CHRISTIANITY IN THE MODERN WORLD
CIVILISATION AND RELIGIOUS VALUES. y H. D. A. Major. The Hibbert Lectures 1946. Allen and Unwin 1948. English price, 7/6 net. As befits the Editor of The Modern Churchman, the journal of the liberal wing of Anglicanism, Dr. Major is
keen to state the case for the application of Christianity to our present troubles in such a way that the man of to-day need not be daunted by the cobwebs of ecclesiasticism. Spirit, not dogma, is his watchword. Roughly the author’s argument is that religion is essential to civilisation, and that since it is impossible to create a new one capable of inspiring modern civilisation, we must’ adopt one of the existing religions. . Christianity is the only candidate because not one of the other great living religions, in the author’s opinion, "is capable of meeting the religious demands and needs of the modern world." Dr. Major then gives an outline of the Christian faith as he understands it, and concludes with a peep into the future. The great tasks are, he says,. the reconciling of the Scientific Humanists and the Dogmatic ‘Traditionalists, and the proper development of religious education in university and school. Somehow the lectures do not grip. It may still be necessary in some places to deplore the uncritical reading and quoting of the Bible, but people who are likely to read Hibbert Lectures have had all that a long time ago. We are now heirs to a fine achievement of scientific scholarship in the establishing and in-_ terpreting of the text of the Bible, and people who ignore it just put themselves out of court. However, these were great issues in Dr.. Major’s youth. The question about humanism, which he discusses, is more recent, but here again he does not grip. His six tests of a good religion for to-day will ‘excite varying responses in different quarters; it should be a unifying force, evolutionary, scientific, simple, attractive, practical. The dogmatists may howl, and the mystics smile, but the plain man with some boys to educate will very likely think there is more than a little ¢ense
in Dr. Major.
J.M.
Bates
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19490318.2.26.2
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 508, 18 March 1949, Page 12
Word count
Tapeke kupu
359CHRISTIANITY IN THE MODERN WORLD New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 508, 18 March 1949, Page 12
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in