THEOLOGY

it will be convenient to preface this review of theological development with a reference to the mod- ernist movement in the roman catholic church which was active during the opening years of the present century, for this movement throws into relief tendencics of thought which have remained operative down to the present. roman catholic modernism 1902-7—it was the aim of roman catholic modernism to bring the theology of the church into relation with the thought of the modern world by means of a new theological method which would enable roman catholic scholars to move freely in the modern study of nature and of history, especially biblical and ecclesiastical history, while re- maining loyal to the dogmatic affirmations of the church. it was urged, e.g., by m. le roy, a distinguished representative of the school of bergson and boutroux—that the impasse, in which catholic apologetic now found itself, was due to the assumption on the part of friends and foes alike that the primary meaning of dogma was intellectyal and that its practical and moral meaning was derived from its intellectual meaning. this assumption rendered the entire conception of authoritative dogma impossible to the modern mind. the true policy in religious apologetic was to revise the conception of dogma and to recognise that from an intellectual point of view the function of dogma was negative only: the positive function of dogma was only relevant to the world of conduct and behaviour. a similar philosophy underlies loisy’s famous criticism of harnack. harnack’s attempt to treat faith in the fatherhood of god as the immutable essence of the gospel is a piece of un- conscious scholasticism. the teaching of jesus was itself con- ditioned by the eschatological expectation, and from the very beginning the church has adapted the gospel to the ever chang- ing conditions of human life. the intellectual or logical develop- ment recognised by catholic theology does not cover the facts. “it is the notion of ‘ development ’ itself that we now need to develop.” by the papal encyclical pascendi dominict gregis of sept. 1907 the vatican disallowed the new apologetic, and the roman catholic clergy is required to accept the main positions of the scholastic theology: the existence of god provable by the natural light of reason, revelation attested by miracles and prophecies, the church founded by jesus christ upon peter and his successors forever, the apostolic doctrine transmitted unchanged through the orthodox fathers to ourselves, faith the true assent of the intellect to truth revealed from without. the modernist movement in the roman church coincided with fresh developments in non-roman theology. two forces, both ultimately deriving from the romantic movement of a hundred years ago may be first distinguished (1) the historical and comparative study of religion, (2) the psychological study of religion. tur historical and comparative study of religion comparative study of religion and systematic theology.—the school of ritschl, which on the whole had remained the most important theological influence in germany until towards the close of the roth century, had confidently appealed to the prophetical religion of the bible, had assumed the immediate relevance of the teaching of jesus upon the kingdom of god, and had decidedly depreciated non-biblical religions, and non- biblical elements in christianity. the religionsgeschichtliche methode has led to a change in emphasis: (a) wider acquaintance with the background both of the old testament and of the new testament has brought into prominence the relation of the biblical documents to the external conditions which helped to determine their form and content. (6) there is a general dis- position to recognise a genuine eschatological element in the preaching of the historical jesus, which had been slurred over by many ‘“‘ liberal’ theologians. (c) further study of the religious history of mankind has revealed the inadequacy of 767 ritschl’s unsympathetic attitude towards non-biblical reli-ions. we may here note that some of the earlier new testament studies of the religionsgeschichtliche schule tended to regard primitive christianity as essentially syncretic; but, while the new criticism has left a permanent mark upon the study of christian origins, later work shows a fresh grasp of the distinc- tive position of christianity in history. troeltsch’s work.—valuable suggestions towards a new dog- matic have been made by troeltsch. troeltsch follows schleier- macher in his fundamental idea of dogmatic. dogmatic pre- supposes and depends upon scientific studies, but it is not itself a science. its proper aim is the instruction and edification of the religious community. a christian dogmatic orientated in view of the historical study of religion must first form an estimate of christianity in relation to other world faiths. secondly it must form a conception of the “essence”’ (das wesem) of christianity. thirdly dogmatic consists specifically of the presentation of this “essence” of the christian faith. uncertainties consequent upon historical criticism make it unsatisiactory to propose his- toric personalities as direct objects of faith: present experience with its metaphysical implications must give us our direct approach to god. but historical personalities—especially jesus —-are essential as ‘‘ sources of power ” and “‘ points of concentra- tion,” without which a religious community cannot exist. thus dogmatic will fall into two parts:—(a) a valuation and interpreta- tion of the historical personalities for the individual and for the community. (b) a presentation of the metaphysico-religious conceptions of christian thought about god, the world, the soul, redemption, the religious fellowship, the last things. tue psychological study of religion the romantic movement, represented for theology by schleiermacher, conceived of religion as a state of feeling rather than as a system of beliefs. the psychological interest in religion thus aroused has persisted and has led to important works on religious psychology during the period under review. much recent apologetic, encouraged by psychologists such as william james, tends to base itself upon the authority of “ religious ex- perience.”’ writers upon the psychology of religion recognise in general that the science of psychology as such is not concerned with the validity or invalidity of religious beliefs. leuba how- ever has not only criticised james’ wish “‘ to believe in a mystical revelation,” but has claimed “ to have shown that the truth- kernel of religious ecstasy is no other than the truth-kernel of narcotic intoxication, and of ecstatic trance in general.’’ other psychologists, influenced by psycho-pathological theories of pro- jection have argued that religion is to be explained in terms of hallucinatory images formed by the mind, to which objective reality is wrongly ascribed. otto's theory.—otto’s theory of “the holy” more directly concerns dogmatic theology. otto follows schleiermacher in regarding religion as fundamentally a “feeling of dependence ” but he criticises schleiermacher for not recognising the unique quality of the feeling of dependence in religion, which may be expressed through the term “ creature-feeling ’’; and secondly, he criticises schleiermacher for making belief in god an inference from the feeling of dependence whereas, according to otto, the creature-fecling carries an immediate reference to an object out- side the self. the object is “the holy,” or, as otto prefers to call it, “‘the numinous.” “the holy” is an ultimate category of thought, presupposed in all religious experience, and is to be distinguished alike from the “rational’’ and the ‘‘ moral.” philosophical theology we conclude with a reference to developments in philosophical theology. there has been a reaction from the ritschlian attempt to sever metaphysics and religion. troeltsch, as we have already seen, aimed at a correlation of theology and philosophy. ritschl has never dominated british theology. during the latter part of the 19th century the british hegelians kept interest in philosophical speculation alive in britain after the idealist move- ment had died down in germany, and they exercised wide 768 influence on theological thought. they have left both disciples and dissenters who have made important contributions to philosophical theology. of especial importance to theologians are rashdall’s and sorley’s arguments for theism on the basis of the moral consciousness. mention should also be made of professor james ward’s development of a theistic position from a pluralistic starting point. / finally we may allude to the rise of a new school of theology in germany led by karl barth. this school starts from paulin- ism and the conception of faith, and aims at emancipating theology from the psychological subjectivism and historical rela- tivity which have hampered it since the rise of the romantic move- ment, and at restoring the sense of objective spiritual reality. bibliograpity.—(1) roman catholic modernism: a. e. loisy, l' evangile et v eglise (1902), autour d'un petit livre (1903); g. tyrrell, lex orandi (1903), lex credendi (1906); e. le roy, dogme et critique (1907); g. tyrrell, christianity at the cross roads (1909); h. j. p. denzin er, enchiridion symbolorum (1913); papal encyclical, pascendt dominici gregis; iusiurandum contra errores modernismi, (2) historical and comparative study of religion: e. troeltsch, die absolutheit des christentums und die religionsgeschichte (tubin- gen, 1902); a. dieterich, eine afithrasliturgie (leipsig, 1903); a. schweitzer, von reimarus 2u wrede (tuibingen, 1906), eng. trans. by w. montgomery, the quest of the historical jesus (1910); r. reitzenstein, die itellenistischen mysterienreligtonen (1st ed. i910 and 2nd ed. 1920); a. schweitzer, geschichte der paulinischen for- schung von der reformation bis auf die gegenwart (titbingen, i9ii), eng. trans. by w. montgomery, paul and his interpreters (1912); e. troeltsch, die bedentung der geschichtlichkeit jesu f. d. glauben (tiibingen, rorr), ‘‘ the dogmatics of the ‘ religionsgeschichtliche schule, ’’ american jour. of theology (1913); a. e. loisy, les mysteres paiens et le mystere chretien (1914); r. r. marett, the threshold of religion, 2nd ed. (1914); g. if’. moore, i istory of re- ligions, 2 vol. (edinburgh, 1914 and 1920); sir j. g. frazer, folk-lore in the old testament, 3 vol. (1918); ee. meyer, ursprunge und an- fange des christentums, 3 vol. (1921-3). _ (3) psychological study of religion: w. james, varieties of re- ligious experience (1902); g. m. stratton, psychology of the religious life (1911); f. heiler, das gebet, eine religionsgeschichiliche und religionspsychologische untersuchung, 5th ed. (1918); j. b. pratt, the religious consciousness (1920); c. g. jung, psychology of the unconscious, eng. trans. by b. m. hinkle (1921); s. freud, beyond the pleasure principle, eng. trans. by c. j. m. hubback (1922); r. otto, the idea of the holy, eng. trans. by j. w. harvey (1923); r. h. thouless, introduction to the psychology of religion (1923); j. h. leuba, psychology of religious mysticism (1925). (4) philosophical theology: h. rashdall, theory of good and evil, 2 vol. (1907); j. ward, the realm of ends; or pluralism and theism (cambridge, i911); f. von hiigel, ternal life (edinburgh, 1912); b. bosanquet, 7he value and destiny of the individual (1913); j. royce, the problem of christianity (1913); c. c. j. webb, god and personality (1918); s. alexander, space, time and detty, 2 voll. (1920); a. s. pringle-pattison, the idea of god in the light of recent philosophy, 2nd ed. (1920); k. barth, der remerbrief, 2nd ed. (1921); f. von hiigel, hssays and addresses on the philosophy of religion (1921); w. r. sorley, aforal values and the idea of ged, 2nd ed. (cambridge, 1921); c. lloyd morgan, emergent evolution (1923). (j. m. cr.)