127657 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY HEW YORK - BOSTON * CHICAGO DALLAS ATLAHTA SAM nUHOSCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIXICTD . LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA* LTD, TOXOHTO NEXT STEBh-IN RELIGION AN ESSAY TOWARD THE COMING RENAISSANCE BY ROY WOOD SELLARS, Ph.D. Author of "Critical Realism," "The Next Step in Democracy," etc. gotfe THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 A.U right* reserved OOPYBIGfHT, 1918 BY THE MAOMILLAN COMPANY Set up and eleotrotyped. Published, August, 1918 TO HELEN STALKER SELLAES THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED FOREWORD The purpose of this book is positive and construc- tive, although it may not at first appear such to the reader whose inherited beliefs are freely challenged. But let the reader ponder the fact that the deepest spiritual life has always concerned itself with the ap- preciation and maintenance of values. He who ac- knowledges, and wishes to further, human values can- not be said to be irreligious or unspiritual. The center of gravity of religion has been openly changing for some time now from supernaturalism to what may best be called a humanistic naturalism. The history of this change is traced in many of the chapters of the book. There have been many steps forward in the past, for every age must possess its own religion, a religion concordant with its knowledge and expressive of its problems and aims. The sincerity and ade- quacy with which this necessary task is done measures the spiritual greatness of the particular age. I have called the book The Next Step in Religion because the time is ripe for one of the great steps for- ward. The setting of religion must be adjusted to man's knowledge. Let it not be feared that man's spiritual life will be injured thereby* Rather will it be made saner, healthier and more creative. The first phase of religion reflected man's helpless- ness and fear. He peopled his surroundings with con- scious powers, sometimes adverse, sometimes friendly, but etTiiejr siave. As man always jealous; r Man?pe<?aipe became less of a savage, these, gods of his fancy be- nobler. But ;stii& *kcted like to came they r magnets draw his attention away from his own problems. The coming phase of religion will reflect man's power over nature and his moral courage in the face of the facts and possibilities of life. It will be a religion of action and passion, a social religion, a religion of goals and prospects. It will be a free man's religion, a religion for an adult and aspiring democracy. A book must in the main carry its own credentials. But there may be those who will wish to carry the quest further and deeper. To those interested in my share in this larger work I may mention my Critical Realism and The Next Step in Democracy. R. W. SELLAKS. Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 5, 1918. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I SUGGESTIONS 1 II THE AGE OF MYTH 18 III STORIES OP CREATION * . SO IV MAGIC AND RITUAL 44 V THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY 58 VI THE PROPHET OF NAZARETH 72 VII THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIANITY ... 84 VIII THE CONFLICT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND THEOL- OGY 98 IX THE LIMITS OF PERSONAL AGENCY . .110 X Do MIRACLES HAPPEN? 123 XI THE SOUL AND IMMORTALITY 138 XII THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 153 XIII RELIGION AND ETHICS 169 XIV THE CHURCH AS AN INSTITUTION THE CATH- OLIC CHURCH 187 XV THE CHURCH AS AN INSTITUTION PROTES- TANTISM 198 XVI THE HUMANIST'S RELIGION 211 THE NEXT STEP IN RELIGION CHAPTER I SUGGESTIONS MORE than people are consciously aware, a new view 1 of the universe and of man's place in it is forming . It is forming in the laboratories of scientists, the studies of thinkers, the congresses of social workers, the as- semblies of reformers, the studios of artists and, even more quietly, in the circles of many homes. This new view is growing beneath the old as a bud grows beneath its covering, and is slowly pushing it aside. While the inherited outlook, still apparently so strong, is losing effectiveness and becoming a thing of conventions and phrases, the ideas and purposes which are replacing it possess the vigor and momentum of contact with the living tendencies and needs of the present. Mankind grows away from its traditional beliefs as inevitably as does the boy or girl from childhood fancies, and often with much the same lack of realization. But the time is certain to come to both when the change is pressed home and there is need for interpretation and se- rious self-communing. At such a time, kindly yet uncompromising and veracious explanation of the nature and implications of the crisis is the course dic- tated by wisdom. Nothing can be more cruel, disor- to ganizing, and, in a way, insulting than the attempt 2 THE NEXT STEP IN RELIGION harmonize what cannot in the long run be harmonized. The agony is then sure to be long drawn out and the I feel strength of soul, given by fearlessness, is lost. that the first law of personality is spiritual courage. Actions and methods founded on a doubt of this pri- mary law lead to a blunting of the fine edge of the self, an injury greater than which can scarcely be conceived. In this day of testing, when so few have been found lacking in courage and the capacity for self-sacrifice, it seems peculiarly fitting that spiritual values and be- liefs be boldly thrown into the arena, there to prove themselves. In the years after the Great War, man- kind must build its life afresh and it will be wisest to see that the foundation is a sound one. And, as a matter of social psychology, I doubt that a people which is unwilling to look carefully to the framework of its social and spiritual edifice can build a noble mansion. Mechanical and cleverness will not be efficiency enough j for this task of spiritual creation. We must find last- ing values around which to build a humane life. And this, also, is a kind of warfare. Some have expressed to me a doubt whether America is prepared for this effort at reconstruction of a basic, yet intangible, sort. I have hopes, although not blind ones. I refuse to take 'the vulgarities and ignorances of popular evangelists as completely diagnostic of America's soul. In the following pages, which are devoted to a clear statement of the new view of man and nature which, in its essentials, has come to stay, I shall act according to this law of personality, to wit, spiritual courage. I shall explain the spiritualized naturalism to which we are in the ascending same spirit that the scientist pre- sents his facts impersonally, calmly, and simply* SUGGESTIONS 3 Such, at least, is my purpose and desire. What I write here is in its way a confession of faith. The values and loyalties which I shall proclaim as true, redemptive and invigorating are those which my own life and con- crete reflection have selected. In them I see the possi- bility of high spiritual attainment. The new view of the universe is founded upon, influ- enced by, and has for its necessary setting, the exact knowledge which the various special sciences, mental as well as physical, have been accumulating. This knowledge is rounding into something of the nature of a whole whose interpretation does not admit of doubt. Incomplete in detail though his knowledge be, man is no longer in the dark as to the main features of the world and his own origin and destiny. He knows that he is an inhabitant of a small planet in one of the many solar systems of the stellar universe, that he is the product of an age-long evolution in which variation and sur- vival have been the chief methods of advance, that his mind as well as his body has its natural ancestry. While it will always remain a wonder, so to speak, that there is a universe in which and to which we awaken, it is equally certain that the only sensible thing to do is to seek to find out its character and laws. Is it not like exploring the chambers and corridors of a house in which one shall live for a stated period? As a matter of fact, man has always been curious about his world. Yet before he hit upon the proper methods of investigation, he could only guess and dream too about it, under the sway of hopes and fears which easily threw themselves like gigantic shadows before him. The fire of his untrained intelligence was feeble and unpenetrating and, so, distorted the world which it 4 THE NEXT STEP IN RELIGION dimly revealed. The result was what must be called the older religious view of the world a view which saw personal and super-personal agency at the heart of things. This primitive interpretation of the world we shall be led to criticize, but, in so doing, we shall be the servants of truth and of a more adult spirituality. It is not surprising that the patiently acquired knowledge, obtained by science, philosophy and a ma- tured human wisdom, has been found to conflict with the first interpretation of the world. The recognition of this conflict dates back now some centuries the warfare between science and religion also has its his- tory but each generation has seen the addition made! of some new element to the clash which is leading man to a new view of the world.