genesis of religious systems, let us employ our common-sense for a brief
backward glance over the known history of familiar facts. Every one is
aware that the Christian religions of our time and community have not
existed forever; this, indeed, is indicated by the way the passing years
are denominated. We call the present year 1907 Anno Domini, and this whole
expression explicitly refers to the fact that less than two thousand years
ago the Christian systems of piety and worship collectively took their
origin from their Hebrew ancestor. The same parent has produced the
relatively unchanged Judaism of the present day. Judaism itself evolved
under the influence of the Prophets, of Moses, and of Abraham. Turning to
Asia, we learn how Buddhism evolved from Brahmanism. The teachings of
Mohammed at a later time developed into the formulated precepts of the
Koran. Would any one venture to assert that all or any of these systems of
thought have stood firm and immutable from the finite or infinite
beginnings of time? Would any one contend that the creeds of Protestantism
have remained unchanged even during the past twenty years? Like all
departments of human belief and knowledge, religious concepts have
obviously altered in natural adjustment to changing times and to advancing
conditions of human intellect; and the question turns to the mode by which
they have been modified, to see whether natural causes of evolution have
changed them, and have originated their earliest beginnings at the very
outset of human history. It has been stated above that every race of
mankind, however primitive or advanced it may be, holds some form of
religious belief based upon some conception of the supernatural powers
back of the world; and what the universe is conceived to be must largely
determine the particular characteristics of a theology, and through this
the special form of its attendant religion. We have before us a wide array
of types to study and to compare, which vary so greatly, partly for the
reason specified, that an inclusive definition of religion must be couched
in very general terms. If we define it as the attitude and reaction of a
human being conditioned by his knowledge of the immediate materials and
his conception of the ultimate powers of the universe, its scope is so
extended as to include the ideas of the atheists and agnostics as well as
the crude conceptions of lower races and those systems of piety and
worship conventionally regarded as religions by civilized peoples. More
than this: we cannot regard the total reaction of a thinking being as
essentially different in ultimate value from the attitudes toward their
worlds of animals lower than man. The situation of a well-trained sheep
dog is one of pastures and fences and gates, of rain and sunshine, of
sheep, and of a master whose voice is to be obeyed. What the dog may do is
partly determined by what it finds in its world of animate and inanimate
things. Although the animal's "conception" of such things must be far
simpler than a human being's, nevertheless its life is lived in reaction
to all of its surroundings as they are presented to its cerebral apparatus
by the proper organs. So in the human case, conduct is directly affected
by the living and lifeless objects of a total human situation, the only
difference being that reflective consciousness and reasoned interpretation
have their share in determining the assumed attitude in ways that seem to
have no counterparts as such in the mental lives of lower animals. But
whether or not the similarity between human religion and lower organic
reaction be admitted,--and the admission is one that greatly facilitates
an understanding of evolution in this field,--the general resemblance of
all religions in fundamental character at least must be accepted.
Another general feature of religious systems is their complexity. The
essential elements of all of them are few indeed, as we shall see at a
later point; they are beliefs regarding ultimate powers, human
responsibility to such powers, and future existence. These have taken one
specific form or another in various lines of racial evolution, but aside
from their own changes they have gathered about them many other articles
of creed relating to other departments of thought and life. Ethical rules
of conduct are so added, as in the Hebrew religion where the idea of
Jehovah involves God the Ruler and Judge who imposes and administers the
laws of right living. Social customs are almost invariably intertwined
with religious views, among savages as well as among the more advanced
Mohammedans whose rules relating to family organization form an integral
part of the whole cult. The emotional elements play a large part in some
cases, in the fanatical creeds of the Dervish and Mahdist and in the
"revivals" under nearer observation. In Greek cosmology and worship,
aesthetics figured to a large degree. Temperamental and other
psychological characteristics have profound effects upon religions, which
we may illustrate by such extreme examples as the austerities of New
England and Scotch Presbyterianism and the contrasted liberties of the
natural religions of tropical races. But all of these accessory elements
belong to other well-defined departments, some of which have already been
considered, and among the materials of their proper divisions they find
their interpretation and historical explanation in evolution. It is with
the basic elements themselves that we are now concerned.
