Contents

Introduction -- pg.1

PART I

EUROPEAN

1. Sclileiermâcher -- pg.39

I. What Religion Is -- pg.42

II. Religious Language -- pg.51

2. Hegel -- pg.61

The Absolute Religion -- pg.65

3. Feuerbach -- pg.82

Man and Religion -- pg.85

4. D. F. Strauss -- pg.113

I. Myth in the New Testament -- pg.116

II. Definition and Characteristics of the Gospel Myth -- pg.123

5. Lotze -- pg.I25

The Divine Personality -- pg.127

6. Ritschl -- pg.138

I. God and Metaphysics -- pg.141

II. The Special Character of Religious Knowledge -- pg.141

III. Value-Judgements -- pg.147

III. Value-Judgements -- pg.147

I. Jesus’ Essential Teaching -- pg.152

II. Protestantism -- pg.158

8. Kierkegaard -- pg.166

Faith and Reason -- pg.170

9. Lamennais -- pg.184

Authority in Religion -- pg.187

10. Auguste Comte -- pg.196

The Law of the Three States -- pg.199

11. Auguste Sabatier -- pg.208

What Is a Dogma? -- pg.211

12. Solovyov -- pg.218

Godmanhood -- pg.221

PART 11

BRITISH AND AMERICAN

1. Coleridge -- pg.239

I. Reason and Understanding -- pg.242

II. Faith -- pg.244

III. The Authority of Scripture -- pg.251

2. F. D. Maurice -- pg.254

I. What Is Revelation? -- pg.257

II. The Creeds -- pg.262

3. Newman -- pg.269

I. Faith and Reason -- pg.273

II. Belief in God -- pg.274

III. Development in Ideas -- pg.284

4. Mansel -- pg.288

The Nature and Purpose of Theological Truths -- pg.290

5. J. S. Mill -- pg.297

Theism -- pg.300

6. Benjamin Jowett and Essays and Reviews -- pg.309

The Interpretation of Scripture -- pg.312

Matthew Arnold -- pg.324

Christianity -- pg.328

3. Scott Holland and Lux Mundi -- pg.338

I. What Is Faith? -- pg.341

II. Dogma -- pg.349

4. The British Hegelians -- pg.352

I. John Caird: Religion and Philosophy -- pg.355

II. Edward Caird : Religion and the Human Consciousness -- pg.363

III. F. H. Bradley: Faith, God and the Absolute -- pg.369

10. Emerson -- pg.374

The Soul and Revelation -- pg.377

11. Josiah Royce -- pg.381

Religion as a Moral Code and as a Theory -- pg.384

12. William James -- pg.392

The Will to Believe -- pg.395

Index of Works Cited -- pg.405

Mr Reardon begins with a substantial introduction characterizing the age as a whole, contrasting it with the previous century and assessing its permanent achievements. The book is divided into two parts. The first deals with twelve writers from continental Europe, with an account of the chosen author’s life, work and opinions. The second deals with British and American writers and again each of the twelve chapters is introduced by an essay of about 1500 words.
Mr Reardon gives special attention to the philosophical interpretation of religion and of Christianity in particular. Traditional dogma and ecclesiastical politics, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, have been avoided and emphasis is given to ideas and interests that are characteristic of the period. Not all the thinkers introduced (e.g. Feuerbach, Comte, J. S. Mill) are themselves Christian. The result is a clear picture of the main currents of Western religious thought in the nineteenth century. It is a century which the student of religion today is likely to find of great interest and to which many will feel a close affinity.