which some sixty ' Hefte ' have already appeared. The author feels that this time-worn yet ageless comparison must be made again and again, since doubts are continually arising — anew, or for the first time — in countless inquiring minds. Moreover, as he is confident that the Christian expositor cannot fail to win fresh triumphs by each renewal of this quest — ' wir bei einem solchen Vergleich ja nicht das Geringste zu verlieren haben, sondern nur zu gewinnen V — he enters upon his task with undisguised alacrity. He bases his argument upon the manifest differences which are found to separate Buddha and Christ, each being estimated in the light of his individual manhood. He 1 Cf. p. 4. 94 COMPARATIVE RELIGION concentrates attention, not upon two diverse religions, but upon two representative men. He fixes his reader's gaze upon the personality of two of the greatest reli- gious authorities known in the world to-day. With characteristic and commendable thoroughness, this German writer insists upon our proceeding with him at once to ' die Quellen '. Fortified by facts collected thus at the fountain-head, he sketches, in a series of pictures, the outstanding features of the lives of these two leaders, — their boyhood, their one great purpose in life, their respective rSles as teacher (especially at those critical turning-points which arise in every career), their personality viewed as a whole, and the circumstances surrounding their last moments on earth. Dr. Rittelmeyer's skill in literary antithesis, constantly in evidence, is powerfully exhibited in the paragraph wherein the closing hours of these two religious reformers are portrayed. ' Fur Buddha ist der Tod der langersehnte milde Freund, fur Jesus ist er der dunkle Feind des Menschengeschlechts, der iiberwunden werden muss. Fur Buddha ist das Ster- ben der letzte Ton auf dem die Melodie des Lebens ausruht und ausklingt, fur Jesus war es eine Himmel und Erde erschutternde Frage an Gott. Buddha liess sich willenlos und gliickesfroh von den Wellen des Todesschicksals uberspulen und in ihnen versinken, Jesus ist bebend aber entschlossen im Kahn des Gottvertrauens hinausgerudert, um hinter dem Tod ein neues Land zu finden.' x While pointing out that the strength of Buddha's plea lay in his great protest — the protest of the spirit against the flesh, which is one of the central ' notes ' of Christianity to-day — he feels constrained, nevertheless, to conclude with this 1 Cf. pp. 30-1. RITTELMEYER, Buddha oder Christus? 95 prophetic forecast : ' Buddha wird immer der hoch- geistige Lehrer Einzelner bleiben, der beruhigende Meister besonders abgestimmter, zarter, schwermutiger Naturen, nicht derer, die die Welt erobern. Jesus aber wird, seinem innersten Geist und Wesen nach, der Konig der Menschheit werden.' 1 COMPARATIVE RELIGION, by William St. Clair Tisdall. (Anglican Church Handbooks.) London : Longmans, Green and Company, 1909. Pp. xiii., 132. Is. It is decidedly encouraging that the little hand- book which Dr. Tisdall has just prepared should have been called for in the popular series of manuals to which it belongs. At the same time, if a ready sale has been secured for over a score of shilling volumes dealing with the History of Religions, 2 there is abun- dant reason why a volume — similarly inexpensive and similarly the product of competent scholarship — should now be devoted to an exposition of Comparative Religion. Of course, within the compass of little more than a hundred pages, the treatment accorded to the sub- ject is necessarily compressed and incomplete. The main purpose of this book, however, is to arouse in- terest rather than to satisfy it ; and no doubt many will be reached through these chapters who would only be repelled — or, perhaps, engulfed — if they sought to master the minutiae of the researches of some Con- tinental specialist. Yet Dr. Tisdall is himself an 1 Cf. pp. 34-5. 1 Cf. Religions, Ancient and Modem. 21 vols. London, 1905-1909. Vide supra, second footnote, p. 41. 96 COMPARATIVE RELIGION expert. He has brought to his task the fruits of a wide experience and the keenness of genuine insight. Much of his life has been spent in the East. For many years he acted as one of the representatives of the Church Missionary Society in India and Persia, and thus he has been able to make himself acquainted with several Oriental religions at first hand. His intimate knowledge of Buddhism and Mohammedanism has already been embodied in half a dozen manuals which respectively deal with those faiths. 1 He has always been a student in the true sense of the word, and this aptitude has enabled him to occupy without difficulty his opponent's point of view. Moreover, he too has had his doubts ; a he is in a position accord- ingly to help those who, in the midst of a similar trying experience, are facing a similar grim ordeal to-day. In the circumstances, it was hardly possible for Dr. Tisdall to produce the handbook for which many are still patiently waiting. He was asked to write by those who had a definite purpose in view, and that purpose has greatly curtailed the value of this par- ticular product of his pen. It was inevitable that, in the background of the argument, one should fre- quently detect the shadow of the dogmatist. There is at times an assertiveness and positiveness of opinion which the facts do not really warrant. Nevertheless, this volume is fitted to render ex- cellent service. Its six chapters deal successively 1 Cf., e. g., The Noble Eightfold Path. London, 1903 ; The Original Sources of the Qur'an. London, 1904 ; The Religion of the Crescent. London, 1895 [2nd edition, 1906] ; A Manual of the Leading Muham- madan Objections to Christianity. London, 1904 [2nd edition, 1909] ; etc. s Cf. Mythic Christs, p. v : vide infra, pp. 98 f . TISDALL, Comparative Religion 97 with The Origin of Religion, Incarnation, Sacrifice and Sacrament, Christianity in its relation to the Ethnic Faiths, Immortality, and a summary of the writer's Conclusions. Within the narrow limits of his commission, Dr. Tisdall has utilized his opportunity to admirable purpose. The sketches he presents, while for the most part historical, are interspersed with much competent criticism of a ' comparative ' order. Chapters iv and vi are naturally richer than any of the others in furnishing the sort of illustrations of which we are in quest. In the final chapter the author marshals the evidences which tend to show that God speaks, more or less directly, to every human being, — whether through the adumbrations of philo- sophy, or through the immediate teaching of man's diverse Faiths. 