736 Causes and Course of Organic Evolution 



being of mankind, have caused it to become — like the modern 

 super-ideal and inpracticable religion of the Doukobars and 

 others — unnatural, pessimizing, or unsatisfying in relation to 

 its professed followers. 



But its high proenvironal aims, combined with its repression 

 of disintegrating tendencies, have given it an important place 

 amongst the world's religions. In its present-day slow but 

 steady decay, it represents organically a lateral line of religious 

 evolutionary advance that has flourished, reached a climax, 

 and is passing toward extinction. 



We come finally to the study of Christ as a great world 

 teacher, and to Christianity as the dominantly advancing 

 religion of the past 2000 years. The causes which have brought 

 about the latter result have been fully analyzed by many 

 minds, in many publications, and from many points of view. 

 In particular the epochal studies of Kidd and of Chamberlain 

 have been highly suggestive, though the writer would not 

 accept all of the views that both — specially the latter — ^have 

 set forth. 



While gladly availing ourselves of suggestions from every 

 source, the writer proposes to pursue the strictly biological 

 and historical course. That is, in the present case, as with 

 all of the religions already referred to, we propose to inquire 

 what were the aims, the principles, and the views of the teacher, 

 also what was the explanation of the success of his teachings, 

 that have caused the gospel of love, purity, and sympathy to 

 become the dominant factor in the world's progress today. For 

 here we do not propose to consider whether the latter position 

 is correct or false. We accept it as correct because biologically 

 it has survived as the 7nost useful and satisfying spiritic guide 

 for man, and l^ecause the many arguments in its favor far ex- 

 ceed in number and value all that have been brought against it. 

 Nor do we linger at this stage to consider whether Christi- 

 anity or any other of the above religions are "true" or "false." 

 Each individually and all collectively have constituted great 

 phenomena of the human race in its evolutionary contact 

 with forces of the world and of the universe, and so have to 