Only within recent years have systematic attempts been made to classify
religions on the basis of impersonal objective study. Throughout all times
men have instinctively set up their own religion as the only true one,
besides which all others are designated simply as false--a very natural
distinction, but one which is too naïve for science, as well as one that
takes into account subjective or personal values which are not to be
considered in an objective comparison and analysis. The linguistic basis
was first employed by Müller, with the result that religions were placed
in the category of evolutionary accompaniments of the other mental
possessions and of the physical qualities of genetically connected
peoples. Thus the nations of Europe that branched out in all directions
from very nearly the same sources possessed common linguistic characters
and somewhat similar creeds. The Sanskrit-speaking races were the original
Brahmins and Buddhists. Ancestor worship is an accompaniment of the
peculiar languages spoken by eastern Mongolian peoples. And although the
correlation specified is by no means invariable, because a race of one
stock can readily accept the religion of a neighbor or of a conqueror, yet
much is gained through the introduction of the idea of evolutionary
relationships.
A more logical classification frankly adopts the genetic method and
clearly recognizes the direct effects of cultural and intellectual
attainments upon the way a religious system becomes formulated. In such an
arrangement, similar to that of Jastrow, religions can be classed as those
of savagery, of barbarism, of advanced culture, and of civilization. Among
the first named, notably those of Polynesian and African tribes, beliefs
in diversified ghosts and spirits bulk largely, and every moving thing, be
it a river or a cloud or a tree or animal, is held to be animated by an
invisible conscious genius; the spirits reside in everything, as well as
in the great unknown beyond. Above these in the scale are the religions of
so-called primitive cults, more elaborate and formalized in the ancient
beliefs of Egypt and Assyria, but still below those of advanced culture,
which make up a third group. The fourth class includes the religions which
tend to be coextensive with life, and which enjoin the higher harmony of
practical and theoretical conceptions. Taking Christianity as an example,
the contrast with the beliefs of savagery brings out clearly the nature of
progressive development. Here religious thought is no longer esoteric,
confined to a chosen sect like the Levites among the Hebrews or the shaman
and medicine-man among the American Indians; nor is religious observance
restricted to the innermost shrine of the tabernacle or sacred dwelling,
accessible to few or only one. It comes to be regarded as something in
which each and every individual can participate, and a personal possession
that has a direct part in determining all forms of human life and action.
This is another way of saying that the more highly evolved religions owe
their character to the greatly varied and abundant intellectual elements
which are built into them. And this is why religion in the highest form,
more clearly than in the lowest forms, is to be spoken of as an outlook
upon the world which is determined by the total intellectual equipment of
the individual man who thinks about the universe and directs his course of
action by what he finds.
* * * * *
We come now to a closer concrete study of the basic elements of religion;
that is, of those beliefs that are invariably present, in one form or
another, in every system of piety and worship, and that constitute the
innermost framework beneath the secondary creeds added to them. Following
Mallock and others, we may distinguish three such elemental conceptions.
These are, first, the belief in the existence of a supernatural being or
beings, endowed with intelligence like, but superior to, our own; second,
the idea of human responsibility to this or these powers; and, third, the
belief in immortality as an attribute of the supreme powers and of human
individuals also. Let us see how these beliefs appear in characteristic
systems of religion.
