Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- I THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF PALÆONTOLOGY
- II THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS AND THE INTERPRETERS OF NATURE
- III MR GLADSTONE AND GENESIS
- IV THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY
- V SCIENCE AND MORALS
- VI SCIENTIFIC AND PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC REALISM
- VII SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE
- VIII AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY
- IX AGNOSTICISM
- X THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS
- XI AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER
- XII AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
- XIII THE LIGHTS OF THE CHURCH AND THE LIGHT OF SCIENCE
- XIV THE KEEPERS OF THE HERD OF SWINE
- XV ILLUSTRATIONS OF MR. GLADSTONE'S CONTROVERSIAL METHODS
- XVI HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE
IV - THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- I THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF PALÆONTOLOGY
- II THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS AND THE INTERPRETERS OF NATURE
- III MR GLADSTONE AND GENESIS
- IV THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY
- V SCIENCE AND MORALS
- VI SCIENTIFIC AND PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC REALISM
- VII SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE
- VIII AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY
- IX AGNOSTICISM
- X THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS
- XI AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER
- XII AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
- XIII THE LIGHTS OF THE CHURCH AND THE LIGHT OF SCIENCE
- XIV THE KEEPERS OF THE HERD OF SWINE
- XV ILLUSTRATIONS OF MR. GLADSTONE'S CONTROVERSIAL METHODS
- XVI HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE
Summary
I conceive that the origin, the growth, the decline, and the fall of those speculations respecting the existence, the powers, and the dispositions of beings analogous to men, but more or less devoid of corporeal qualities, which may be broadly included under the head of theology, are phenomena the study of which legitimately falls within the province of the anthropologist. And it is purely as a question of anthropology (a department of biology to which I have at various times given a good deal of attention) that I propose to treat of the evolution of theology in the following pages.
With theology as a code of dogmas which are to be believed, or at any rate repeated, under penalty of present or future punishment, or as a storehouse of anaesthetics for those who find the pains of life too hard to bear, I have nothing to do; and, so far as it may be possible, I shall avoid the expression of any opinion as to the objective truth or falsehood of the systems of theological speculation of which I may find occasion to speak. From my present point of view, theology is regarded as a natural product of the operations of the human mind, under the conditions of its existence, just as any other branch of science, or the arts of architecture, or music, or painting are such products. Like them, theology has a history.
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- Information
- Essays upon some Controverted Questions , pp. 131 - 208Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1892