1 Thereafter he shows how, when failure had disappointed all these ardent longings for ' spiritual satisfaction, God spoke to the world ' by His Son '. At the same time, the writer takes occa- sion to affirm that even Christianity brings no man peace except in so far as it succeeds in leading him into living communion with the Father. There is nothing magical about its operations. It is much less ' supernatural ' than many suppose. It is a help merely, not an invariable solvent. It is veritably a channel of grace ; but it would be false to teach that it has done as much in our day, for some men who profess it, as Buddhism or Mohammedanism has done for others who have never moved beyond the boun- daries of their ancestral beliefs. God has indeed spoken through the Jewish prophets, and through Christ ; but the demonstrable advent of these teachers is no disproof that the Highest ' at sundry times and 1 Cf. pp. 116-18. ii 98 COMPARATIVE RELIGION divers manners spake in time past ' through other selected agencies. Rather have we here a proof that man, in the gradual evolution of his life, has become able to receive fuller disclosures of a Light, the un- eclipsed outburst of whose glory will be the supreme revelation of the future. The chief criticism to which this book lies open is that — once more — it is really an apologetic treatise; it is not a scientific exposition. To be sure, no other type of book would have fulfilled the general editor's instructions. But as soon as one reads in the preface that the author hopes to show that (wherever certain specified doctrines are held in common) 'in the ethnic religions they have been so perverted and distorted as to be productive of terrible evils, whereas in the form in which they are taught in Christianity they produce good results V one realizes that the debate is merely a form, the issue being already determined. The writer's thesis, in truth, is ' the divine authority of Christianity, its unquestionable pre-eminence, and its ultimate complete triumph over all its foes ' ! These are hopes, judgements, even convictions ; but they are individual conclusions with which Comparative Religion, per se, has simply nothing to do. MYTHIC CHRISTS AND THE TRUE. A Criticism of S6me Modern Theories, by William St, Clair Tisdall. London : The North London Christian Evidence League, 1909. Pp. vi., 93. 1*. Dr. Tisdall places us still further in his debt ; but he writes, as before, with a distinctly apologetic aim. His purpose is to relieve Christianity of some of the 1 Cf. p. vi. TISDALL, Mythic Christs and the True 99 burdens with which ignorant dogmatism on the one hand, and intellectual and moral apathy on the other, have united in overloading it. In particular, he addresses himself to those who have come to believe that ' certain leading doctrines of Christianity have been borrowed from heathenism '. 1 The likenesses between the Christian religion and many of its prede- cessors have long been cited as an argument against the exclusive claims put forward on behalf of the religion of Jesus. What these likenesses are, Canon MacCulloch 2 and Mr. Martindale 3 have sufficiently indicated. Hence it is sometimes cynically asked : If man invented some of these systems, why may he not have invented all of them ? The five chapters of Dr. Tisdall's book examine in detail the alleged resemblances between Mithra and Christ, Krishna and Christ, Buddha and Christ, the resurrection of Adonis, Attis, and Osiris and the resurrection of Christ, and Ethnic Mythology, i. e. the alleged miracles associated with the birth of Mithra, Krishna, Buddha, Attis, etc., and the virgin birth of Christ. These chapters are written especially for those whose knowledge is aggressive rather than pro- found, but whose antagonistic attitude towards Chris- tianity has nevertheless to be seriously reckoned with. As a manual for those who have to meet this sort of opposition— whether in young men's debating clubs, in open-air meetings held in public parks, etc. — this volume possesses high value, and should certainly not be overlooked. Nay, more ; though popular in aim, 1 C/.p.iv. * Cf. John A. MacCulloch, Religion and the Modern Mind : vide infra, pp. 106 f. 8 Cf. Cyril C. Martindale, The Bearing of the Comparative Study of Religions : vide supra, pp. 85 f. H 2 100 COMPARATIVE RELIGION scholars will find much in these pages that will appre- ciably aid them in advancing the interests of Com- parative Religion. The book is a marvel of cheapness • and, seeing that its subject-matter has now begun to be discussed in unaccustomed places, its appearance is not less welcome than it is significant as a sign of the times. DAS WESEN DER RELIGION UND DER RE- LIGIONSWISSENSCHAFT, von Ernst Troeltsch. Leipzig : B. G. Teubner, 1906. Pp. 30. [Incor- porated in Die Christliche Religion, one of the volumes of Die Kultur der Gegenwart : Ihre Ent- wicklung und ihre Ziele, pp. 461-91. Leipzig : B. G. Teubner, 1906. Pp. x., 752. M. 18.] We are now to speak of a contribution to a work which has long been awaited with genuine interest. The projected publication of Die Kultur der Gegenwart demanded a courage undismayed by the difficulties inseparable from the launching of a huge under- taking ; but doubtless the weight of authority which belongs to the names of its numerous collaborators will ensure for it a large measure of attention and influence. It has been decided to issue it in ' crown quarto ' form ; even then, however, it is likely to extend to over forty volumes. Students of the His- tory of Religions are glad to know that the third volume of Part I — Die Christliche Religion constitutes the fourth volume of the Part just mentioned, 1 but it is the earliest section of the work to come from the press — is devoted exclusively to giving a survey of 1 In a second edition, published in 1909, the title was changed to Geschichte der christlichen Religion. TROELTSCH, Religionswissenschaft 101 Die Orientalischen Religionen. Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, this is one of the thinner volumes of the set ; all the religions of the world other than the Christian religion are, when grouped together, allotted only about half as much space as that assigned to Christianity alone. 1 As a matter of fact, the whole treatment of the subject ' Religion ' is to be com- pressed within two or three volumes. There will be at least two volumes on Philosophy, its history and subdivisions ; five volumes on Literature, the product of ancient and modern times ; two volumes on Art. Oriental and European ; and one volume on Music. These successive tomes, supplemented by two others (introductory in their purpose and furnishing a sort of preface to the entire work 2 ), make up Part I of this truly gigantic project. Subsequent volumes, which are to appear at unfixed intervals, will deal Avith Law, Medicine, Science, Architecture, Machinery, Manufactures, etc., etc. The description of the Christian religion furnished by this new Encyclopaedia is at once careful and com- prehensive ; the names of the contributors are a suffi- cient guarantee of accuracy and thoroughness in the framing of various summary estimates. The history of Christianity, with an account of its dogmatic and ethical teachings, has been sketched in considerable detail. The place and value of Comparative Religion, however, — notwithstanding its growing importance as 1 A revised and enlarged edition of this volume (1906) is projected, when its title will be changed to Die Religionen des Orients und die atigermanische Religion. Several volumes of this great work, indeed, are to be so expanded during revision that they will have to be divided into two. s The initial volume of the series, ' Teil I, Abteilung 1 ', already published, bears the title Die allgemeinen Grundlagen der Kullur der Gegenwart. Leipzig, 1906. 