33 B Science Religion and Reality 



rather is necessary to the full exhibition of what is thus variously 

 apprehended ; but, as expounded by Troeltsch, it certainly tends in 

 the direction of a general scepticism, and, in respect of religion in 

 particular, of the doctrine, already hinted at by Schleiermacher, 

 of " one man, one religion." Thus Troeltsch himself not only 

 denies to the great historical religions a common nature sufficient to 

 render possible an ultimate synthesis, but, even within Christianity 

 itself, can find in the religion of the Eastern Church no genuine 

 identity with that of the Western ; so that the union of Christendom 

 must have become for him as idle a dream as a universal religion 

 for all mankind. In fact, his doctrine of polymorphous truth, 

 although it had its origin in emphasis on the lessons of history, ends 

 by completely dissolving the unity of the historical process. 



If, however, we persist in regarding the history of civilisation 



as a unity, we come to recognise that the Christian Church occupies 



a central position in the development of religion, analogous to that 



occupied by Greek speculation in the development of science and 



philosophy, or to that occupied by the Roman Empire in the 



development of political organisations. It cannot seriously be 



disputed that the philosophical and scientific development which is 



central for universal civilisation is that which originated among the 



ancient Greeks. The existing political system of the world traces 



its descent from the Roman Empire. Even a people like the 



Japanese, with a civilisation that has grown up independently of 



Greek and Roman traditions, has therefore only been able to find 



its opportunity of participating in the task of universal civilisation 



by means of its entry as a national State into the community of 



commonwealth which inherits the traditions of the Roman Empire, 



and by means of the association of themselves by its men of science 



with the European " republic of letters " which traces its descent 



to Hellas. This must remain true, however vigorous the new 



blood thus infused into the old stock, and however great the part — 



even though it should ultimately be a predominant part — which 



Japan or any other Oriental nation may come to play in the future 



development whether of polity or of science. Like England or 



France or Germany before it, it will only have been enabled to 



play that part by incorporation with the stock whose roots are in 



the civilisation which sprang up in the centuries preceding the 



Christian era in the peninsulas that project into the Mediterranean 



Sea south of the Balkans and of the Alps respectively. 



