Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ... PART II: CHRISTIANITY THE PERFECT RELIGION Section I: Christianity The Revelation Of Perfect Salvation 25. The Kingdom of God 1. That Christianity, as an historical religion, is far superior to the other religions of mankind, if it be regarded as a whole, would hardly need any special proof, even for those who in certain details were inclined to give one of the other higher religions the precedence, for instance, Buddhism or Islam. No one among us thinks seriously of abandoning Christianity for some other existing religious faith. The only question for us is, whether it can be shown that in our religion we possess that realization of man's relation to God, in which the religious need and the longing of which the religious process in man is born, can find full and final satisfaction; so that he who wishes to be pious must feel himself compelled to be a Christian, and he who is a Christian need not fear being led by his further development beyond Christianity. Of late this task has been put aside as hopeless. Now, as Christians we shall be ready to admit that in historical Christianity the final perfect revelation of God and the final absolute redemption of man that Holy Scripture teaches us to expect at the end of time, are not yet to be found (Bender). It can only be a question of what reve 236 lation is the highest for earthly humanity bound to the measure of earthly piety. But from the nature of the historical method the deduction has been drawn that we must look on Christianity, as on the other great religions, only as a purely historical and hence relative phenomenon, although, like all religions, it has felt itself to be absolute. At most we are justified in regarding the Christian religion as the crown of all preceding religions...
