In his first lecture, after an introductory reference to the theological interpretation of history, which makes of events a "transcendental drama" or "continuous miracle," the writer proceeds to state his objection to the economic interpretation. It fails to explain the "plus element in human personality," the contribution of great men to the course of human affairs, social customs, uneconomic passions, aspirations, motives, moral and religious ideals and beliefs. Not the least objection is that it is too simple. "Every ...
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In his first lecture, after an introductory reference to the theological interpretation of history, which makes of events a "transcendental drama" or "continuous miracle," the writer proceeds to state his objection to the economic interpretation. It fails to explain the "plus element in human personality," the contribution of great men to the course of human affairs, social customs, uneconomic passions, aspirations, motives, moral and religious ideals and beliefs. Not the least objection is that it is too simple. "Every monistic interpretation of human life is too simple." Lecture II shows very effectively how the economic interpretation completely falls down in accounting for Greek civilization, the rise of Christianity, and the Reformation. In lectures III, IV, and V the author presents his own thesis: "History, when examined in the long perspective, tends to move away from those conditions primarily induced by geographic and economic forces. As social life grows, it becomes decreasingly impersonal" (p. 189). In its progress from the impersonal to the personal, the lecturer finds three tendencies: first, to substitute the authority of inner sanctions and inhibitions for that of outward force, either human or divine (lecture III); secondly, to recognize the worth of the individual as a human rather than as a mere economic factor (lecture IV); thirdly, to substitute through social action the giving of justice for the struggle for rights (lecture V). In human life "there is the operation of many forces, but only one tendency. And that is spiritual." Professor Robinson's "mysterious unconscious impulse which appears to be a concomitant of natural order .... always unsettling existing constitutions and pushing forward, groping after something more elaborate and intricate than what already existed," is not enough for Dean Mathews. With the latter the "vital principle of betterment" is more than an impulse; it is "the expression of a supreme Person." Hence the basis for a rational optimism, and the "Spiritual Opportunity in a Period of Reconstruction" (lecture VI). He that lives a life of sacrifice to give rights to others co-operates with the irresistible tendency of human progress. The correspondence at every point between the principles of Jesus and the tendencies of history as revealed in its long perspective is the pledge of the ultimate triumph of Christianity. -- The Biblical World , Volume 49
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Harvard University Press, 1920, 4th. impr., 12mo., cloth, 227pp., signed by author on title-page, also signed by Bernard Meland & Harvey Arnold. library withdrawn stamps on foredges, front inner hinge cracked, ow G $
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