Introduction to the History of Religions Part 76

[2072] The earliest appearance of an Essene is in the latter part of the second century B.C. (Josephus, _Antiquities_, xiii, 11, -- 2).

[2073] Roscher, _Lexikon_, article "Sarapis," col. 362 f.

[2074] See references given above in -- 1121, note.

[2075] Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_; R. S. Copleston, _Buddhism_.

[2076] Ezekiel, early in the sixth century, and Haggai and Zechariah in the latter part of the century, show no consciousness of the existence of authoritative writings.

[2077] Cf. G. F. Moore, "The Definition of the Jewish Canon and the Repudiation of Christian Scriptures" in _Essays in Modern Theology and Related Subjects ... Testimonial to C.

A. Briggs_.

[2078] G. Wildeboer, _Het Onstaan van den Kanon des Ouden Verbonds_; H. E. Ryle, _Canon of the Old Testament_; articles "Canon" in _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, "Bible Canon" in _Jewish Encyclopedia_, "Kanon des Alten Testaments" in Herzog-Hauck, _Real-Encyklopadie_.

[2079] See the _Longer Catechism of Philaret_, 1839.

[2080] T. Zahn, _Gesichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons_, E.

C. Moore, _The New Testament in the Christian Church_; article "Canon" in _Encyclopaedia Biblica_.

[2081] _Historia Naturalis_, x.x.x, chap. i, -- 2.

[2082] The question whether any of this material went back to Zoroaster must here be left undecided.

[2083] Spiegel, _Eranische Alterthumskunde_, iii, 778 ff.

[2084] Noldeke, _Sketches from Eastern History_ (Eng. tr.), p. 25 ff.

[2085] A creed usually contains also an affirmation of the authority of the book on which it is based. Some religious bodies do not regard any book as absolutely authoritative, and their creeds are merely expressions of their independent religious beliefs.

[2086] So among the Egyptians, Hebrews, Hindus, Greeks, Romans, and others.

[2087] Cf. Sabatier, _Authority in Religion_ (Eng. tr.), and the bibliography therein given.

[2088] The contention that a given religion must triumph because it is divine and its triumph is divinely predicted introduces a discussion that cannot be gone into here, where the object is to consider existing facts.

[2089] Babism (or Bahaism) also claims to be universal, but its origin is so recent that this claim cannot be tested.

[2090] Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_.

[2091] It has been professed by a few persons in Europe and America, but the so-called "theosophy" is not Buddhism. On supposed points of contact between the New Testament and Buddhism cf. C. F. Aiken, _The Dhamma of Gotama the Buddha and the Gospel of Jesus the Christ_.

[2092] T. W. Arnold, _The Preaching of Islam_.

[2093] See Tiele, article "Religion" in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th ed., and cf. his _Elements of the Science of Religion_, i, 28 ff.; R. de la Gra.s.serie, _Des religions comparees au point de vue sociologique_; M. Jastrow, _The Study of Religion_, pp. 58 ff.; article "Religion" in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th ed.

[2094] Cases of adoption of alien cults bodily are here of course excluded; in such cases the cults are to be referred to the creators and not to the borrowers.

[2095] In some forms of Brahmanism, in Buddhism, and in some modern systems this Power is impersonal or undefined.

[2096] On Gautama's att.i.tude toward divine beings cf. Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, p. 87 f.; Hopkins, _Religions of India_, p. 333 f.

[2097] W. D. Whitney, _Princeton Review_, May, 1881.

[2098] Kuenen, _National Religions and Universal Religions_ (Hibbert Lectures, 1882); Tiele, _Elements of the Science of Religion_, i, 43 ff.; Jastrow, _Study of Religion_, p. 89 ff.

[2099] Confucian China and s.h.i.+ntoist j.a.pan are excluded; but in both these countries Buddhism is widespread. Pure Confucianism is not a religion, and the old s.h.i.+nto is no longer believed in by educated j.a.panese.

[2100] Cf. Tiele, _Elements of the Science of Religion_, Index, s.v.

[2101] Myths, it may be remarked, are not confined to the uncivilised and the old national cults; they are found in all great religious systems.

[2102] See, in this connection, the account of the faith of the philosopher Sall.u.s.tius, the Emperor Julian's friend, by Professor Gilbert Murray, "A Pagan Creed," in the _English Review_ for December, 1909. The term 'pagan' now has a connotation that is singularly out of accord with the character of a man like Sall.u.s.tius.

[2103] -- 14 f.

[2104] Examples are the Copernican and Newtonian theories; the magnitude of the stellar universe; Biblical criticism; the theories of evolution and the conservation of energy.

[2105] The general religious att.i.tude may be the same whether the world be regarded as monistic or as pluralistic.

[2106] See above, -- 172.

[2107] Cf. L. T. Hobhouse, _Morals in Evolution_, part ii, chaps. v-vii.

[2108] An example is the Old-Hebrew usage respecting marriage with a half-sister or with a wife (not one's mother) of a father. Up to about the seventh century B.C.

such marriages were lawful (Gen. xx, 12; 2 Sam. xiii, 13; xvi, 22); later they were forbidden (Ezek. xxii, 10 f.; Lev.

xviii, 11). Maspero (in the _Annuaire de l'ecole des hautes etudes_, 1896) points out that in Egypt marriage between uterine brothers and sisters in the royal family was not only legal but a sacred duty, its object being to maintain the purity of the divine blood.

[2109] See above, ---- 107, 180, 219.

[2110] Amos ii, 7; Hos. iv, 14.

[2111] The Old Testament command to exterminate the Canaanites (Deut. vii, 2; xxv, 19; Josh. vi-xi) is not historical, that is, was not given at the time stated or at any other time. The Israelites, in fact, settled down among the Canaanites and intermarried with them, and at the time when the pa.s.sages just cited were written (seventh century and later) there were no such alien tribes in Canaan. But these pa.s.sages show how a current barbarous custom of war could be regarded by religious leaders as pleasing to G.o.d.

[2112] See -- 630 ff.

[2113] So, for example, Butler's _a.n.a.logy_.

[2114] It is an exaggeration to say (as has been said) that the sentiment of the sacred obligation of opinion was first formulated or created in the world by the early Christian martyrs--before their time Socrates, Jews in the Antiochian persecution, and probably others, had embodied this sentiment--but the Christian devotion helped to make it a generally recognized ethical principle.

[2115] Hopkins, _Religions of India_, Index, s.v. _Yoga_; Bloomfield, _Religion of the Veda_, Index, s.v. _Baksheesh_; article "Saint and Saintliness" in _Jewish Encyclopedia_; Christian hagiologies; Goldziher, _Muhammedanische Studien_; C. Trumelet, _Les saints de l'Islam_.

[2116] See above, -- 1163.

[2117] Ezek. xiv, 9.

[2118] It is this sort of insensate optimism that Voltaire ridicules in _Candide_--a just and useful protest against a superficial view of life.