FOREIGN OUTLOOK.

SOME LEADERS OF THOUGHT.

Georg Runze. As professor in Berlin University he has a considerable following among the student body, and he is to be reckoned as an independent and able thinker. In 1901 he published a book under the title Katechismus der Religionsphilosophie (A Catechism of Philosophy of Religion), Leipzig, J. J. Weber, in which he sets forth his views on this important subject. According to him the philosophy of religion is chiefly concerned about the origin and nature of religion, though it may not altogether neglect the law of its development. It has practically nothing to do with the defense of any particular form of faith. This belongs in the realm of dogmatic theology. In studying the subject he thinks it is necessary to pursue the ethnological, the pedagogical, and the introspective methods. The first directs attention to the life of those peoples now in existence who are living in a state of nature; the second, to the inner life of the child; and the third, to the religious phenomena observable in the maturer classes among civilized men. The result of such a method of study leads to the conclusion that religion springs from the nature of the entire man, though several factors may be distinguished, as desire and aversion, involuntary constructions of the imagination, the activity of the understanding in attempting to solve the problems of being, the force of the ethical impulse, and the influence of language on the construction of religious ideas. In this connection it is questionable whether he has not given too much weight to the influence of language when he says that religion results from the opaqueness and inadequacy of speech to represent the object sought for with satisfactory clearness. Along with this goes his doctrine that religion is neither exclusively volition nor thinking, but that condition of the life of the soul in which the active will is still the unconscious force and the representative faculty is still sensuous receptivity, or intuition. It is true that the origin of religion might be thus humble and unworthy while religion itself might be so desirable and even necessary as to make us hold on to it. But the conclusion that most men would be likely to draw from Runze's positions is that religion has no place in the life of a truly rational being. The only way to escape such a conclusion would be to say that that which is common to religion is as Runze describes it. Particular forms of religion add so much to the dignity of the origin and nature of religion in general as to lift them above the level of that which is common to all and so to make them worthy of retention by enlightened men. Thus, we might be justified in being Christians when we could not be justified in maintaining a lower form of religion. This makes clear at once the inadequacy of Runze's method. A philosophy of religion should take in all the phenomena of all religions. It is legitimate enough to study the subject from the side of the contribution which the human mind makes to religion, but this is no com

plete philosophy of the subject. A philosophy of religion which does not consider the validity of religious ideas can but be disappointing. It may indeed be that religion originates in the lower stages of human development, but it does not remain there. It is found in the most enlightened minds of the most enlightened peoples. This finds but inadequate recognition in Runze's discussion of the law of religious development. This conception of religion as a function of art and of art as a function of religion, with the emphasis on the latter, is based on the same inadequate consideration of all the elements which enter into the origin and development of the only religion that can stand examination.

F. Niebergall. To those who are familiar with German devotional literature his name will not be unknown. But in 1902, in Tübingen (J. C. B. Mohr), he published a work of far more than ordinary interest on the subject Wie predigen wir dem modernen Menschen? Eine Untersuchung über Motive und Quietive (How shall We Preach to the Modern Man? A Study of Motives and Quietives). Niebergall does not announce any homiletical theory, and he adheres throughout to the most rigid application of modern methods to the study of the Bible. But he rises above all partisan considerations to give us some thoughts eminently worthy of our attention. According to him the purpose of preaching is to offer motives which shall surpass the motives natural to man, and to offer quietives which shall banish the sorrow of the natural man. Preaching. should grow out of the knowledge of the Gospel on the one side and of the people to whom it is to be preached on the other. The sources and character of all homiletical material are thus determined. Niebergall believes that the best way to get at the practical teachings of the New Testament is the scientific, objective method. In this respect he is in accord with New Testament theology. But he differs from New Testament theologians in that he makes no attempt to discover a system of truth in the writings of each or of all of the New Testament writers. There may be differences of theories among the New Testament writers, but the purpose is the same in all. He is above all possible inconsistencies and contradictions which trouble the scientific theologian so much. Allowing them all, he still finds the New Testament a rich mine of truth applicable to the needs of mankind. There are, in accordance with these thoughts, three groups of motives and quietives: 1. The reference to the temporal advantages of religion; 2. The reference to the transcendental benefits of religion; and, 3. The appeal to existing religious possessions and forces which should be cherished and employed. It is not necessary alone to exhaust all the resources of the New Testament in preaching, but to know man as he is, and not merely as he has sometimes been conceived of. Niebergall thinks that the feelings are the primary element in man-the foundation of his sane life. Hence the fact that man can be determined in his conduct or volitions by an estimate of values is seen to be the best means of access to human life. In proportion as the preacher can offer the highest good to the contemplation of man will he work effectively for

their elevation. But it is not sufficient to know man in general, the preacher must know man in particular. Niebergall divides men into three classes, in order to discover what motives and quietives will be effective with them: 1. Average people; 2. Church people; and, 3. Educated people who neglect the Church and religion. While Niebergall would find the sources of homiletical material largely in the New Testament, he does not hold that all preaching need be scriptural-that is, drawn from the Scripture. This is impossible, he thinks, simply because, first, there is no complete system of needful truth embodied in the New Testament, and, second, because the ideal of life, whether universal or personal, cannot be drawn directly from the New Testament as such. Nevertheless he holds that the New Testament has been most influential in the progress of ethical and religious thought, and that all progress in the understanding of the kingdom of God must be made along the line of the thoughts contained in the New Testament. The New Testament offers not only that which was new in religion, but that which is central, namely, the person of Jesus Christ, who is given us as a supernatural power for our strengthening and comforting, and who can take us children of sin and death and change us into new men in the likeness of Christ. The earthly prosperity and happiness as well as the eternal state of every man depends upon his acceptance or rejection of this Christ who came from God to man.

