The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-01
OUR RELIGIOUS GROWTH
RABBI GUSTAV GOTTHEIL SEES REA-
sON FOR ENCOURAGEMENT.
The Development OF the Century Has
Included an Evolution in Reiig-
fon-The Jewish status.


Frev centuries have been so abundant in
change as the one which is now nearing It's
close Every movement, every institution
bears the mark Of this change. Political
conditions have been profoundly modified;
educational theories have been transformed;
our social framework greatly altered. IL Is
not wonderful that religion and theology
have also felt the effects Of these changes.
The light which has come to them has IL
deed been so great as 10 have blinded many
who have in this way perhaps been moVed
from their old bearings. II IS only now, at
the wane Of the century that these are able
to come back and 10 find their place, aecus-
toned to the light which shines still so
brightly From what points of the compass
did this new light come? or what single
rays was it compose8? The answer to this
question marks the various stages IL the re-
lgious development of our time.
But we must with care distinguish between
tha popular mind and the mind OF the theo-
logan and the scholar. What has influenced
the one has not so greatly influenced the
other. That which pleads successfully Win
the scholar falls dull en- the ears Of the peo-
pie. Yet, sufficient forces have been at work
TO impress both classes; and all these forces
tended toward one and the same end.
The people first! Our century opened In
the glamor Of the Napoleonic era; a glamor
much greater than that imagined by the
giant mind which had seated itself upon the
French throne The revolution of 1889 was
still exercising its subtle influence through
out Europe Unconsciously, Napoleon was
its aid, though he wished to undo its work.
For that resolution meant the weakening
OF the power Of the old authorities, a break
ing away from that which had been; and,
in rearranging the map of Europe, the first
consul was silently giving the prestige OF
his name and his influence to that very end.
The uprisings of 1890 and 1S4S were the nat
ural sequel of 1883, and yet. religion rests
entirely, or nearly So upon authority; upon
the hallowed remembrances and sanctihed
observances of the past. 1t was inevitable
that the foundation should be attacked in
order that the newer and larger spirit
might find an entrance.
This newer and larger spirit came to the
man of this century, without doubt, from
the rapid strides made by the physical sci
ences during the last sixty or seventy years.
He has seen the mechanical powers which
he now can use developed even far beyond
his fondest hope or his most ambitious ex-
pectation. The world was likely to become
the place left for the supernatural was very
small If place there was at all. Steam and
electricity were the powers which were ever
present; iron and steel the instruments in
their hands. With such powers generated
and freely used by man. why go to the sky
and ask the heavens? Things had become of
the earth earthly, and metaphysical specula-
ton fell into evident disrepute.
PRACTICAL RELIGION.
Together with metaphysical speculation
there went out the love for doetrinal quib
bles. In their place came the practical work
in sociology. The plan of salvation was
good thing for the future world; but what
was the church going to do to save this, our
own world? With the growth of the great
cities human misery became more evident
because it was more huddled together. Sick
ness and poverty and want stared each other
in the face and turned their combined ghast-
illness into a world which had TO pass them
by and could not but see. The cry raised
by Chartist riots, by Anarchist mobs and by
strikes was one which had to be heard. The
church had to become more human if it
wished to lead its people once more to God.
ii did become more human and In doing so
became more humane. Never has such de-
cided effoTt to help misery and 10 relieve
suffering been put forward by religious
bodies not by offering and counseling re-
treat, but by going boldly into the open and
fighting them.
But the influence Of the nineteenth CEN
fury has been still greater upon the theolo-
gian and the soldier. He has not only been
subjected to the influences which surrounded
fHp1ordinary man; much subtler and much
finefSohes have been molding him into some
thing new. They have changed largely his
point Of view; they have enlarged his horizon
far and away beyond what it used to be.
Think how the physical sciences have taken
him up into unending space, down TO the
bosom Of the earth, back into the beginnings
of time and into eternity. Astronomy, geol-
ogy, palaeontology and all the other sciences
have compelled him to recsst that part of his
theology which involved certain scientific
theories now no longer tenable. He has now
come to see the folly of binding theology
TO any such theory which is liable to change
with knowledge, ever gaining new ground
and conquering new provinces. And in thus
disearding useless weights both he and his
theology have distinctly gained.
Nor has less been done by philosophical
speculation itself in the direction of liberal
thought. The influence of the great Konigs-
berg philosopher, Kant, and Of other Ger
man philosophers, as Fichte and Hegel set
fn strongly to take away the objective char
acter of much that theology postulated. And
this Hegelian philosophy was introduced by
Schleiermacher into the church. The idea of
the supernatural was almost rendered i'm
possible; God well nigh became an abstrac-
ton. And German philosophical thought
penetrated into every nook and into every
corner. The reaction against such an ex-
cess of philosophy in theology Of course was
bound to come. But the benefieent work
had been done, and certain positions were
destroyed which could never be again bullt
up.
WORK OF STUDENTS.
No field, however. so greatly enlarged the
religious horizon as did the Investigations
into history and archaeology; for here the
strides made run the race evenly with those
of the physical sciences. Whole civilizations
have been rebound and reconquered. The
picSax of the explorer, the shovel of the ex-
cavator, have been everywhere. and every
where his work has been crowned with sue
cess. More especially so in case OF those
great civilizations whose history bears upon
that OF the Bible. Think of Egypt and how
its antiquities and its art now grace our
museums and collections. Think of Assyria
and Babylon, and how the story of its life
and of its doings is written large and legible
lee hfnes have risen IL vrar.a ot,t Of +..g-