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A philosophical exploration of the differences between traditional authoritarian religious systems and more individualistic, spiritual approaches to faith. The book draws on examples from various world religions to make its arguments, and offers a vision for a more inclusive, enlightened approach to spirituality. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ... revived, though with his habitual prudence, all the uncertainties and differences of opinion which we find among the Church Fathers as to the list of canonical and non-canonical books, the homologoumena, the antilegomena, and the apocrypha. No doubt he strove to reconcile all these literary facts with the reality of inspiration, but he profoundly modified the idea of inspiration. He was especially fond of using it as a weapon against the Protestant dogma, and to show that, after all, the only basis for the divine authority of the Scriptures was the present authority of the Church. But in that case what does the latter rest upon? Catholics and Protestants, equally embarrassed before the witness of history, can escape its testimony only by shutting themselves up in vicious circles. Jean Leclerc developed the criticism of Richard Simon, and Semler, treading in their footsteps, went still further along the path they had opened. All questions were raised, and men began to get glimpses through the veil of dogmatics of an entirely new historic reality, which our own age was at last to bring to the open light of day. Under the influence of this criticism the dogmatic authority of the Canon of Holy Scripture also vanished away. The notion of the " Word of God" was changed. The two notions, Canon and divine Word, parted company, since they no longer coincided. The English Deists, Tindal especially, strained every nerve to show how little, or how ill, certain books of the Bible answer, cither by their origin or their contents, to the idea which we cannot but form of the Word of God. How was it possible to maintain the authority of the Old Testament as equal to that of the New, approve equally the sanguinary intolerance of an Elijah and the...

Excerpt from Religions of Authority, and the Religion of the Spirit Tms volume forms a sequel to the work which the author published in 1897, under the title, Outlines of a Philosophy of Religion based upon Psychology and History. Two systems of theology still confront one another: the theology of authority and the theology of experience. They are characterised by methods radically opposed in the scientific development of religious ideas and Christian dogmas. To the solution of the question of method the present work is consecrated. At the present hour one method is dying and destined soon to disappear; the other is taking on ever more vigorous development, and is destined to triumph. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.