In all forms of Christianity the central idea is the conception of a
triple unity personified as God. He is regarded as the Creator who has
made all things and who demands reverence from his subjects. He is the
Author and Finisher of the faith as well as the sole Cause of the universe
itself. Much of this element is directly derived from Judaism, the
progenitor of Christianity; but a difference consists in the triple nature
of the supreme being according to the newer creed. As the original and
supreme being, God is not only the Creator, but the watchful Judge as
well, demanding reverent obedience to the laws of the world in which he
has placed man, and imposing sacrifices and penitential observances when
his mandates have been disobeyed. As the God of Mercy he is incarnated in
the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and offered as a vicarious sacrifice for
sinners who are thus enabled to escape the penalties they would otherwise
have suffered. As the Holy Ghost, God is the vaguely personified ultimate
source of the higher and nobler elements of human thought, aspiration, and
life in general. The second basic tenet of Christianity is that of human
responsibility to God, to whom man is related as the created to a creator,
as a subject to a ruler, and as one saved to his redeemer. The
institutions of sacrifice and ritual are outward signs of human subjection
to God himself and to his laws, according to which the universe is
conceived to operate. Finally, Christianity teaches that just as God in
his single and triune form is eternal, so the soul of man is immortal,
with or without its earthly temple of flesh and blood. The essential
thinking individual is believed to pass to heaven, where rewards for right
living are bestowed, or to hell, in order to suffer punishment for sin
during all eternity, or some part of it, according to different views
regarding the efficacy of Christ's vicarious atonement.
It is true that the manifold sects of Christianity differ somewhat in the
detailed forms of these three essential beliefs, but not to the same
degree as in the case of the secondary additions. God's laws, Christ's
teachings, and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost are the recognized guides
to conduct; but human frailty has been such that the history of Europe
presents a panorama of warring sects in almost unceasing strife about
details of ritual and interpretation, while the great fundamental truths
have been too frequently ignored. The conflicts of Catholics and
Protestants, Puritan and Cavalier, and Northern and Southern
Presbyterianism, have not been waged on account of basic beliefs like the
three outlined above, or about the Golden Rule, but on account of
comparatively trivial details which to the impersonal student have
scarcely more than the value of individual preference.
Judaism, the next great religion, has already been mentioned as the parent
of Christianity, to which it gave the concept of a Supreme Being, as well
as that of a Messiah. It is a purer monotheism than its outgrowth, whose
trinity is more like certain elements of Greek theology. Jehovah is the
one supernatural power, the creator and lawgiver and immediate cause of
all the workings of nature. It is he who shapes the world out of
nothingness and who separates the waters from the dry land; he parts the
waters of the Red Sea to save the Israelites, and brings them together
again to overwhelm the pursuing hosts of Pharaoh. It is his voice that
thunders from Mt. Sinai, and his finger that traces the commandments to
rule the lives of his chosen people upon the tablets of stone intrusted to
Moses the Seer. At the behest of Joshua he holds the sun and the moon in
their courses above the vale of Ajalon so that there will be more time for
the destruction of the Philistines. In brief, Jehovah is the eternal god
of law and power, demanding sacrifice and priestly atonement, and
promising happiness eternal upon the bosom of Abraham to those who
recognize their responsibility to him and obey his precepts. Again, there
are three fundamental beliefs, that differ from those of Christianity as
the Talmud diverges from the New Testament scriptures.
Mohammedanism is another outgrowth from this group of religions. The
teachings of the Koran give the institutional and ritual forms to the same
three elements distinguished above. God is the identical single God; and
Mohammed is His Prophet, as Jesus is the New Prophet of Christendom. The
true believer's responsibility entails active warfare upon the heretics,
that is, those who do not accept the Koran. The immortal state of
Mohammedanism is a very different thing from the heavenly bliss of
Christianity, for the promised rewards are such as would appeal to the
warm-blooded Southern temperament.
Turning now to Asia, we find in Brahmanism and Buddhism two systems of
religion that are related to one another exactly as are Judaism and
Christianity. The analogue of the Old Testament is a group of priestly
hymnal writings known as the Vedas, which date back to about the
fourteenth century before Christ lived. Their objects of worship at first
are numerous invisible beings that actuate the things of the world, as in
Greek theology, but later one of them assumes preëminence as the
all-pervading essence of things,--Brahma. The precepts of Brahmanism
enjoined adoration of the unseen powers and of their works, as well as
practical rules of human conduct, such as those which divided a man's life
into the four periods when he should be successively a student, the head
of a family, a counselor, and a religious mendicant who should renounce
the world of social activities and human desires. In earlier writings, the
immortal state is a kind of heaven, but later it meant simply an
absorption into Brahma, the eternal impersonal being.