102 COMPARATIVE RELIGION a modem critical discipline, especially as throwing light upon the question of Christian origins — is dealt with in an exceedingly disappointing way. The formal discussion of the topic Das Wesen der Religion has long been familiar to readers of Con- tinental literature, seeing that there cannot be many professors of note in Germany who have not volun- teered an exposition of this enigma. The perplexity of the onlooker, however, has not on the whole been greatly diminished ; on the contrary, it has rather been increased by a plethora of explanations which differ so widely from one another. 1 The conviction tends more and more to deepen that, if there had been less haste in launching contradictory theories, and a good deal more diligence in securing acquaint- ance with the numerous influential factors which underlie the actual problems, the results respectively arrived at would not have been so confidently an- nounced. It is certainly a singular circumstance that, within the domain of theology — Theology, of all the sciences ! — Germany should be willing to take so many leaps in the dark, and to incur so many inevi- table discomfitures. The assignment of this subject in the present instance to Professor Troeltsch awakened, at the outset, a feeling of satisfaction. It was taken for granted that he would skilfully utilize the abundant material which has recently been accumulated by students of Comparative Religion. It seemed certain indeed that he would adopt this course, since he formally undertook to relate his inquiry to current investigations in Religionswissenschaft. His contribu- tion was thus sure of being weighed and carefully 1 Vide supra, p. 10. TROELTSCH, Religionswissenschaft 103 pondered ; at the least, it was likely to be scanned with an eager and wistful glance. Moreover, in a discussion which could scarcely afford to overlook the progress which Comparative ^Religion has been making during the last two decades, it seemed likely that some bold and comprehensive manifesto would be deliberatety framed. These expectations have not been realized. Pro- fessor Troeltsch's statement, it is true, is compressed within very narrow limits ; possibly that fact, taken even by itself, is not without its significance. Then the successive sections into which the exposition is subdivided — Geschichtsphilosophie der Religion, Reli- gionsphilosophie, the Metaphysik der Religion, the Erkenntnistheorie der Religion, etc. — make it abun- dantly evident that this German authority, like so many of his fellow countrymen when engaged in the present quest, has headed his ship towards a Great Lone Sea, — that sea beyond whose horizon so many gallant vessels have passed out of view, and have been heard of no more ! Professor Holtzmann, in the concluding pages of the big volume in which this essay appears, speaks in a more serious tone than Professor Troeltsch adopts ; he speaks also with a fuller recognition of the signify cance of the present situation. His contribution is entitled Die Zukunftsaufgaben der Religion und der Religionswissenschaft. 1 Introducing his admirable paper with a brief retrospect, he goes back as far as the year 1874. Having commended the projects of the late Professor Max Miiller, he writes : ' From that time onward, we observe a science of Comparative Religion grow out of the science of Comparative 1 Cf. pp. 700-29. 104 COMPARATIVE RELIGION Philology and Comparative Ethnology. . . . Thus Christianity becomes drawn into a scheme which is inclusive of all historical religions, the effect of non- Christian influences on the conception of doctrine and worship is demonstrated, and the narrow path along which the idea of revelation (as restricted in the Bible) was formerly moving has been widened into the broad highway of the history of the nations. . . . Hence the exclusively theological treatment — and even the solu- tion — of the problems relative to modern Biblical studies is daily becoming more impracticable. More- over where, as with us, relationship to the Churches makes it appear necessary to maintain special Faculties of Theology, the object in view must by no means be limited to lending assistance to the Churches, and to training preachers who shall meet the views of those persons (whether coteries or majorities) who exercise sway in any particular place, but must extend also to the promotion of science in general.' x It is truly refreshing to find such sentiments penned by so eminent an authority. Though they echo the voice of one who is making his plea verily ' in a wilder- ness ', and though they occupy less than a page of print, they in a measure redeem Die Kultur der Gegen- wart from the charge that, in so far as the study of Comparative Religion is concerned, this Encyclopaedia does not represent the attainments of twentieth- century scholarship. No department of inquiry should feel jealous because this new candidate for favour is evidently winning the majority to its side. It may still be contended that only an ' intellectual prodigy ' (as yet non-existent) is fitted to grapple with the problems of Comparative Religion as Germans think 1 Cf. p. 713. Vide infra, p. 133. TROELTSCH, Religiomwissenschaft 105 they ought to be grappled with ; but men of ordinary mental equipment, if properly trained, will have no cause to lament their lack of success if only they will face this undertaking with patience and energy. Ger- many ' may continue to declare that she resents the intrusion within this domain of men who manifestly can support no claim to scholarly recognition ; but she will never get rid of these intruders — when unfor- tunately they thrust themselves in, here as elsewhere — by foolishly sneering at them. 1 There is a much more excellent way, and it would also prove a much more effective way ; the German universities should open to these men, and to others more worthy than they, the gateways to a fuller and maturer knowledge.' 2 Outside of Germany, the promoters of this science have every reason to feel satisfied with the results already secured, and to be optimistic when they con- template the future. There, 3 as Professor Holtzmann frankly concedes, chairs and lectureships are being successively endowed, special libraries are being col- lected, seminars are being organized, and all the other necessary apparatus for ensuring systematic and thorough inquiry is gradually being provided. Hol- land, France, Great Britain, and the United States have now openly identified themselves with a move- ment whose ultimate success is plainly assured. By and by, it is to be hoped, Professor Troeltsch may change his attitude towards Comparative Religion. If he understood its real value and meaning, he would be the very last to seek to belittle it. 4 1 Vide infra, p. 123. 2 Cf. Jordan, Comparative Religion : Its Genesis and Growth, p. 513. Edinburgh, 1905. 3 Vide infra, pp. 1 21 . 4 Vide supra, p. 9. 106 COMPARATIVE RELIGION RELIGION AND THE MODERN MIND, by various authors. (The St. Ninian Lectures, 1907-1908.) London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1908. Pp. xii., 290. 