RECENT THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE.

Die neue Auffassung der israelitischen Religionsgeschichte und der christliche Offenbarungsglaube (The New Conception of the History of the Religion of Israel and the Christian Doctrine of Revelation). By F. Traub, Heilbronn, 1902. Although there has been much discussion of this subject in recent years a new work by a thoughtful man is always welcome. Traub's booklet first of all commits itself to the Wellhausen theory of the religious development of Israel in a brief sketch of its history through its three principal periods-the preprophetic, the prophetic, and the priestly. The question is then raised whether this conception of the history can be made to harmonize with faith in a real revelation from God. He thinks that this must be negatived under two conditions: first, if the doctrine of revelation is so conceived as to affirm the inerrancy of the Scriptures, and, second, if, on the other hand, the assertion is correct that the new theory is inextricably interwoven with a denial of the supernatural. He is of the opinion, however, that neither of these conditions need be assumed. As to the former it is a dogmatic presupposition now almost universally abandoned, while as to the second, the theory of evolution applied to the Old Testament, it is not applied as a principle for the explanation of the world but as a heuristic principle. In the application of this principle of investigation the historian who seeks for causal connections clearly sees that in the realm of history causal explanation can never be asserted without qualification, because the concept of personality forbids it. So that when he thinks himself able to show a development he

thinks of that development not in the causal but in the teleological sense. More positively he makes the well-known point that the question of Old Testament history in no wise affects the Christian faith which has its foundation in the person of Christ. The only way in which a contradiction could arise between the Christian faith and the modern views of the Old Testament would be to hold that the views of Jesus concerning the Old Testament were normative for us. This theory he holds to be an unbearable perversion of the authority of Jesus. As to the further question whether the religious history of Israel in its modern conception can be looked upon as a revelation, he thinks this could be denied only by one who had determined a priori that the religious history of Israel would be unworthy of God if it began at a low stage and only gradually rose to the highest point. In answer to the question what there is in the Old Testament history to convince us of a real divine revelation there, he says that historical means and methods will certainly not convince us. These will indeed enable us to show that the belief in revelation was the foundation of the Israelitish religion; but the question whether that belief was justified lies outside of the realm of history. Revelation is not an historical but a religious concept. Hence we cannot deduce the reality of a divine revelation either from the breaks in the causal connection of the historical development or from the self-consciousness of the prophets. Only from the content of the Israelitish religion itself can we discover its revealed character. As the Christian examines that religion in the light of his own he discovers that the same ethical concept of God is characteristic of both, and this it is which assures him of the revealed character of the Old Testament religion. The gradual development of this idea of God in the history of the Israelites produces in us the conviction that that history is at once a record of a revelation and of a process of salvation. Whatever one may think of this argument, it is interesting, and to some it will be consoling to know that the advocates of the most extreme views of the Old Testament believe in divine revelation.

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.

The German Military Requirements and the Clergy. In 1890 a law was passed by the German Parliament practically excusing the Roman Catholic clergy from all military service, even before ordination. Ever since then there has been much discussion as to whether the Protestants should seek to have their clergy excused also. Some favor, others oppose. In a recent meeting of Protestant clergy in Coburg the matter was fully debated, with the result that the following resolutions were passed by a vote of 51 to 29: 1. That the military service should be limited for Protestant clergy to one year; 2. That it should in no case extend beyond ordination. This seems to be about a representative case showing the state of Protestant feeling.

The Social Democrats and Religion. At a recent meeting of the representatives of the Social Democrats in Germany the following de

mands were made: 1. Separation between State and Church; 2. Cessation of all state support of Church and religion; 3. Abolition of religious instruction from the schools; 4. Substitution therefor of moral instruction independent of all metaphysical basis, and scientific instruction in the history of religions; 5. Prohibition of all teaching of creeds to children under sixteen years of age; 6. Opposition to all superstition by the enlightenment of its adherents; 7. Withdrawal from such religious societies as represent faiths no longer believed. These things are scarcely more radical than those which all Americans take as a matter of course. But the animus of the party is revealed in a different light when the second resolution is read, as follows: Only such persons as belong to no confessional religious organization shall be allowed to be party leaders among the Social Democrats, and only such shall be nominated by the party as candidates for its votes.

Proposed Official Recognition of Woman's Work. The movement for the emancipation of woman in Germany has gone so far as that a respectable author in a well-known religious journal deliberately raises the question whether it is not time to institute an office in the Church adapted to the capabilities of women and to recognize it as fully as the clerical office is now recognized. He proposes that candidates for it shall be thoroughly educated, and that the incumbents shall be provided with regular salaries. He thinks this is all the more necessary since in the large parishes it is impossible for the clergy to perform all the necessary spiritual functions, and these are now in a considerable measure performed by women, but in an unofficial and therefore in an irresponsible way. He thinks the hindrances to such a project are by no means in

superable.

The German Emperor to His Sons. Not long ago two of the sons of Emperor William II were confirmed. At the family table soon after the emperor proposed that those there gathered should drink to the health of the youths. But before doing so he expressed a desire to speak some words of fatherly advice. In so doing he compared the obligations they had just assumed to the oath a soldier takes upon entering the army. In the instructions they had received preparatory to confirmation they had learned of Christ as Lord and Saviour. Many opinions were held concerning Christ, but among all that ever lived on earth he was incomparably the greatest. It was to be their highest duty and privilege to imitate him in industrious service of their fellow-men. This is the brief substance of an excellent address, worthy of any preacher. It would be well if all fathers took as much evident interest in the beliefs and Christian activities of their children.