FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25  
26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   >>   >|  
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Evolution of Theology: An Anthropological Study, by Thomas Henry Huxley This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Evolution of Theology: An Anthropological Study Essay #8 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" Author: Thomas Henry Huxley Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2634] Release Date: May, 2001 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: *** Produced by D.R. Thompson THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY ESSAY #8 FROM "SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION" By Thomas Henry Huxley I conceive that the origin, the growth, the decline, and the fall of those speculations respecting the existence, the powers, and the dispositions of beings analogous to men, but more or less devoid of corporeal qualities, which may be broadly included under the head of theology, are phenomena the study of which legitimately falls within the province of the anthropologist. And it is purely as a question of anthropology (a department of biology to which, at various times, I have given a good deal of attention) that I propose to treat of the evolution of theology in the following pages. With theology as a code of dogmas which are to be believed, or at any rate repeated, under penalty of present or future punishment, or as a storehouse of anaesthetics for those who find the pains of life too hard to bear, I have nothing to do; and, so far as it may be possible, I shall avoid the expression of any opinion as to the objective truth or falsehood of the systems of theological speculation of which I may find occasion to speak. From my present point of view, theology is regarded as a natural product of the operations of the human mind, under the conditions of its existence, just as any other branch of science, or the arts of architecture, or music, or painting are such products. Like them, theology has a history. Like them also, it is to be met with in certain simple and rudimentary forms; and these can be connected by a multitude of gradations, which exist or have existed, among people of various ages and races, with the most highly developed theologies of past
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25  
26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

theology

 

Huxley

 

Thomas

 

EVOLUTION

 

THEOLOGY

 

included

 

existence

 

present

 
Gutenberg
 
Anthropological

Project

 
Theology
 

Evolution

 

opinion

 

objective

 
expression
 

future

 
evolution
 

attention

 

propose


dogmas

 
believed
 

storehouse

 
anaesthetics
 

punishment

 

falsehood

 
repeated
 

penalty

 

rudimentary

 

connected


simple
 

history

 
multitude
 

gradations

 

highly

 

developed

 

theologies

 

existed

 

people

 

products


regarded

 

natural

 
product
 
theological
 

speculation

 

occasion

 

operations

 

science

 

architecture

 

painting