5s. The title of this volume does not suggest that it would be likely to make any very direct contribution to the study we have in hand. Nevertheless, embedded in the heart of it, 1 there are three chapters which respectively discuss the following topics : Comparative Hierology and the Claims of Revelation, Comparative Religion and the Christian Faith, and Comparative Religion and the Religion of Jesus. An additional lecture, dealing with this general theme when viewed in yet another of its aspects, was undertaken by Pro- fessor H. M. B. Reid ; but that paper does not appear in the printed volume. This book suffers from a handicap which was per- haps inseparable from the circumstances of its origin. It lacks unity. It presents many instances of over- lapping, the discussion of individual topics being occasionally duplicated. Of the lectures, it may per- haps be said : lis ne sont pas bien ensemble. No writer has been able to unfold his subject as he would have been certain to do under more favourable con- ditions. On the other hand, the variety and the many-sidedness of the teaching contained in this volume constitutes one of its chief merits. Protestants and Catholics, Evangelicals and Broad Churchmen, Religionists and Scientists, Rationalists and Indif- ferentists here meet upon the same platform, and give unrestricted utterance to their respective opinions. 1 Cf. pp. 37-133. ROBERTSON, Comparative Hierology 107 This is due to the fact that a new ' Society ' has recently been added to those already existent in the University of Glasgow, — a Society that ' might become a meeting-place for all students (whatever their academic faculty, or their attitude to current beliefs and organizations) who desired to investigate with candour modern problems of religious faith and duty '.* Mr. John M. Robertson, when describing the effect which the study of Comparative Religion has had upon the Christian doctrine of Revelation, writes with his usual astuteness and resource. Perhaps one detects at times a half -veiled note of cynicism, and an undue commendation of the advantages accruing from his own (very liberal) theological position. ' The most civilized and progressive countries are precisely those in which the criticism of Christianity has gone furthest.' 2 With Mr. Robertson's general conclusions, modern theology is quite ready to agree ; for Com* parative Religion has undoubtedly done much to undermine the confidence of Christianity in the rigid exclusiveness of its claims. Even with this author's more personal conviction, namely, that ' there is no preliminary footing for the comparative hierologist as such, save that of universal Naturalism ', 3 we also perfectly agree, — provided the emphasis be placed upon the words we have italicized. And yet our ' ultimate discrimination between religions may [not] be a discrimination in terms of a reasoned estimate of the credibility of given narratives, and the fitness of given philosophemes and moral doctrines '. 4 Among Christians generally, the doctrines of Inspiration and 1 Cf. p. vi. s Cf. p. 53, 3 Cf. p. 56. ' Cf. pp. 56-7. 108 COMPARATIVE RELIGION Revelation — although, in the light of a fuller know- ledge, they have been considerably modified — have certainly not been uprooted by the study of Compara- tive Religion. Canon MacCulloch's contribution reads almost like an epitome of Dr. Tisdall's book, already examined. 1 It reaches the same goal after much the same manner, but by a shorter route. It is not written with an avowedly apologetic purpose, but even the most ardent Christian apologist would not hesitate to give it a welcome. ' Here is the value of the comparative method with reference to the Christian faith. While making Christianity absolute and final, it does not dismiss all other religions as false ; it admits the truth in them. ... It explains the religions which have gone before it ; and so, from the point of view of religious growth, we may regard it [Christianity] as the highest stage — " the crowning achievement " 2 — in a long series of religious developments, yet owing its supre- macy to the nature and Person of its Founder.' 3 Canon MacCulloch demonstrates without difficulty that Comparative Religion has established belief in the universality of religion, that it has revealed how religion has gradually advanced from lower to higher forms, that there are priceless deposits of truth in every religion, etc. Its supreme achievement, how- ever, — in the judgement of this author — is its dis- closure that ' the guesses and fancies of the soul of man, regarding God and things divine, at last found fulfilment in the Christian religion '. 4 1 Vide supra, pp. 95 f. 1 Cf. p. 69. 3 Cf. pp. 91-2. ' Cf. p. 92. Vide, also, this author's discussion in the second series of St. Ninian Lectures, where, when dealing with Comparative Religion CLARK, Comparative Religion 109 Mr. Gordon Clark reveals at once his conception of the function of Comparative Religion when, on the second page of his paper, he refers to ' Christianity,, the universal religion \ x His treatment of the sub- ject goes over much of the ground already covered by his predecessor. His sketch of the beginnings of Comparative Religion, and his summary of what it has taught us concerning the gradual evolution of religion, are deserving of cordial praise ; in both cases, he has combined admirable compactness with a suffi- cient comprehensiveness. Specifying in detail a num- ber of the successive stages, he shows how ' the development of religion . . . proceeded in accordance with the ordinary laws of human progress, and [how] its trend was on the whole upwards \ 2 Thus it came about that there appeared at last the Religion of Jesus, — ' worthy to be called " The Religion ", because it has been able to assimilate all that was good in all other faiths.' 3 This is the conclusion to which the author is ultimately led, — although, to do him justice, Mr. Clark is plainly disturbed by sundry misgivings. He feels that he is somewhat misrepresenting, however reluctantly, the strict quest of Comparative Religion. ' The study itself, he says, ' must be along natural lines. . . . The religion of Jesus is the revelation of God, because [as Comparative Religion demonstrates] it has been evolved by a process, — the majesty, the mystery, the divineness of which is seen in its natural- ness.' 4 Nevertheless, he adds, ' certain facts . . . and the Historic Christ, he institutes an effective comparison between Jesus and various other religious leaders (cf. Religion and the Modern World, pp. 119-74. London, 1909). 1 Cf. first footnote, p. 102. 2 Cf. p. 127. * Cf. p. 129. 4 Cf. pp. 132-3. 110 COMPARATIVE RELIGION stand out as things for which we cannot account by any natural process. . . . Then all lovers of truth will just have to admit that the origin — the cause — of this is not natural but extra-natural.' l PRACTICE AND SCIENCE OF RELIGION. A Study of Method in Comparative Religion, by James Haughton Woods. (The Paddock Lectures, 1905-1906.) New York : Longmans, Green and Company, 1906. Pp. viii., 123. 80 c. Mr. Woods's book is an able and useful mono- graph. It consists of six lectures recently delivered before the students of the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, New York. We are indebted for this volume to the Bishop Paddock foundation, provided by the generosity of Mr. G. A. Jarvis of Brooklyn, some thirty years ago. The topic assigned to Mr. Woods was Comparative Religion. It has been the lecturer's purpose, how- ever, to fix attention upon and to emphasize the necessity of adopting and maintaining a correct mental attitude, if one would interpret aright the materials with which investigators in this department have to do. He writes with an openness of mind which is worthy of all commendation. He is admittedly in search of ' points of contact ' 2 between the faiths of mankind ; he is in quest of the ' common ground, common to many religions '. 