Buddha was an orthodox Brahman reformer of the sixth century before our
present era, just as Jesus was an orthodox Hebrew reformer. The essential
creed of Buddha made his religion far more ethical than earlier forms, and
placed it on a plane even above Christianity of later centuries. This
creed relates to the element of human responsibility particularly, the
other two remaining much as they were found by Buddha. According to his
teachings, a man rested under an obligation to live nobly in the truest
sense, and he acquired merit--_karma_--or lost it, in proportion to his
deserts. At death a human soul is reincarnated, in a lower form of animal
or even in a being residing in one of a series of unseen hells, if
punishment is due; if a higher state is merited, progress is made through
thousands of existences until perfection is rewarded by an eternal fusion
with the essence of Brahma. It is because there is no escape from just
punishment that Buddhism in its original form is properly denoted more
ethical than a religion which teaches that sacrifice of any kind will
exempt the sinner from deserved penalties and bring about the bestowal of
unearned rewards.
Polytheism is the name given to a religion such as that of the Greeks or
Romans, who believed in many gods and spirits of greater and lesser power.
These supernatural beings, each in its own sphere, immediately directed
the processes of nature and controlled the lives of men. One of them,
Zeus, was regarded as the supreme "father of gods and men," who delegated
specific duties to others; Ares was the god of battles, Hermes was the
messenger, Athena implanted wisdom in the minds of men, and Poseidon ruled
the sea. The gods were very human to the Greek mind, living in Olympus as
men do upon earth, and even visiting the mortals. Their worship involved
propitiatory sacrifices and rites as well as thanksgiving offerings when
favors were bestowed. But although they were immortal, they did not allow
the immortal souls of human beings to join them in their elysium, but
compelled the disembodied shades to wander unhappily among the tombs and
about their earthly abodes.
Roman theology and religion comprise almost identical forms of the three
fundamental elements. The names are changed, and Zeus becomes Jove, his
wife Hera is Juno, Ares is Mars, and Hermes is called Mercury. In all
other respects, however, the two systems are as much alike as the Greek
and Roman languages and Greek and Roman physique.
The religions of savagery are far less analytical, and much more naïve in
their reference of natural happenings to the direct interposition of
malevolent and benevolent spirits. Their gods are numerous as in Greek
religion, and likewise one of them is usually set up as the superior
deity, to be the Tirawa of the Indian, the greater Atua of Polynesia, and
the Mumbo Jumbo of a West African negro. There is no centralization of the
supernatural powers, as in the Jehovah of Judaism and the still subtler
Brahma of the Asian. Then, too, the gods must be concretely materialized
for purposes of worship and sacrifice; consequently idols are made, to be
regarded as the actual spirits themselves permanently or for the time
being, and not viewed as representations of an ideal, like the statues of
more advanced peoples. The immortal state is described in low religions in
various ways that seem to be determined by what the believer himself most
desires. The spirit of an American Indian goes to the happy
hunting-grounds, where it mounts a spirit pony and forever pursues the
ghosts of bison which it kills with spirit bow and arrows; to provide these
necessaries his earthly possessions are laid beside his dead body. The
Norseman was conducted to Valhalla and, attended by the Valkyrie as
handmaidens, he eternally drank mead from the skull of an enemy and
gloried over his mundane prowess in battle. It is unnecessary to expand
the foregoing list, because the examples sufficiently represent the
various grades of human religions. Regarding them as typical, we can see
how universal are the three fundamental ideas with which we are concerned.
Every race has its own conception of future bliss, as well as its
conception of responsibility to the immortal and supernatural powers of
the universe. Whatever may be the actual reality, and however closely the
conceptions of one or another religion may approximate to the truth, such
reality and approximation are not the subjects of the present discussion.
Nor is it our purpose to bring out more explicitly the genetic
relationship of one religion to another; the evolution of Buddhism from
Brahmanism, the origin of Christianity from Judaism, and the divergent
development of the several creeds of Christendom amply illustrate the
nature of religious history. It is evolution here as elsewhere and
everywhere.
