DEPARTMENT VIII HISTORY OF RELIGION 



(Hall 5, September 20, 2 p. w.) 



CHAIRMAN: REV. WM. ELIOT GRIFPIS, Ithaca, N. Y. 

 SPEAKERS: PROFESSOR GEORGE F. MOORE, Harvard University. 

 PROFESSOR NATHANIEL SCHMIDT, Cornell University. 



THE Department of History of Religion was presided over by 

 the Rev. William Eliot Griffis, D.D., L.H.D., of Ithaca, New York, 

 formerly of the Imperial University of Japan, and author of Religions 

 of Japan. In presenting the speakers Dr. Griffis said, in part: 



" It is for us to trace out what are man's primitive beliefs in presence 

 of the universe. What are, and what have been, his conceptions of 

 duty and propriety? What are the lines of action on which he has 

 formulated his ritual or expressed his dogma? How has he shown his 

 capacity to reason from the known to the unknown, and thus to 

 enlarge, expand, and deepen his theory and practice of religion? 



" It is because the human and subjective element is so universally 

 and potently present, that, in the study of religion, especially, we 

 are to be always on our guard, lest the accuracy of our laboriously 

 gathered data and our conclusions, however patiently wrought, be 

 vitiated. 



"Strictly speaking, there is, there can be, no 'conflict' between 

 religion and science, no more, indeed, than between chemistry and 

 science. Nor can there be, any more than between science and 

 organic chemistry, such a thing as a 'warfare' between science and 

 dogmatic theology. We are to beware of the unscientific prejudgment 

 with which investigation is often carried on. There have been, there 

 always will be, disagreements and even quarrels and conflicts between 

 men who profess to be exponents of 'science' in any form. Where 

 that 'science,' whether rightly or not so called, represents human 

 authority of any kind, or is expressed in terms that are unscientific, 

 or its formulae, whether issuing from conclave or throne, laboratory 

 or book, are made engines of government, there must almost of neces- 

 sity be conflict and even strife. 



" To take note of the progress that has been made within the past 

 hundred years toward assembling, classifying, and comparing the 

 materials, and in the discernment of what ideas and conceptions are 

 common to the varied mass furnished by humanity, is as appropriate 

 to the purpose and plan of this Congress as are the other tasks set 

 before this gathering of scholars of many nations. Work in this 

 Department may be as valuable toward helping us to reach the 

 goal of the unification of knowledge, and be as effective for the 

 progress of mankind, possibly even more so, than that in other lines 

 of human achievement." 



