The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-07-30
SOME NEW BOOKS.
tku.nen,. Lecture. on Three or.n. Rellr,on..

IL IL well known that the obligations OF
Biblical scholarship and criticism to Dr. A.
KuENEN Of Lcidcn are very great, but English
readers have heretofore known him only at
second hand through tho works of writer's
whose Indebtedness To the Dutch Professor has
not always been properly acknowledged. The
Messrs Scribner now enable us to appreciate
the scope and fruitfulness OF his researches by
publishing series Of five lectures under the
collective title of National and UHirTadl Re-
ligions The great faiths Of tho world
which are here made the subjects OF dis
cussion arc Judaism. Christianity, Islam
and Buddhism. OF course Judaism is the only
national religion examined in this volume. for
tho claim of Christianity and Buddhism to rank
among universal religions cannot he disputed
and DR.. Kuencn demonstrates in his introduce
ton the right of Islam to figure In the same in
ternationnl category. He points out what is
too often overlooked by those who consider
only tho disintegration of the Ottoman power
I'm Europe-that Islam is still advancing. and
spreads more rapidly than either Buddhism or
Christianity; that 1t is firmly planted in two
continents and retains n foothOld in third ;
compreheuds among its votarics Semites. Ar
yans Tartars. Maays. and negroes, and
stretches from Morocco to the Malay Peninsula.
from Zanzibar To tho Krghs horde. As long
as we rely on the outward test of fact. Isam's
right TO take rank with tho two other universal
religions cannot be so much as questioned.
Whether. however, tho character of this or Of
any other religion. or the place that should be
assigned TO IT, Ia TO be determined simply by the
success that it has met with in the world. is one
OF the specific objects OF tho inquiry prosecuted
In these lectures.
The order followed by the author in this in
vestigaton is that of reversed chronology. He
haona vii Tel l,aaa W. mr. has t inform
cd concerning tho origin Of this religion. and
because. in this case alone. we encounter the
strange spectacle OF q creed coming into being
in the clear light OF day. The authenticity OF
the Koran. regarded rs whole, is above sus-
picion and by tho side of Mohammed' s preach
ing preserved In the Moslem Scriptures. we
have traditions about his person which go back
to his own immediate surroundings. Under
these circumstances it would seem that in the
case OF Islam, at all events. the thirst for GER
tain knowledge would DO easily qucnched.
But the truth is that our Information is found
TO be most defective at the very points
where II would be most valuable The
tradition is colored throughout by the dog
matte convictions OF the first believers, and
even the mass Of revelations. transmitted in
the Koran, fails to show how to discriminate
what Mohammed added from that which he
found already extant among his countrymen.
II is clear enough that Mohammed preached
the one Allah and in so doing com bated the
poytheism OF the great majority OF his people
But no sooner do we pass beyond this general
ity than we arc assailed 10y doubt. and observe
wide diversity oil opinion even among the
Noslem historians.
Tho recognition Of one supremacy appointed
God tho friend Of Abraham, tho traditional
father Of tho Arabs. is supposed by some
writer's to have lain at the basis Of that Arabian
polytheism which Mohammod overthrow.
There were apparently Arabs before the
founder of Islam who had rejected idolatry
and his religion is frequently described as the
natural product of Arab culture at tho stage
which 1t had then reached. 1t is often said to
have represented the secret thought and wish
of the best Of his contemporaries. Islam was
a moral moreover, ms well as n religious refor-
nation and the practices which Mohammed
sternly forbade in the name of Allah, such as
drunkenness, the i'll treatment of women and
tho slaughter of female children, had already.
we are told beep combated by others. So