* * * * *
Having distinguished the three general elements of all religions, beyond
which everything else is of minor importance, we now turn to the question
as to the _natural_ origin of these elements. Clearly they cannot arise
independently, for the belief in supernatural and eternal spirits is
closely connected with the conception of an immortal soul.
The first is the conception of infinite personalities that later become
more or less merged into one supreme being. This begins with the idea of
the soul as the human ego, conventionally regarded as something
independent of the material body during life and immortal after death. The
savage goes to sleep, and in his dreams he goes upon journeys and battles
strenuously with other men and with beasts, only to find when he awakes
that his body is not fatigued, and that it has not really taken part in
the activities of his dream life. His companions about the fire also tell
him that this is so, while he is equally sure that his essential self has
been doing many things during the interval of sleep. In his dream life he
finds himself joined by others whom he knows are dead. He sees again even
those whose bodies he may have assisted in eating. His total world very
soon comes to have an unseen region which is the abode of ordinarily
invisible beings having the forms of men, with whom his own dream person
can associate; this unseen sphere is furnished also with ghostly
counterparts of the trees and rocks and waters with which he is familiar
when he is awake. Before long his soul or ghost or spirit is conceived as
something which possesses two qualities: it can be disassociated from his
body and enter the spirit-world where it seems to defy all the laws of
waking life, for with the quickness of thought it visits neighboring
islands as readily as it passes to the next hut; and it possesses
immortality, for it is exactly like the persistent spirit-individualities
of those who have died before him. The other cause for the development of
the conception of gods and God in the mind of the savage is the fact that
things have been made which neither he nor any other man can make. He can
dig a ditch, and make a house, and fashion a canoe, and build ramparts of
earth; but human power has obviously been insufficient to construct rivers
and mountains and forests and their denizens. Mankind itself has certainly
been made in some way, for it exists. Because the savage cannot conceive
of things being made excepting as they are made by the human hand, and
because so much confronts him that is beyond the power of human
construction, he comes to postulate the existence of man-like, but greater
than human, personalities, and as he cannot see them in the light of day,
they belong to the spirit-world to which souls go. Imagination sometimes
gives human outlines to shadows among the moon-lit trees, so that elves
and pixies, nymphs and fairies, become established in the world as the
primitive man conceives it. Larger tasks are discharged by more important
spirits, and everything natural thus becomes animated by supernatural
beings. Thor was the god of thunder; Freia the goddess of spring and
vernal awakening; Athena inspired the minds of men. Venus and Aphrodite
played their special parts, also. But such powers as these, established by
the untutored mind, needed to be accounted for, and so in the more
advanced religions Jove and Jupiter were created as the more ultimate
causes, in response to intellectual demands. By combining all powers into
one, God and Brahma are the results.
Thus in merest outline the conception of the infinite personality works
out its evolution. At all times, among primitive and higher religions, the
powers are clothed with human forms, and gods are pictured as men endowed
with intellects and passions, and motives of vengeance and benignity. Man
cannot shape his postulated deities save in such forms, with the possible
exception of the most philosophical concept of all, Brahma.
The second fundamental belief, namely, in immortality, owes its origin in
greatest measure to the psychological processes described above. Another
potent factor, however, has been the natural desire to continue existence
hereafter, usually in order to reap rewards not bestowed here. This desire
is implanted by nature through the operation of purely biological factors,
and it has the value of an organic instinct. To specify more particularly,
nature has placed every organic individual under the necessity of doing
its utmost to prolong its own life in the interests of itself, of others
of its tribe, and of its species. Extinction is not faced willingly by a
human being endowed with full consciousness any more than it is passively
tolerated by a lower animal which instinctively struggles with its foes
until death. So the desire to continue alive--the "will to live"--is a
natural instinct, which combines with the belief in persistent disembodied
spirits and, no doubt, with many other elements, to develop the basic
conception of some kind of an immortal existence.