Christianity: in any case, the extent of the elements original to the
final orthodox system remains a matter of dispute. As we learn to
appreciate historical connection and to probe beneath the surface of
religions in course of development, we discover points of relationship
and interdependency of which the simple believer never even dreams.
The object of all this investigation is, in my opinion, one only: to
discover how the religious experience of the founder of a faith
accommodates itself to pre-existing civilisation, in the effort to
make its influence operative. The eventual triumph of the new religion
is in every case and at every time nothing more than a compromise: nor
can more be expected, inasmuch as the religious instinct, though one
of the most important influences in man, is not the sole determining
influence upon his nature.

Recognition of this fact can only be obtained at the price of a breach
with ecclesiastical mode of thought. Premonitions of some such breach
are apparent in modern Muhammedanism: for ourselves, they are
accomplished facts. If I correctly interpret the signs of the times, a
retrograde movement in religious development has now begun. The
religion inspiring a single personality, has secured domination over
the whole of life: family, society, and state have bowed beneath its
power. Then the reaction begins: slowly religion loses its
comprehensive force and as its history is learned, even at the price
of sorrow, it slowly recedes within the true limits of its operation,
the individual, the personality, in which it is naturally rooted.




CONCLUSION AND BIBLIOGRAPHY