NATURE 



[February 13. 19 19 



the ugly duckling- of the brood, but the creator of 

 scientific knowledge now holds the material 



n\ of the world in the hollow of his hand as 

 completely as his prototype in literature, art, 

 music, or abstract thought dominated the future 

 of its mental and moral destiny, though in 

 neither case does their work mature in their own 

 generation. In his reforming zeal Sir James 

 Barrett would storm their last dug-out. The 

 Royal Society is bidden to sa\ good-bye to 

 the relics of medievalism, and to admit to 

 its membership successful organisers of trans- 

 port, pioneers in public health improvement, 

 and serious statesmen whose obvious services 

 to mankind are a I least tin- equal ol those 

 rendered by the dissection of earthworms, the 

 discovery of a capsule on a bacillus, or recon- 

 dite investigations into rare elements. The 

 Royal Society, like the universities, no doubt has 

 outgrown its original functions, which are being 

 atrophied in competition with the claims of urgent 

 and more practical affairs. Yet if one could go to 

 sleep lor fifty years and wake up, the importance 

 of what is being more and more sacrificed might 

 be seen in truer perspective. 



Frederick Soddy. 



NATl Rll. SCIENCE I Y/> RELIGION. 

 Tht Vext Step in Religion: An Essay toward 

 tin- Coming Renaissance. Bv Dr. K. \\ . 

 Sellars. Pp. 22S. (New York : The Macmillan 

 Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., iqiS.) 

 Price 1.50 dollars. 



WHAT is to be the religion of the future? 

 How far will traditional beliefs be affected 

 by the view of the universe which modern science 

 ■-els before us? Such are vitally important ques- 

 tions which in the present volume an American 

 author tries to answer. The man of science takes 

 for his postulate the uniformity of Nature. It has 

 served him well, for upon it the physical and bio- 

 logical sciences have been built. But are man's 

 ethical and aesthetic faculties, which dominate 

 human life, conditioned by inexorable law? Could 

 we, if we knew completely a man's history and 

 environment, predict his every action? The man 

 cience is tempted to answer "Yes," and his 

 1 is, then, extraordinarily like the Stoic deter- 

 minism to be found, for instance, in Marcus Aure- 

 lius. Most of us, however, are certain that we 

 have free-will. As we make the admission, the 

 chains of necessity cease to bind us. We find 

 ourselves forced to make an idealist, or spiritual, 

 interpretation of the universe, and many hold 

 Christianity to be the most persuasive conse- 

 quential position. 



Dr. Sellars, in his book, begins by showing 

 that primitive cosmologies, such as are to be 

 found in the Bible, have been finally discredited. 

 Copernican aslrononn and the doctrine of evolu- 

 tion have radically altered the setting of Christi- 

 anity. Next he shows how the study of compara- 

 tive religion reveals the genesis of much of the 

 myth and ritual legislation ol th Old Testament. 

 2572, VOL. I02] 



lie then proceeds to discuss the origins of 

 Christianity. He admits Jesus of Nazareth to 

 have been a historical character, but finds in St. 

 Paul's teaching more affinities with the mystery- 

 religions of the Roman Empire than with tin- 

 faith of which Jesus made Himself the centre. 

 A rapid sketch of the evolution of Christianity 

 brings us to the conllict of science and religion 

 in modern times. Throughout the earlier chapters 

 of his book Dr. Sellars shows wide, though at 

 limes superficial, reading; some of his conclusions 

 authoritative scholars would reject. He later 

 argues against miracles, denies the existence ol 

 the soul and of personal immortality, finds the 

 problem of evil a fatal obstacle to the Christian 

 idea of God, and ends with a plea for a religion, 

 purged of supernafuralism, which will mean "the 

 valuing of experiences and activities, the striving 

 for their realisation, the loyalty to their call." 

 An obvious criticism presents itself. If man is 

 a product of natural laws which have made him 

 and which he cannot modify, what is the use ..t 

 his "striving" and "loyalty"? The laws will 

 work themselves out : man is their creature : the 

 end is determined. 



The theologian will say that Dr. Sellars his rtol 

 got to the kernel of traditional Christianity. He 

 chips off bits of the husk and announces that there 

 is nothing inside. Of certain degenerate types of 

 Protestantism it may be that nothing is left when 

 Bibliolatry has gone. But Christian theology is 

 first of all rational. It is founded upon the belief 

 that we can reach absolute truth and upon a 

 determination to succeed in the quest. Arising out 

 of the attempt to find truth are the spiritual inter- 

 pretations of the universe made by Jewish prophets 

 and by 800 years of Hellenic speculation which 

 began with Socrates and ended with Plotinus. 

 A synthesis of these blends with Christ's 

 teaching, and is constantly associated with 

 the mvstical experience of humanity. Modern 

 natural science has nothing to do with the 

 essentials of this massive structure. It can 

 ignore it all ; but, in so doing-, it will fail to ex- 

 plain man to himself. Dr. Sellars's "religion" is 

 a set of exhortations empiricalh derived from his 

 social and political environment. We believe that, 

 because its metaphysical basis is defective, it can- 

 not satisfy men, though it may inspire some to 

 live worthily in a democratically organised 

 societv. E. W. Barnes. 



THE PASSING OF THE OLD ORDER. 

 (1) 77;r Neo-Platon'sts : .1 Study in the History 

 of Hellenism. Bv Thomas Whitlaker. Second 

 edition, with a Supplement on the Commen- 

 taries of Proclus. Pp. xv + 318. (Cambridge: 

 At the University Press, 1918. ) Price 12s. 

 net. 

 I J) On Society. By Frederic Harrison. Pp, xii 4- 

 444. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 

 1918.) Price T2S. net. 

 l) The Psychology of Conviction: 1 Study of 

 'Beliefs and Utitudes. By Prof. J. Jastrow. 



