Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-07
Questions from readers are answered
daily by DR.. s. Parkes Cadman. president
of the Federal Council of Churches of
Christ in America. DIR. Cadman seeks
TO answer inquiries that appear. TO be
representative of the trends Of thought
an the many letters which he receives.
Haverhill, Mass.

Haverhill, Mass.
What is the best biography of st.
Francis of Assist?
Answer should select from the
numerous biographies and histories
DIR. Paul Sabatier's Life" of the
great saint as the standard work. 1t
has been translated from the French
into English and can be easily pro-
cured. G. X. Chesterton has also
written more recent account of st.
Francis which well repays careful
reading. 1t is brief but brilliant. full
of charm and insight, a tribute which
presents afresh the marvellous char
acter it delineates.
New York City,
Can we truthfuliy say that art in
any form has really influenced civil
ization? Take, for example, Shake
speare, Dante, Michaelangelo or
Beethoven, are they not produced by
civilization rather than being an in
fiuence upon civilization or produc-
ing it?
Myself an artist, I am rather skep-
teal that art has influenced civiliza-
ton. If in your opinion it has done
SO in any of the forms / have men
toned / shall appreciate your indi-
eating the proofs of such influence.
Answers not the relation of art
and civilization reciprocal? Certainly
it cannot be denied that art has en-
riched civilization. Indeed, the names
you mention are synonymous with
the creative forces of a cultured SO.
ciety. These giants derived from
those of the Renaissance, who in turn
apprenticed their genius to the tran
Scendent art Of the ancient Greeks.
You have an honorable lineage, and
there Is not the slightest reason to
deprecate it or the foremost place of
its fnheritors. If today we esteem
beauty above ugliness and reason
above violence it is because artists of
every age and realm have infused in
us a measure of their inspiration
and their power.
Nobody dreams of music in hell,
and nobody conceives of heaven with
out 1t. The imaginative quality,
whether in painting, sculpture, archi-
lecture, poetry or music, is the pre-.
mier one, and it's limits, which come
near to being illimitable. are the sole
boundaries of It's influence.
Compare the massive but soulless,
anhoSpitabieN cave temples of Ele-
phanta with the spacious loneliness
and graceful strength of the cathe-
drais OF Charities or Lincoln. The re-
SUIT registers arts progressive reign.
There are problems involved in this
discussion which will not be solved by
unaided art and perhaps these instl.
gate their queries. Man cannot live
by beauty and intelligence alone. He
demands answers to questions which
neither Intellectual supremacy nor
superb conception of form, color and
harmony supply. Yet we must be
deeply conscious of arts manifold
and priceless contributions to life, and
that it haGs humanized religions and
rebuked its sectarian tendencies.
The universal voices belong to
poetry and music. And if the ideals
of a better civilization are to be real
lied we shall have to recognize that.
despite its darker phases. art has II.
Illuminated faith with the holiness of
beauty.
Swarthmore, Pa.
Can you tell me the origin and
meaning of the word conscience"
and trace it's history?
Answer-Its first comprehensive
term is 'suneidesis," a Greek word
implying consciousness OF what ones
self has witnessed or others have
done, and also knowledge gained by
reflection, or. as we should say. by
consequent judgment.
The idea behind the term "sunei-
desis" was that of a power in men
and women for ethical judgment to
which their experience testified. They
recognized moral distinctions objec-
lively long before any corresponding
subjective discrimination was exer.
cised. But though analytical Greek
minds prepared the way for a more
accurate delineation of mans moral
nature. its inevitable issues were re-
corded in the earliest religions Of
I,rNnt India China and PERSIA