2 In this particular, he is in complete accord with Dr. Farnell ; 3 he feels 1 Cf. p. 132. ' Of- PP- vii-viii. 3 Cf. Lewis R. Farnell, The Evolution of Religion, p. 59 : ride supra, pp. 13 f. WOODS, Practice and Science of Religion 111 bound to lay stress, not so much upon the contrasts between religions, as upon their extraordinary agree- ments and resemblances. This author is not altogether happy in point of literary style. His little book is full of weighty thought, — of thought, however, whose weight is more in evidence than its clarity. One is irritated, at times, by ultra academic and philosophic modes of state- ment. Simple ideas are often thrown quite needlessly into a metaphysical form. The discussion throughout is too abstract, being concerned almost entirely with the enunciation and justification of certain general principles. Even the title of the book is ambiguous. Does it stand for The Practice and Science of Religion, or Practice and The Science of Religion ? If the latter supposition be correct, in what sense, exactly, is ' Practice ' to be interpreted ? Does the writer, in effect, call his book Religious Experience and The Science of Religion ? This obscurity — and other simi- lar instances might be cited — is all the more unex- pected, in view of the author's evident ability to make his meaning plain. Mr. Woods lays constant emphasis on the statement that religion is a personal act. 1 It possesses in every case an individuality of its own. ' Nothing imper- sonal, nothing abstract, can pass for religion.' 2 Another man's faith is never more than a cold intel- lectual conception unless the observer can make it, in some measure, a part of his own inner self ; only then does he succeed in transforming it into a factor that lives and can influence his fellows. ' There can be no science unless there be practice,' 3 i. e. we must 1 Cf. p. 23. * Cf. pp. 52-3. 3 Cf. p. 43. 112 COMPARATIVE RELIGION experience the impression that has thrilled our brother, if we would really understand him. Hence the rise of the Science of Religion, which is ' the attempt to give [emphasize, organize, and quicken] a new sense of correspondence between the intensely personal ex- periences of religion and its social or mystical experi- ences.' x ' It displays to us the situations which call forth religious acts, the problems which require solution, and the correspondences between different levels of life.' 2 ' It is the investigation and explana- tion of the religious life.' 3 It follows that Christianity — as Professor Reinach believes * — is not to be re- garded as dwelling apart from every other faith ; it is rather to be viewed as ' one religion among many ', constrained to submit itself without protest to the examination of the most exacting inquisitor. 5 It appears then that the method Mr. Woods recommends has much less to do with ' comparisons ' than one naturally supposed. He utilizes the com- parative method, to be sure ; and he manages it, too, with no little skill. Incidentally, he lays strong emphasis upon the necessity of entrusting this task only to those who have been carefully trained. 6 But his chief concern is to demonstrate that religion con- sists in a ' system of purposes, and a sense of our correspondence to it '.' Thus, yielding to our spiritual aspirations, we are gradually led to the conviction that, ' through the world, one vast purpose runs, one 1 Cf. pp. 9 and 19. ■ Cf. p. 43. « Cf. p. 15. • Cf. Salomon Reinach, Orpheus : Histoire generate des religions, pp, ix, 315 f., etc. Vide supra, p. 60, and infra, p. 123. • Cf. p. 15. • Cf. p. 46. ' Cf. p. 89. WOODS, Practice and Science of Religion 113 life, one plan which we have followed and which for a time we have understood, — a plan which we can accept as the complete fulfilment of all our beliefs, a plan to which all that is best in us is now felt to correspond '. 1 1 Cf. p. 57. GAINS, NEEDS, AND TENDENCIES In conclusion, it may be useful to take a retro- spective glance, and to frame some forecast of the future. The achievements, the requirements, and the imme- diate prospects of Comparative Religion, as disclosed by a review of the period 1906-1909, may be summed up under a few salient headings. 1. Increased Facilities for Pursuing this Study. That Comparative Religion has made a great stride forward during the last four years, none can deny. Various factors have contributed to the attainment of this result. Additional lectureships in Comparative Religion have been established. It is hardly necessary to remind our readers — they must already have noted the fact for themselves — that a large proportion of the books examined in this Survey have been the product of recently created foundations. 1 No subject owes a heavier debt to publications of this sort than Comparative Religion ; 2 and this obligation it grate- fully acknowledges. Very valuable results may be expected from the recognition which Comparative Religion is beginning to receive in the universities of the more progressive countries. Detailed information in this connexion will be furnished on subsequent pages. 3 1 Vide, e. g., the volumes by Messrs. Farnell, Glover, Hall, Jevons, Pfleiderer, Woods, etc. 2 Vide supra, p. 42. 3 Vide infra, pp. 121 f., 129 f., etc. I 2 116 COMPARATIVE RELIGION The approaching foundation of a School of Oriental Studies in London, endowed by ample grants made by the Government and by the great commercial Com- panies of the metropolis, will undoubtedly lend an immense impulse to the study of Comparative Religion in Great Britain and elsewhere. In a word, much has been gained thus far ; and the whole trend of present tendencies is most hopeful. But much remains to be done before students can be supplied with these facilities for further study which to-day are absolutely essential. Lectureships, for example, are not likely to furnish _ an adequate or permanent solution of the problem with which their generous founders are courageously grappling. On the one hand, a certain risk is inseparable from the too rapid popularizing of questions which demand prolonged inquiry and reflection. On the other hand, in so far as these foundations have been created hitherto, they have rarely escaped the restraint of denominational control. That is to say, they have been called into existence for the express purpose of supporting some particular type of theology. Within their limited range, lectureships have undoubtedly rendered good service, and they have added (and will continue to add) not a few authoritative treatises to our libraries ; but, too frequently only popular or openly apologetic in their aim, they need to be sup- plemented by expositions of a more strictly scientific character. 