Which is different in kind and not in degree.
That Judaism claims for Moses or Mahometanism for Mahomet, it also claims something else Now it is an essential part of Christian doctrine that, whilst it claims for the man Jesus all These prophets are regarded as ordinary men who were extraordinarilyįavoured by God, not as supernatural beings occupying a uniquely important position in the
But Judaism and Mahometanism would claim no more than this for Moses and for This, it isĪlleged, enabled them to know facts about God's nature and His commands to humanity which noĪmount of reflexion on the data of ordinary experience would have disclosed to even the wisest and MosesĪnd Mahomet are supposed to have been the recipients of special revelations from God. Others,Īgain, such as Judaism and Mahometanism, would claim more than this for their founders. Their origin to a certain ostensibly historical person, claim no more for their founder than that he wasĪn exceptionally wise and good man who first discovered and promulgated certain important moralĪnd philosophical truths, and illustrated his doctrine by the special sanctity of his life. Others, such as Buddhism in its original form and Confucianism, which trace Brahminism, do not claim to have any definite (1) The first and most important peculiarity of Christianity is that it is, to an unique degree, aĭoctrine about its own Founder. I will thereforeīegin by mentioning the most striking of these peculiarities. To some of the other great religions, such as Buddhism, or to religion in general. For there areĬertain peculiarities about Christianity which make it vulnerable to attacks that might be harmless
I fear that there may be some degree of unfairness in this. Religion in which most of us were brought up, and is the only one with which most of us have anyįirst-hand acquaintance. In considering such beliefs I shall devote my attention mainly to Christianity, since this is the Have on the validity of religious beliefs. So, at the risk of being thought a profane disturber of the peace, I propose to raise once more the old questions, and to ask what bearing, if any, recent scientific developments Mathematical physics and that they seem prima facie much more likely to be relevant to religion.Įven the ordinary common sense of the lawyer and the historian may still have something useful to But I cannot help reflecting that psychology, anthropology, and psychical research have made considerable advances as well as Pipe a discordant note in this scene of Messianic harmony. There seems to be a widespread opinion that Sir ArthurĮddington and Sir James Jeans, with some highly technical and not readily intelligible assistanceįrom Professor Whitehead, have enabled the lion to lie down with the lamb. Half-cold mutton in half-congealed gravy. Which was then appetizingly hot from the oven, has acquired something of the repulsiveness of Nowadays the so-called 'conflict between Religion and Science', Whichever side he might take, he would write with the moral fervour of which Englishmen at that time had an inexhaustible supply. Harrison or Edmund Gurney or a politician of cabinet rank, such as Gladstone or Morley. The author would probably be an eminent scientist, such as Huxley or Clifford a distinguished scholar, such as Frederic The Present Relations of Science and Religionįifty or sixty years ago anyone fluttering the pages of one of the the many magazines which then catered for the cultivated and intelligent English reader would have been fairly certain to come uponĪn article bearing somewhat the same title as that of the present paper. Religion, Philosophy and Psychic Research (London: Routledge, 1953).