Evolution of Theology. 251 



ABSTRACT OF THE DISCUSSION. 



Mb. Frederick B. Hawley: — 



I am in such substantial accord with the lecturer, that I will 

 merely take up the subject where he has left it, and touch upon 

 some of the present phases of the evolution of theology. Looking 

 toward the future, we must be careful not to take too long a step 

 in theological progress at once. From the theistic belief of Christen- 

 dom, with its man-God and its special providences, to a belief in 

 the Infinite and Absolute — the Unknowable of Mr. Spencer's 

 philosophy — is a very long step indeed. God and immortality 

 are the ruling ideas of the present theology. As to immortality, 

 the doctrine of the persistence of force goes far to justify us in 

 such a belief, though perhaps not in that of the continuance of 

 personal consciousness. That which we know as mind and thought 

 must persist in some form : it cannot be destroyed. The current 

 theistic idea of God is a combination of human and infinite at- 

 tributes. Such a union is unthinkable, and these ideas must 

 ultimately be disassociated. The conception of Deity must be 

 deanthropomorphized. There has already been a gradual readjust- 

 ment of theological ideas, and the trend of modern thought is in 

 harmony with the evolution philosophy. I must take exception 

 to the lecturer's position as to consciousness. Consciousness, it 

 appears to me, is not necessarily finite, or limited to the human 

 mind. Tt can be conceived as an attribute of the Infinite. 



Mb. Thaddeus B. Wakeman: — 



Notwithstanding the quarrels of the philosophers as to the 

 priority of certain phases of theological belief — whether ancestor- 

 worship preceded or followed idol- worship, etc., — it is evident 

 that Fetishism was the foundation of theology. Then came Sabae- 

 anism, and, following this, Polytheism. The next great change was 

 from Polytheism to Monotheism. Monotheism broke down with 

 the downfall of its cosmogony. The final outcome of theological 

 evolution is Positivism. Its conception of deity is that of panthe- 

 ism — the conception of the All — "Das Alle" in Goethe's words. 

 We cannot attribute to this great All our human thoughts and 

 limitations. But we can understand some of its laws, and, adapt- 

 ing ourselves to them, strive for the perfection of humanity. The 

 idea of Humanity stands as the mediator between the human 

 mind and the All. It takes the place of the Christian Saviour and 



