Ten Great Religions

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Ten Great Religions

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Title: Ten Great Religions An Essay in Comparative Theology
Author: James Freeman Clarke
Release Date: January 12, 2005 [EBook #14674]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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GREAT RELIGIONS ***

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Ten Great Religions
An Essay in Comparative Theology

by
James Freeman Clarke
Prophets who have been since the world began.--Luke i. 70.
Gentiles ... who show the work (or influence) of the (that) law which is
written in their hearts.--Romans ii. 15.
God ... hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the
face of the earth ... that they should seek the Lord, if haply they may
feel after him and find him.--Acts, xviii. 24-27.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by James
Freeman Clarke, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington.
Copyright, 1899, By Eliot C. Clarke.

To William Heney Channing, My Friend and Fellow-Student During
Many Years, This Work Is Affectionately Inscribed.

Preface.

The first six chapters of the present volume are composed from six
articles prepared for the Atlantic Monthly, and published in that
magazine in 1868. They attracted quite as much attention as the writer
anticipated, and this has induced him to enlarge them, and add other
chapters. His aim is to enable the reader to become acquainted with the
doctrines and customs of the principal religions of the world, without
having to consult numerous volumes. He has not come to the task
without some preparation, for it is more than twenty-five years since he
first made of this study a speciality. In this volume it is attempted to

give the latest results of modern investigations, so far as any definite
and trustworthy facts have been attained. But the writer is well aware of
the difficulty of being always accurate in a task which involves such
interminable study and such an amount of details. He can only say, in
the words of a Hebrew writer: "If I have done well, and as is fitting the
story, it is that which I desired; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that
which I could attain unto."

Contents.
Chapter I.
Introduction.--Ethnic and Catholic Religions.
§ 1. Object of the present Work § 2. Comparative Theology; its Nature,
Value, and present Position § 3. Ethnic Religions. Injustice often done
to them by Christian Apologists § 4. How Ethnic Religions were
regarded by Christ and his Apostles § 5. Comparative Theology will
furnish a new Class of Evidences in Support of Christianity § 6. It will
show that, while most of the Religions of the World are Ethnic, or the
Religions of Races, Christianity is Catholic, or adapted to become the
Religion of all Races § 7. It will show that Ethnic Religions are partial,
Christianity universal § 8. It will show that Ethnic Religions are
arrested, but that Christianity is steadily progressive
Chapter II.
Confucius and the Chinese, or the Prose of Asia.
§ 1. Peculiarities of Chinese Civilization § 2. Chinese Government
based on Education. Civil-Service Examinations § 3. Life and
Character of Confucius § 4. Philosophy and subsequent Development
of Confucianism § 5. Lao-tse and Tao-ism § 6. Religious Character of
the "Kings." § 7. Confucius and Christianity. Character of the Chinese
§ 8. The Tae-ping Insurrection Note. The Nestorian Inscription in
China

Chapter III.
Brahmanism.
§ 1. Our Knowledge of Brahmanism. Sir William Jones § 2. Difficulty
of this Study. The Complexity of the System. The Hindoos have no
History. Their Ultra-Spiritualism § 3. Helps from Comparative
Philology. The Aryans in Central Asia § 4. The Aryans in India. The
Native Races. The Vedic Age. Theology of the Vedas § 5. Second
Period. Laws of Manu. The Brahmanic Age § 6. The Three Hindoo
Systems of Philosophy,--The Sankhya, Vedanta, and Nyasa § 7. Origin
of the Hindoo Triad § 8. The Epics, the Puranas, and Modern Hindoo
Worship § 9. Relation of Brahmanism to Christianity
Chapter IV.
Buddhism, or the Protestantism of the East.
§ 1. Buddhism, in its Forms, resembles Romanism; in its Spirit,
Protestantism § 2. Extent of Buddhism. Its Scriptures § 3. Sakya-muni,
the Founder of Buddhism § 4. Leading Doctrines of Buddhism § 5. The
Spirit of Buddhism Rational and Humane § 6. Buddhism as a Religion
§ 7.