34 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



teach more effectively. He will become so familiar with, his 

 work that he will find himself being transformed from a mere 

 hearer of lessons from the book into an enthusiastic co-worker 

 with his pupils. 



♦•» 



WHY SO MANY DEFINITIONS OF RELIGION? 



By FRANK N. EIALE, Ph. D. 



RELIGION is now recognized, as never before, to be a univer- 

 sal factor in race development. " Whether we descend into 

 the lowest roots of our intellectual growth, or ascend to the lofti- 

 est heights of modern speculation, everywhere we find religion a 

 power that conquers even those who think they have conquered 

 it." This fact is to the scientific student of religious thought 

 what the " cogiio ergo sum " was to Descartes, and what " justifica- 

 tion by faith " was to Luther — the foundation on which all must 

 rest, and the unquestioned presupposition from which he must 

 start. It is certainly the fact that can not be doubted, and the 

 one which no aqua regia of thought will dissolve. 



But there are about as many definitions of religion as there 

 are forms of religious belief. Herbert Spencer defines it as " an 

 a priori theory of the universe." Matthew Arnold says it is 

 " ethics heightened and lit up by emotion ; or, more simply 

 stated, morality touched by emotion." Max Muller seemingly 

 differs widely from both, and calls it " the sense of dependence 

 on something or some one not ourselves " ; while Schleiermacher 

 carries the idea still further and says, " It is a feeling of absolute 

 dependence on something which, though it determine us, we can 

 in no sense determine." Feuerbach makes religion " a mere cov- 

 etousness, which manifests itself in prayer, sacrifice, and faith." 

 Strauss combines the elements brought out in the last two defini- 

 tions, and describes it as a " combination of absolute dependence 

 and covetousness." To Hegel, the great genius of German 

 thought, "religion is perfect freedom, for it is nothing more 

 nor less than the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself 

 through the finite spirit." Yery similar to this are the definitions 

 of Luthardt and Martineau. The former says, " Religion is the 

 human mind standing in reverence and inspiration before the in- 

 finite energy of the universe, asking to be lifted up into it, open- 

 ing itself to inspiration"; while the latter expresses nearly the 

 same idea, though more tersely, " Religion is mere assent through 

 the conscience to God." Mr. Andrew Lang says : " Religion may 

 be defined as the conception of divine or at least superhuman pow- 

 ers, entertained by men in moments of gratitude, need, or distress ; 

 when, as Homer says, ' all folk yearn after the gods/" Flint, in 



