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Title Page |
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Preface |
Chapter 1 |
THE GOD WHO IS FAR
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Religion roots on
the one, side in
man's needs, on the
other in the
conviction of, an
invisible world
answering to these
needs. The sense of
a higher Power is
vital to religion.
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The
Christian conception
of, a God who is
above man involves:
(1) The idea of a
creative and
controlling Power.
Science: has not
changed this. (2) A
directing Purpose,
not supplied by the
scientific theory of
evolution. (3) A
supreme and
absolute Goodness
realized as moral
authority and as
ground of our hope.
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The
transcendent God
of religion is
not the
philosophical
Absolute as such,
yet God is absolute
for religion as
ultimate power and
good.
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The
meaning of the far
God for religion.
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Chapter 2 |
THE GOD WHO IS NEAR
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Farness and nearness
of God both needed
-- loss to religion
in one-sided
emphasis on either.
The near God is the
God related to human
life. The place of
possible conflict
with science and
history, and of
possible help.
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The
nearness of God in
nature. The idea of
a dynamic developing
world; involves an
imminent God and
creation as
continuous.
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The
nearness of the God
of love in personal
help and fellowship.
The meaning of
redemption of
creation as
progressive
incarnation, of God
as indwelling
Spirit.
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Demanded by the
moral character of
God, Implies his
nature as personal.
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Chapter 3 |
THE DEMOCRACY OF GOD
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God as known through
experience:
individual and
subjective, in
nature, in the
social order. The
facts of the new
social age, as
regards industry, as
regards social
relations. The
religious needs of
the new age.
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Two competing social
theories of to-day,
(1) Paganism:
materialism,
selfishness,
militarism. (2)
Democracy: a social
faith, not merely a
form of political
organization:
involves the
sacredness of human
personality, freedom
as a goal and a
method, solidarity,
faith in man and in
ideal forces,
authority as inner
and ethical and not
external and
arbitrary,
obligation.
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God as democratic.
Not the traditional
autocratic
conception, but more
than modern
humanism. The God
who cares for men;
whose goal is a free
humanity, and whose
method is that of
freedom; whose
authority is moral,
spiritual, and
rational; who, as
himself good, is
tinder the law of
obligation; who has
faith in men and in
moral-spiritual
forces.
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What Christianity
offers to democracy:
an ideal of fife, a
needed and possible
authority, a moral
dynamic, a needed
faith.
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Chapter 4 |
GOD AND THE WORLD OF
EVIL
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The problem of evil.
Unsatisfying
answers. Fundamental
considerations.
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The seeming moral
indifference of
nature and the world
of order. The
alternative of a
world of chance,
anarchy. Natural
order as correlate
of the character of
God. The condition
for cultural
progress, for moral
development.
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The problem of
suffering. The
function of pain.
The value of
struggle.
Transformation of
conflict, not
elimination, aimed
at.
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Suffering through
social relations.
The social relation
»s essential
condition of all
higher life. The
Christian principle
of vicarious
suffering.
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The principle of
development. The
meaning of toil
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and pain in a world
that, is in the
making. The
significance of the
life beyond.
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The modern world
view and the problem
of evil. The answer
comes to the
obedient faith.
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Chapter 5 |
THE GOD OF OUR LORD
JESUS CHRIST
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Christ as the
definition of
Christianity. The
primary question,
not the nature of
Christ, but the
nature of God.
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The historic fact of
Jesus. The meaning
of the fact.
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The moral lordship
of Jesus. Jesus
conscious of his own
absolute meaning
here. The meaning
for the individual
ideal, for the
social goal. His
moral mastery rests
even more on his
spirit than on his
word. Demands true
humanity. His life
in relation to God,
to men. Its
completeness. His
life as human, as
moral achievement;
as divine, a gift
and deed of God. The
moral meaning of the
spirit of Jesus as
the first element in
the absolute
character of
Christianity.
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The meaning of Jesus
for the idea of
salvation. Scope of
this idea.
Christianity finds
the crucial problem
in «in. What Jesus
does for men.
Salvation in the
social sphere. The
conclusion: God
saving men in
Christ.
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Jesus as the
revelation of God
and the master of
faith. The supreme
question. Jesus'
teaching as to the
holiness of God, his
righteousness. God
as love. The vision
of God in the spirit
of Christ.
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The Christology of
the future.
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Chapter 6 |
THE INDWELLING SPIRIT
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The central place of
the idea of the
Spirit. The neglect
in historic
Christianity due to
lack of clear and
adequate
conceptions, misuse
by special groups,
attitude of
ecclesiasticism.
Permanent basis in
historical
Christianity, in
continuous
experience, in
abiding religious
needs, and in the
Christian conception
of God.
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Two constant
elements in Biblical
idea of Spirit. The
two divergent
conceptions.
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The primitive
conception: the
Spirit as force
alien in nature to
man. This idea wider
than Christianity,
continuous in
Christianity. An
objection from
"modern psychology"
The fundamental
question: Can God
give himself to man?
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The personal-ethical
conception of the
Spirit. Rests upon
another conception
of God. The work of
the prophets in
relation to nature
of God and of
religion. Paul sees
the Spirit as
ethical (Christ
spirit), its work in
whole range of
Christian life, its
place in .normal
experiences, its
nature as Spirit of
God, as union of
religious and
ethical.
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Lapses from this
position in the
thought of the
Church: the spirit
as extraneous power,
as quasi-physical
substance.
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The mode of the rift
of the Spirit,
determined by the
concept of God.
Transcendent
emphasis means alien
power or substance
received through
emotional experience
or sacramentarian
agency. A personal,
ethical God, akin to
man, means the gift
of the Spirit
through personal
fellowship. The
meaning of
sacraments; grace
through truth; Holy
Spirit and moral
fellowship;
communion with God
through fellowship
with men.
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