1 Happily the literature of this subject has already begun an advance on broader lines. There is an excellent prospect indeed that the experience of those who were pioneers in promoting the advent of the * Vide infra, pp. 130 f., etc. GAINS, NEEDS, AND TENDENCIES 117 History of Religions -will be duplicated presently within another domain. Handbooks of Comparative Religion, inexpensive yet thoroughly competent, will be published before long. This study is finding its way into the programmes of various important Con- gresses, — ecclesiastical, philosophical, scientific, socio- logical, etc. Special university certificates and diplomas may now be obtained by successful candi- dates in this field. These facts, and others of a similar kind, attest the growing importance of a discipline which is slowly forging its way to the front. 2. An Authoritative Exposition of its Range and Limitations. Over and over again, in the course of this Survey, it has been made clear that scholars have not yet definitely fixed the boundaries of Comparative Religion. 1 Some regard it as a central and unfettered department of investigation, clothed with an au- thority of its own and having a right to be heard with respect in every general council of the sciences ; others regard it as a subdivision merely — a small, and therefore not a very important subdivision — of modern tentative inquiry. During the last few years, certain centres of inquiry have strongly influenced research in Comparative Religion ; and the principles severally propounded, carried not infrequently to unwarrantable extremes, have tended to- mislead those who have too hastily adopted them. There is, for example, the Ethnological school, the Psychological school, the Sociological school, 2 and other kindred groups of investigators, all of whom are now actively interesting themselves in the study of religion. 1 Cf. the differing opinions of Farnell, Frazer, Jevons, etc. * Vide supra, pp. 71 , 83 f., etc. 118 COMPARATIVE RELIGION Dominating all others however (inasmuch as its range is wider than that of any of the rest), there is the ' new ' Anthropological school whose British head- quarters are at present at Oxford. 1 It has already been shown that the methods inseparable from this mode of inquiry are applicable only in a limited measure to the study of Comparative Religion. 2 The present prominence of this tendency makes it clear that, unless it can be checked, it will certainly lead to some very mischievous consequences. In so far as Oxford is concerned, students do not forget that its quondam attempt to base Comparative Religion upon a study of Philology has long since been abandoned. Moreover, while Dr. Farnell and Mr, Marett — omitting all reference, for the moment, to Drs. Tylor, Jevons, Frazer, etc. — are anthropologists whose researches have won our hearty gratitude, they have already deliberately dissociated themselves from many of the anthropological doctrines that were taught in Oxford less than twenty years ago. How long will some of their present convictions remain unshaken ? In par- ticular, how long will they continue to seek the arcana of religion in its lowest and ' savage ' forms ? One of the severest critics of this school is Principal Fairbairn, and his arraignment has never been suc- cessfully met. 3 ' Mere ethnographical studies ', he writes, ' can never supply us with a scientific explana- tion of religion, — since religion is explained only as it is traced to causes as common and as constant as itself.' 4 Or again : ' Our modern anthropologies are, 1 Vide infra, pp. 82 f. 2 Vide supra, pp. 19, 56, 59, 84 f., etc. 3 Cf. likewise the criticism voiced by Professor Foucart : vide supra, p. 59. 1 Cf. Andrew M. Fairbairn, Studies in the Philosophy of Religion and History, p. 351. London, 1876. GAINS, NEEDS, AND TENDENCIES 119 in heart and essence, as speculative as mediaeval scholasticism, or as any system of ancient meta- physics. Indeed the most barbarous metaphysical jargon which has ever been foisted upon patient thought is that which uses terms like " taboo ", " totem ", " fetish ", " ghost ", to denote indiscrimi- nated and most dissimilar ideas, — ideas which are often, on the most unsifted and dubious evidence attributed, first, to some scarcely known tribe ; then, by an act of audacious generalization, to all primitive peoples, and finally to aboriginal man. There is no region where a healthy and fearless scepticism is more needed than in the literature which relates to ethno- graphy. There is no people so difficult to understand, and to interpret, as a savage people ; there is no field where competent interpreters are so few and so rare, where unlearned authorities are so many and so rash, and whose testimonies are so contradictory, or so apt to dissolve under analysis into airy nothings.' * Nothing is more essential at the present juncture, in the interests of clear thinking and of utilizing a great opportunity, than the securing of a common agreement among scholars touching the exact area which Comparative Religion covers. 2 The time is surely past when this subject can reasonably be assigned by modern university authorities to the de- partment of Natural History, or even to that of Lan- guages and Literature ! 3 A notable advance will be made at Great Britain's oldest university when 1 Cf. Andrew M. Fairbairn, The Philosophy of the Christian Religion, p. 204. London, 1902. * Cf. Jordan, Comparative Religion ; Its Method and Scope, pp. 13-15. Vide supra, pp. 74 f. 3 Cf., e. g., the successive Schedules of Lectures, issued each term by the University of Oxford. 120 COMPARATIVE RELIGION Comparative Religion shall be studied there, not as a branch of Anthropology or Sociology, but explicitly and definitely as Religion ; and when it shall be fostered, not in the interest of any ' ism ' whether Christian or merely Theist, but rather as an agency which helps to lay bare the roots of man's spiritual being, and to explain those high spiritual experiences which he rightly covets and reveres. Happily evidences are not wanting that a general change of attitude has at last begun to manifest itself. A separate and distinctive r61e has now in many quarters been conceded to Comparative Religion, and this study has been given a definite status among its numerous sister sciences. ' A Comparative History of Religions ' was a suitable enough title, a generation ago,, for books which undertook to expound this sub- ject ; *■ but only a few writers select that title to-day. ' The Comparative Study of Religions ' 2 — or, better, ' The Study of Comparative Religion ' 3 — is decidedly more to the point, seeing that it represents with greater accuracy the stage to which scholarship has now been advanced. Experts in this field are not, technically speaking, historians ; they are familiar of course with the products of historical research, but 1 Cf. James C. Mol'f'at, A Comparative History of Religions. