Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Contents
- CHAPTER I EVOLUTION AND RELIGION
- CHAPTER II THE EVOLUTION OF THE BIBLE
- CHAPTER III THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: THE OLD THEOLOGY
- CHAPTER IV THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: THE NEW THEOLOGY
- CHAPTER V THE EVOLUTION OF THE CHURCH
- CHAPTER VI THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIAN SOCIETY
- CHAPTER VII THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL
- CHAPTER VIII THE SECRET OF SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
- CHAPTER IX CONCLUSION: THE CONSUMMATION OF SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
CHAPTER II - THE EVOLUTION OF THE BIBLE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Contents
- CHAPTER I EVOLUTION AND RELIGION
- CHAPTER II THE EVOLUTION OF THE BIBLE
- CHAPTER III THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: THE OLD THEOLOGY
- CHAPTER IV THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: THE NEW THEOLOGY
- CHAPTER V THE EVOLUTION OF THE CHURCH
- CHAPTER VI THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIAN SOCIETY
- CHAPTER VII THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL
- CHAPTER VIII THE SECRET OF SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
- CHAPTER IX CONCLUSION: THE CONSUMMATION OF SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
Summary
According to Max Müller, religion consists in “the perception of the Infinite under such manifestations as are able to influence the moral character of man.” According to Professor Le Conte, evolution is “continuous progressive change, according to certain laws, and by means of resident forces.” According to the evolutionary theory, therefore, revelation will be such a manifestation of the Infinite as is able to influence the moral character of man, made, however, not perfect and complete at the outset, but in a series of continuous progressive changes, according to certain laws, and by means of a spiritual force or forces in the men who are themselves the media of this revelation. The current questions in Christian circles respecting the Bible may all be reduced to the question whether revelation is thus a progressive revelation, with those incompletenesses and imperfections which are necessary accompaniments of progression, or whether it is a complete and perfect revelation, unchanging and unchangeable from the outset, and like its divine Author, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.
The question, therefore, to which I invite the reader's attention in this chapter is not whether the Bible is an inspired literature and contains a divine revelation. To deny this is to deny Christianity, He who disbelieves in the Bible as the text-book of revealed religion is not in his belief a Christian, whatever he may be in his character.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Evolution of Christianity , pp. 26 - 67Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1892