Preached Before The University Of Oxford, In The Year 1858. On The Foundation Of The Late Rev. John Bampton.

The Bampton lectures at Oxford, founded by the bequest of John Bampton in order to examine ideas from Christian theology, have taken place regularly since 1780. In 1858 the philosopher Henry Longueville Mansel delivered the set of eight lectures reissued in this volume. Mansel expresses the view - influenced by Kant and Hamilton - that the human mind is 'conditioned' and that human knowledge is strictly limited to the finite. Humans cannot attain any positive conception of the nature of the 'Absolute and Infinite Being' with certainty. We only have an imperfect representation of God and the divine through their analogy to finite things. And yet, God exists. Mansel asserts that God cannot be understood by reason but should be accepted by faith. His book ignited a bitter controversy with the Christian socialist theologian Frederick Maurice, and remains of interest to historians of philosophy and theology to this day.

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.