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1871-1873 ; or, more recently, Baldassare Labanca, Prolegomeni delta storia comparaliva delle religioni. Lugano, 1909 ; Cyril C. Martindale, Catholics and the Comparative History of Religions. London, 1909 ; etc. * Cf. Lewis R. Farnell in The Evolution of Religion, pp. 1, etc. : vide supra, pp. 13 f. ' Cf. any Annual Catalogue of Union Theological Seminary, New York. Cf. also the terms Religionsvergleichung and Religionsvergleiche as used in the series of booklets known as the ' Religionsgeschichtliche Volksbucher ' ; and Religione comparata, as adopted by Professor Raffaele Mariano : vide supra, pp. 35 f. It may be remarked that the British Museum Catalogue favours the same practice. GAINS, NEEDS, AND TENDENCIES 121 {apart from exceptional cases) they do not feel bound to conduct such researches themselves. What is more, they are not specially concerned with the purely historical method, — save in so far as, by occasional tests, they assure themselves that it has been com- petently applied. Their own special instrument of inquiry, the one upon which they invariably rely, is the critical and comparative method. 3. International Collaboration among Scholars. It is very interesting to mark the relative amount of assistance which different countries are at present lending towards the advancement of this study. Some of those whose investigations are still fruitful in inspiring contemporary leaders are no longer with us. The contributions they were in a position to furnish were often, it is true, achievements of a purely pre- liminary character. Nevertheless, they were laying the foundations of a science which, in their day, could not have been successfully inaugurated. Viewed in this light, the world's indebtedness to them is simply immeasurable. It would be strange indeed if, among their successors, an appreciation of their worth and influence did not widen with the passing of the years. Belgium has not ceased to lament the loss it incurred when death claimed Professor de Harlez, whose forceful pen was often employed in support of this new branch of inquiry. 1 Fortunately, however, that country still possesses in Count Goblet d'Al- viella one of the warmest friends which Comparative 1 Cf. Charles de Harlez, Vtdisme, Brahmanisme, et Christianisme. BruxelJes, 1881 ; La religion nationale des Tartares orientaux, Mand- chous el Mongols, comparie a la religion des anciens Chinois. Louvain, 1887 ; etc. This scholar's translation of the Zend Avesta (3 vols., 1875-1877) will keep his name in perpetual remembrance. 122 COMPARATIVE RELIGION Religion has ever been privileged to secure. 1 The names of Capart, 2 Cumont, 3 and de la Vallee Poussin 4 — not to mention others — are also recalled, and very gratefully recalled, by all who are now at work in this field. Denmark rightly holds in honour the important results garnered by Westergaard 5 and Fausboll. 6 It has of late, through the researches of Vodskov 7 and Lehmann, 8 contributed effectively towards advancing our knowledge of primitive religion. France will always enjoy the credit of being one of the first countries to take a practical interest in this study. And Renan, 9 Reville, M and Marillier 11 I It is quite unnecessary to cite here the titles of this author's well- known works ; but see, in this connexion, his Le Congris de VHistoire des Religions a Oxford. Liege, 1908. * Cf. Jean Capart, Les debuts de tart en Sgypte. Bruxelles, 1904 ; numerous contributions to the Revue de Vhistoire des religions. Paris ; etc. * Cf. Franz Cumont, Textes el monuments figure's relatifs aux mysieres de Mithra. 2 vols. Bruxelles, 1895-1899 ; Les mysteres de Mithra. Paris, 1900 [2nd edition, 1902] ; Les religions orientates dans lepaganisme romain. Paris, 1907 [2nd edition, 1909] ; etc. 4 Cf. Louis de la Vallee Poussin, Le Vidisme. Paris, 1909. [A com- panion-volume, entitled Le Brahmanisme, will follow next year.] 6 Cf. Niels L. Westergaard, Bemcerkninger over de persiske hellige Skrifters Alder og Hjemstaun. Kjffbenhavn, 1852. * Cf. Michael V. Fausboll, Jatakatthavannana. 6 vols. Kj0benhavn, 1875-1896 ; Indian Mythology according to the Mahabharata. London, 1902 ; etc. ' Cf. Hans S. Vodskov, Sjceledyrkelse og Naturdyrkelse. Kj0ben- havn, 1890-1897. * Cf. Edvard Lehmann, Die Anfdnge der Religion und die Religion der primitiven Volker. (Die Kultur der Gegenwart, Part I, Volume III, pp. 1-29.) Berlin, 1906 ; an article on ' Religionsgeschichte ' in the latest (third) edition of the Realencyklopadiefiir Protestanlische Theologie und Kirche. 24 vols. Leipzig, 1896- . In progress ; etc. Cf. Ernest Renan, Hisloire des origines du Christianisme. 8 vols. Paris, 1863-1883 ; Le Judaisme el le Christianisme. Paris, 1883 ; Hisloire du peuple Priesthoods . . . .60' Primers and popular publica- tions . . . .41 Primitive Religion. See Religion. Princeton Theological Seminary. See Seminaries. Prophets of Israel. The . 53- Protestantism and Comparative Religion . . .136 Psychology. Recent studies in 15, 83, 128, 139- INDEX 157 Psychology (conl.) — page A popular method of re- search. . 15,83,117 See Schools op Thought. Qualifications demanded by Comparative Religion . 134 Rbid, Henry Martyn Beck- WITH. Studies in Comparative Re- ligion .... 106 Relnach, Salomon. A student of primitive re- ligions . . .37 A skilful popularizer . 38 Cvltes, mythes, et religions (1905- ) . . 37 f Orpheus: Histoire generate des religions (1909) 60, 112, 123, 142 Religion. The origin of 78. 84, 97 Due to fear ? . . .89 A quest for happiness ? . 89 A product of matiiier knowledge ? . . 144 A sense of dependence ? . 89 The study of . .3, 13, 101 Every faith worthy of study 108, 141, 144 The evolution of . 108, 109 The very breath of man 38, 140 An individual experience 38, 111 Its universality . 86, 108 A yearning for God . 70 A response to an inner di- vine call . . 86, 97 1. Primitive Religion. Still very imperfectly un- derstood 8, 59, 84 f, 118 f See Fabnell, Lehmann, Jevons, Marett, Rei- NACH. 2. The History of Religions. 1 Popular expositions . 41, 95 Its status as a science . 15 Its copious literature 4, 32, 1 28 Not to be confused with Comparative Religion 61, 75 Religion (cont.) — page Nor with the Science of Religion . . .72 International Congresses 47, 128 Babylonian . 26, 40, 53, 140 Celtic . . . .53 Egyptian 52 f, 58, 124 A good norm when in- stituting a compara- tive study of religions 58 See Foucabt. Greek . . .53, 124 Greatly influenced by anthropomorphism 57 Selected as a norm of comparison by Dr. Farnell . . .56 See Bertholet, Dtj- eoobcq, Fabnell, Gloveb, Pflei- JDEBER. Persian . . .53, 140 Soman . . . .53 Semitic . . . .53 See Boitsset, Foblong, Kellogg, Lehmann, Pfleiderer, Tisdall, Warren. 3. Comparative Religion. See Comparative Religion. 4. The Philosophy of Religion. Its copious literature . 4, 79 Especially cultivated in Germany 4, 7, 10, 102, 123 See Bousset, Mariano, Pfleideeer, Teo- ELTSCH. 5. The Psychology of Religion. A popular modern study 15, 83, 117, 139 6. The Science of Religion. Its origin . . .112 Not to be confused with Comparative Religion . 81 Nor yet with the History of Religions . . .72 See Goblet d'Alviella, Major, Max Mullee, Tboeltsoh, Woods. Religion and the Modern Mind (1908). . . 81,106 Religion and the Modem World (1909) . . .109 Religion. Die christliche .100 1 Individual Religions (e. g. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, etc.) are indexed under their respective initial letters. 158 INDEX PAGE Religion. Tlie World's (1904- ) 41 Religion und Religionen (1906) 91 Religione comparata . 35, 120 Religions. The classification of. See Classification of Religions. The History of. See Re- ligion : The History or Religions. Mutual interdependence of 51 Contributions they sever- ally furnish . . 