288 DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



pears on the same plane with all of the other products 

 of evolution which owe their existence to individual or 

 social utility. 



Theology and religion involve intimately related con- 

 ceptions of the world, its make-up, and its causes. 

 Strictly speaking, religion is a system of piety and wor- 

 ship, while theology deals more particularly with the 

 ultimate and supernatural powers conceived in one 

 way or another as the God and the gods who have con- 

 structed the universe and have subsequently ordered 

 its happenings. A religion is a group of ideas having the 

 effect of motives ; it is dynamic and directs human con- 

 duct. Theology, on the other hand, is more theoretical 

 and descriptive, and its conceptions, together with 

 those of other departments of human thought, give the 

 materials for the formulation of the religious beliefs 

 which determine the attitudes of men toward all of the 

 great universe in which they play their part and whose 

 mysteries they attempt to solve. 



Defined and distinguished in these ways, these two 

 departments of higher human life present themselves 

 for comparative study and historic explanation. They 

 differ much among the varied races of mankind, so 

 much, indeed, that an investigator who approaches 

 their study with a knowledge only of Christian religion 

 and theology finds it difficult at first to recognize that 

 the same fundamental ideas, although of far cruder 

 nature, enter into the conceptions of an idol-worshiping 

 fanatic living in the heart of Africa. But, neverthe- 

 less, beliefs that fall within the scope of the definitions 



