The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-09-25
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES


CHAPLAIN RAYMOND KNOX Of Columbia
- university considers the deficiencies Of con-
temporary religion in advancing the American
dream of prosperity and well-being for every
body. (Religion and the American Dream. BY
RAYMOND c. Knox, Columbia University Press.
sl75D He concludes that contemporary religion
has fallen down badly as an impulse to social
justice. He brings together some sound alb
stractions relative to what religion has not been
in the past and what it should be in the future
If 1t is to realize more perfectly its formal ideals
But there is a most notable dissemination to
! condemn any of the interests or the methods OF
the American economic leaders which VIGOROUSLY
defy. Christian principles There is little in the
book with which one can quarrel and equally
little which would guide one in applying reh-
gious ideals to the eminently practical economic
and social problems which face US
At the other extreme stands the challenging
work of DR.. Chaffee, who never has been content
to indulge in pious generalities. CThe Protestant
Churches and the Industrial Crisis. BY Edmund
B. Chaffee. Macmillan. $500 AS director OF
the Labor Temple in New York City, he has
done as much as any one in the metropolis to
make religion dynamic force in social recon-
struction.
LIE does not run away from the pressing prac-
Il l. teal issues, but frankly faces the defects
Of capitalism IN the past its present disintegra-
ton, and the place of the church in helping to
guide humanity into better social order. He
does not even dodge the responsibility of dealing
with the relationship between social Christianity
and Socialism. He ends by a challenge to the
church to wake up before the crumbling plutoc-
racy lands us either in Fascism or Communism.
Whatever ones personal opinion Of the Sal
walton Army, it is certainly one of the major
popular religious developments of the nineteenth
century While critics have accused it of being
used at a buffer to quell popular discomfort
among the oppressed classes it has certainly
made a more direct contact with miserable
human beings than any other large contingent
Of the Christian religion
General Bramwell Booth probably was the
most conspicuous and colorful character in the
history Of the Salvation Army, with the sole eX-
ception of his father, William Booth, who found
ed the movement about the time of the Aneri-
can Civil war. Bramwell Booths daughter
Catherine, has written full and affectionate
biography of her father which contains large
number of revelant documents and letters
| {Bramwell Booth. BY Catherine Bramwell
Booth. Sears Publishing Company The book
| is an important contribution both to religious
history and to the social evolution of England
IN the last fifty years.
|NN the borderland of religion has always
| ~ been the shady realm of the occult. This
has always exerted a tremendous grip the
mind of man. Only recently the strange books
of Charles Fort had a considerable vogue be-
cause of their vast collection of alleged esoterc
happenings.
DR.. Cannon'S work is on a higher level, for
he is a trained psychiatrist, having, however,
rather robust wil-to-believe. (The Invisible IN
1uence. BY Alexander Cannon. Dutton. $150)
He presents a very interesting analysis of the
impressive achievements of Tibetan magicans
and other masters of the occult, frankly adj
mitting his inability to explain their achieve
ments in terms of conventional psychology. At
any rate this book will entertain the reader
without insulting his intelligence.
Many sentiments and experiences formally
attributed to religious experiences and influences
are now interpreted as the result of definite
physiological factors. Particularly is this true
Of human vitality. DR.. Sokolof analyses the
general problem of vitality in terms of modern
physiological chemistry, including an interesting
chapter on the illness Of Napoleon and his grow
ing lethargy toward the end Of his military ca
reer. vitality. By Boris Sokolof. Dutton,
Inc. SD