21, 66, 69 Their fundamental unity . 145 Religions Ancient and Modern (1905- ) . . 41,95 Religions of the World (1894) . 41 Religions comparers . . 123 Religionsgeschichte . 8, 122 See Religion : The His- toky op Religions. Religionsgeschichtliche Volhs- bucher (1904- ) . 48, 120 hie 4, 7, 10, 102, 103, 123 See Philosophy op Re- ligion. Religionsvergleichung . . 120 Religionen. Die orientalischen (1906) . . . .101 Religionen. Die Welt- (1907) . 123 Renan, Ernest. Histoire des origines du Christianisme. (1863-83) 122 Le Juddisme et le Chris- tianisme (1883) . . 122 Histoire du peuple d'Israel (1887-94) . . .122 Requirements (Current) of Com- parative Religion . .115 Resurrection. Theories of a . 62 Revealed Religion . . 87, 137 Revelation. The doctrine of 98, 104, 106, 107 Reviews. See Periodicals. Revtlle, Albert. ProUgonUnes de Vhistoire des religions (1881) . 122 Histoire des religions ( 1883- 88) ... 122 Risks attendant upon a too rapid popularizing of Comparative Religion 39, 116 Rites . . . .14, 16, 60 Rittelmeyer, Friedrich. Buddha oder Christw ? (1909) .... 93 PAGE Ritual . . . .14, 55, 60 Rivoibe, Enrico. A promoter of the scien- tific study of religion . 126 Robertson, John Mackinnon. Christianity not ' final ' . 107 Comparative Religion and the doctrine of revelation 107 Roman Catholicism and Com- parative Religion 51, 87, 137 A mistaken aloofness 53, 87, 138 Rydberg, Abraham Viktor. Vndersokningar i germanislc Mythologi (1886-89) . 126 Sacraments . . . .97 Sacred Books of llie East (The). See Lilly, Max MUlleb. Sacrifice, The doctrine of 37, 59, 60, 71, 97 Saintyves, Pierre. Les merges meres et les naissances miraculeuses (1908). . . .123 Salvation. The quest for 29, 90 Sammlung gemeinverstdndlicher Vortrage und SchHften (1896- ) . . .93 Sanday, William, Canon. An open-minded theolo- gian .... 136 A New Marcion (1909) . 136 Satan. Origin of the belief in . 89 Saviour. The conception of a 89 f Scepticism . . . 63, 119 Scholasticism . . . 119 School of Oriental Studies, London . . 77, 116 Schools of Thought : Anthropological . . 117 Philological . . .118 Psychological . 83, 117, 140 Sociological . 71, 83 f, 117 Science of Religion. The. See Religion: The Science op Religion. Seminaries. Theological : Hartford, Conn. . . 69 Princeton, N. J. . 25, 26 Protestant Episcopal, N.Y. 110 Western, Pittsburgh, Pa. . 26 Union, N.Y. . 65, 120, 132 See Colleges. Seminars . . . .105 INDEX 159 PAGE Shinto 15 Sin. The doctrine of 20, 29, 32, 78, 90 Smith, George. Correspondence in the Lon- don Daily Telegraph . 25 The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876) . . 25 Smith, William Robertson. The Religion of the Semites (1889) . . .124 Snowden, James Henry. Theology less dogmatic than formerly . . 143 Sociology. Recent studies in . 128 A contemporary aggressive school. . 15,83,117 Its method defective . 59 v. Comparative Religion 39,71 See Fabnkt.l, Fbazeb, Jevons, Marett. Soderblom, Nathan, Arch- bishop. La vie future d'apres le mazdeisme (1901) . . 126 Fram/mande Religions- urkunder (1908) . . 126 Studiet av Religionen (1908) 126 Soul. The doctrine of the trans- migration of the 49 Specialization essential to suc- cess in Comparative Re- ligion . . 13, 75, 133 Its accompanying risks . 133 Spiritism . . . .49 Standards of comparison. Valid 144 Stetner, Rudolf. Das Christenthum als mys- tische Thatsache (1902) . 124 Stoics, The . . . .63 Superstition . . . 63, 66, 90 Symbolism . . . .16 Sympathy an essential qualifica- tion for success in Com- parative Religion 27,28,65,134,145 Sweden in relation to Com- parative Religion . . 126 Switzerland and Comparative Religion . . .127 Taboo . Taoism . 37, 119 . 15 PAGE Technology The study of . 82 Tendencies of current studies in Comparative Religion . 115 Tebtullian. His defence of Christianity 63 See Glover. Tests (Religious) abandoned . 144 Theological Seminaries. See Seminabies. Theological unrest . . 131, 141 Theology unfriendly towards Comparative Religion . 135 Becoming more tolerant 66, 135, 139, 143 Faculties of . 76, 104, 133 Undenominational Schools of . . .132 Comparative 20, 25, 29, 31, 78, 108, 127 See Freeman Clarke,Kel- LOGG, MacCuIXOCH. Theosophy and Transmigration 49 TlELE, COBNELIS PeTBUS. Vergelijkende Geschiedenis der egyptische en mesopo- tamische Godsdiensten (1869-72) . . .125 De Vrucht der Assyriologie (1877). . . .125 Elements of the Science of Religion (1897-99) . 125 Grundzuge der Religions- wissenschaft (1904) . 125 Tisdall, William St. Clatb. An apologetic writer 96, 98 The Religion of the Crescent (1895). ... 96 The Noble Eightfold Path (1903). ... 96 The Original Sources of the Qur'an (19:.I4) . .96 A Manual of the Leading Muhammadan Objections to Christianity (1904) . 96 Comparative Religion (1909) 95 Mythic Christs and the True (1909). . . 96,98 Tolerance increasing. Religious 143 Often unduly expansive . 27 Totemism . . . 37,49 Was it man's earliest faith? 38 See Bebtholet, Frazer, Reinach. Tot/tain, Jules. Etudes de mythologie et d'histoire des religions an- tiques (1909) ■ . .123 160 INDEX PAGE Toy, Crawford Howell. Judaism and Christianity (1890). . . .127 Training in theology desirable if one would master Com- parative Religion . 133 f in the use of the com- parative method essen- tial . . 74, 105, 135 Transactions of the Third Inter- national Congress for the History of Religions (1908). . . .47 Transmigration . . .48 Trinity. The doctrine of the 32 Troeltsch, Ernst. Unfriendly towards Com- parative Religion . . 9 Das Wesen der Religion und der Religionswissenschaft (1906). . . .100 Truth the ultimate quest in re- ligion 130, 137, 139, 144 Tylor, Edward Burnett. The Oxford School of An- thropology . . .118 Statement of the Needs of the University (1902) . 82 Undenominational Schools of Theology . 132 United States (The) See America. Unity in religion. in any ab- solute sense unobtain- able . 146 Universities (The) and Compara- tive Religion Berlin . 92 Bombay . . 67 Boston . . 25, 127 California . 132 Cambridge . 89, 125 Glasgow . . 107 Harvard . 25, 127, 132 Italian . . 35, 75, 77 London . . 125 Manchester . 125 Oxford 55, 82, 119, 125 Rome . 77 Sheffield . . 126 Vpsalo, . . 126 Vanderbili . 132 Yak . . 132 PAGE Vedism . . . .122 Virgdl. Influence on contemporary religion . . .63 Virgin births . . .99 Vodskov, Hans S. A critical student of primi- tive religions . .122 Sjceledyrkelse og Naturdyr- kelse (1890-97) . . 122 Vollers, Karl. Die Weltreligionen (1907) . 123 Vollmer, Hans A Jesus und das Sacdenopfer (1905). . . .124 Warren, William Fairfield. An early supporter and ex- positor of Comparative Religion . . 25, 127 The Religions of the World and the World-Religion (1900). . . .127 The Earliest Cosmologies (1909). . . .127 Westergaard, Niels Ludwig. A student of Zoroastrian- ism . . . .122 Bemoerkninger over de per- siske hellige Skrifters Alder og Hjemstaun (1852). . . .122 Wilde, Henry. Founder of the Oxford Lectureship in Compara- tive Religion . . 55 Wisdom of the East (The) (1905- ) . . .41 Woods, James Haughton Effective employment of the comparative method 1 12 Necessity of preserving an open mind . . . 110 Practice and Science of Re- ligion (1906) . . 110 World's Religion (The) . . 41 Worship of the dead . . 57 Zoroastrianism 15,33 v. Judaism . 40 See Forlong, Wester- , gaard. f