The books relating directly or indirectly to the wide range of topics
discussed in the following lectures are too numerous for citation here;
but there are some which are so essential to a thorough knowledge of
comparative religion and comparative philosophy, that a special
acknowledgment is due.
"The Sacred Books of the East" are indispensable to one who would catch
the real spirit of the Oriental religions. The translations from Hindu,
Buddhist, Mohammedan, Confucian, and Zoroastrian literatures, by Max
Müller, Rhys Davids, Oldenberg, Fausbôll, Palmer, Darmesteter, Mills,
Legge, Buhler, West, Beal, and other able scholars, are invaluable. The
various other works of Max Müller, "The Science of Religion," "Chips
from a German Workshop," "The Origin and Growth of Religion," "Physical
Religion," etc., fill an important place in all study of these subjects.
"Indian Wisdom," by Sir Monier Williams, is the most comprehensive, and
in many ways the best, of all compends of Hindu religion and philosophy.
His abridged work, "Hinduism," and the larger volume entitled
"Brahmanism and Hinduism," are also valuable. R.C. Bose has given to the
public an able treatise entitled "Hindu Philosophy." Other books on
Hinduism to which more or less reference is made, are: "The Vedic
Religion," by McDonald; "India and the Indians," by Duff; "The Life and
Letters of Colbrooke;" "The Bhagavad Gita," as translated by Chatterji;
"The Vishnu Puranas," by Wilson; "The Ramayana," by Griffiths;
"Brahmoism," by Bose; "The Oriental Christ," by Mozoomdar; "Christianity
and Hindu Philosophy," by Ballantyne.
Among the ablest books on Buddhism are: "Buddhism;" "The Growth of
Religion as illustrated by Buddhism," and the able article on the same
subject in the "Britannica"--all by Rhys Davids. "Buddha: His Life,
Character, and Order," by Professor Oldenberg, is a scarcely less
important contribution to Buddhist literature. "The Light of Asia," by
Sir Edwin Arnold, has done more than any other work to interest Western
nations in the legends of Gautama; perhaps no other Oriental character
has been more successfully popularized. Of the many efforts to correct
the misleading impressions given by this fanciful but really poetic
story, "The Light of Asia and the Light of the World," by Dr. S.H.
Kellogg, is probably the ablest. Dr. Edkins, in "Chinese Buddhism," and
Professor Beal, in "Buddhism in China," have very successfully shown the
characteristics of the Chinese types of the system. Spence Hardy, in his
"Manual of Buddhism," has rendered a similar service in relation to the
Buddhism of Ceylon, while Bigandet has set forth that of Burmah, and
Alabaster that of Siam. Sir Monier Williams, in his more recent work,
"Buddhism," has done much to counteract the fashionable tendency of most
Orientalists to idealize the Buddhist system.
Other works relating to Buddhism are, "Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ," by
Dodds; "Buddhism (Modern)," by Subhadra; and "Esoteric Buddhism," by
Sinnett. Maurice, Bishop Carpenter, Brace, the Bishop of Colombo,
Martin, and many others have ably discussed the subject.
Of all works on Mohammedanism, Sale's translation of the Koran, with a
"Preliminary Discourse," is the most comprehensive and important.
Sprenger's "Life of Mohammed, from Original Sources," is perhaps next in
rank. "Islam and Mahomet," by Samuel Johnson; "Mohammed and
Mohammedanism," by E. Bosworth Smith; "Christianity, Islam, and the
Negro Race," by E.W. Blyden; and "Leaves from an Egyptian Note-book," by
Canon Isaac Taylor, are among the principal apologies for Islam.
Gibbon's fifth volume of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" has
at least done ample justice to the glory of the Mohammedan conquest.
Of those who have ably controverted the claims of Islam, the late Dr.
Pfander, of Northern India, will perhaps hold the first rank. Of the
three Moulvies who were selected to meet him in public discussion, two
are said to have been converted to Christianity by his arguments. The
concessions of the Koran to the truths of the Old and New Testaments
have been ably pointed out by Sir William Muir in "The Koran," and Dr.
E.M. Wherry, in his "Commentary," has established the striking fact,
that of all the prophets named in the Koran, including Mohammed, Jesus
alone is represented as sinless. The modern apologists of Mohammed and
his system have been well answered by Knox in current numbers of the
_Church Missionary Intelligencer_. Other works upon the subject are
"Islam," by Stobart; "Islam as a Missionary Religion," by Haines;
"Essays on Eastern Questions," by Palgrave. Sir William Muir's "History
of the Caliphate" is an important and recent work.
Confucianism and Taouism may be fairly understood, even by those who
have not the time for a careful study of Legge's translations of the
Chinese classics, by reference to the following works: "China and the
Chinese," by Medhurst; "The Religions of China," by Legge; "The
Chinese," by Martin; "Confucianism and Taouism," by Douglass; "Religion
in China," by Edkins. The late Samuel Johnson, in his "Oriental
Religions," has devoted a large volume to the religions of China,
principally to the ethics and political economy of the Confucian system;
and James Freeman Clark has given considerable attention to Confucianism
as one of "The Ten Great Religions."
Zoroastrianism is ably treated by Darmesteter in the Introduction to his
translation of the "Zend Avesta." Instructive lectures on the religion
and literature of Persia may be found in the first volume of Max
Müller's "Chips from a German Workshop;" also in "The Religion of the
Iranians," found in Ebrard's "Apologetics," vol. ii. West's and
Darmesteter's translations of "Pahlavi Texts," in the "Sacred Books of
the East," are also suggestive.
In the following discussions, relating broadly to the ancient as well as
the modern religions and philosophies of the world, and their contrasts
to Christian truth, reference is made directly or indirectly to the
following works: "Christ and Other Masters," by Hardwick; "The Ancient
World and Christianity," by Edward de Pressensé; "The Religions of the
World," by Maurice; "The Aryan Witness," by Banergea; "The Unknown God,"
by Brace; "The Permanent Elements in Religion," by Boyd Carpenter;
"Oriental and Linguistic Studies," by A.D. Whitney; "The Doomed
Religions," by Reid; "The Idea of God," by Fiske; "The Destiny of Man,"
by Fiske; "The Races of Man," by Peschel; "Introduction to the
Philosophy of Religion," by Caird; "National Religions and Universal
Religions," by Kuenen; "Some Elements of Religion," by Liddon; "Outlines
of the History of Ancient Religions," by Tiele; "The Philosophy of
Religion," by Pfleiderer; "Our Christian Heritage," by Cardinal Gibbons;
"Hulsean Lectures, 1845-6," by Trench; "Hibbert Lectures, 1880," by
Renan; "Origins of English History," by Elton; "St. Paul in Britain"
(Druidism), by Morgan; "Fossil Men and their Modern Representatives," by
Dawson; "Modern Ideas of Evolution," by Dawson; "Marcus Aurelius," by
Renan; "Epictetus," Bonn's Library; "Confessions," by St. Augustine;
"History of the Egyptian Religion," by Tiele; "Lucretius," Bonn's
Library; "Lives of the Fathers," by Farrar; "The Vikings of Western
Christendom," by Keary; "Principles of Sociology," by Spencer; "The
Descent of Man," by Darwin; "Evolution and Its Relation to Christian
Thought," by Le Conte; "History of European Morals," by Lecky; "The
Kojiki" (Sacred Books of Shinto), Chamberlain's translation; "The
Witness of History to Christ," by Farrar; "Anti-Theistic Theories," by
Flint; "The Human Species," by De Quatrefages.