CONTENTS
PART I
THE RELIGION OF THE EARLY WORLD
[CHAPTER I]
INTRODUCTION
Position of the science—Unity of all religion—The growth of religion continuous—Preliminary definition of religion—Criticism of other definitions—Fuller definition—Religion and civilisation advance together
[CHAPTER II]
THE BEGINNING OF RELIGION
Origin of civilisation—It was from the savage state that civilisation was by degrees produced—The religion of savages—All savages have religion—It is a psychological necessity
[CHAPTER III]
THE EARLIEST OBJECTS OF WORSHIP
Nature-worship—Ancestor-worship—Fetish-worship—A supreme being—Which gods were first worshipped?—Fetish-gods came first—Spirits, human or quasi-human, came first—Theories of Mr. Spencer and Mr. Tylor—Animism—The minor nature-worship came first—Theories of Mr. M. Müller and of Ed. von Hartmann—The great nature-powers came first—Both nature-worship and the worship of spirits are sources of early religion—Conclusion
[CHAPTER IV]
EARLY DEVELOPMENTS—BELIEF
Growth of the great gods—Polytheism—Kathenotheism—The minor nature-worship—The worship of animals—Trees, wells, stones—The state after death—Growth of the great religions out of these beliefs
[CHAPTER V]
EARLY DEVELOPMENTS—PRACTICES
Sacrifice—Prayer—Sacred places, objects, persons—Magic—Character of early religion—Early religion and morality
[CHAPTER VI]
NATIONAL RELIGION
Classifications of religions—Rise of national religion—It affords a new social bond—And a better God—Example—The Inca religion
PART II
ISOLATED NATIONAL RELIGIONS
[CHAPTER VII]
BABYLON AND ASSYRIA
People and literature—Worship of spirits—Worship of animals—The great Gods—Mythology—The state religion
[CHAPTER VIII]
CHINA
History of China—The literature of the religion—The state religion of ancient China—Heaven—The spirits—Ancestors—Confucius—His life—His doctrine—Taoism—Buddhism in China
[CHAPTER IX]
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT
History and literature—1. Animal worship—Theories accounting for it—2. The great Gods—They also are local—Mythology—Dynasties of gods—Ra—Osiris—Ptah—Was the earliest religion monotheistic?—Syncretism—Pantheism—Worship—3. The doctrine of the other life—Treatment of the dead—The spirit in the under-world—The Book of the Dead—Conclusion
PART III
THE SEMITIC GROUP
[CHAPTER X]
THE SEMITIC RELIGION
Home of the Semites—Character of the race—Their early religious ideas—Difference between Semitic and Aryan religion
[CHAPTER XI]
CANAANITES AND PHENICIANS
The Religion of the Canaanites—The Phenicians—Their gods—Astral deities of Phenicia—Influence of Phenician art
[CHAPTER XII]
ISRAEL
The sacred literature—The people—Jehovah—The early ritual was simple—Contact with Canaanite religion—Danger of fusion—Religious conflict—The monarchy—Religion not centralised—The Prophets—The old religion national—Criticism of the old religion by the prophets—Appearance of Universalism—Ethical monotheism—Individualism of the prophetic teaching—The reforms—Deuteronomy—Earlier codes—The exile—The return; the reform of Ezra—Character of the later religion—Heathenish elements of Judaism—Spiritual elements—The Psalms—The Synagogue—The national hopes—The state after death
[CHAPTER XIII]
ISLAM
Arabia before Mahomet—The old religion—Confusion of worship—Allah—Judaism and Christianity in Arabia—Mahomet, early life—His religious impressions—The revelations—His preaching—Persecution—Trials; decides to leave Mecca—Mahomet at Medina—New religious union—Breach with Judaism and Christianity—Domestic—Conquest of Mecca—Mecca made the capital of Islam—Spread of Islam—The duties of the Moslem—The Koran—Islam a universal religion
PART IV
THE ARYAN GROUP
[CHAPTER XIV]
THE ARYAN RELIGION
The Aryans, their early home—Their civilisation described—Little known of their gods—Their worship was domestic
[CHAPTER XV]
THE TEUTONS
The Aryans in Europe—The ancient Germans—The early German gods—The working religion—Later German religion—Iceland—The Eddas—The gods of the Eddas—The twilight of the gods
[CHAPTER XVI]
GREECE
People and land—Earliest religion; functional deities—Growth of Greek gods—Stones, animals, trees—Greek religion is local—Artistic tendency—Early Eastern influences—Homer—The Homeric gods—Worship in Homer—Omens—The state after death—Hesiod—The poets and the working religion—Rise of religious art—Festivals and games—Zeus and Apollo—Change of the Greek spirit in sixth century B.C.—New religious feeling; the mysteries—Religion and philosophy
[CHAPTER XVII]
THE RELIGION OF ROME
Roman religion was different from Greek—The earliest gods of Rome are functional beings—The worship of these beings—The great gods—Sacred persons—Roman religion legal rather than priestly—Changes introduced from without—Etruria—Greek gods in Rome—The Graeco-Roman religion—Decay and confusion
[CHAPTER XVIII]
THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA
I. The Vedic Religion
Relation of Indian to Aryan religion—The Rigveda—The Vedic gods—Hymns to the gods—To what stage does this religion belong?—It is primitive—It is advanced—In spite of many gods, a tendency to Monotheism
[CHAPTER XIX]
INDIA
II. Brahmanism
The caste system: the Brahmans—The growth of the sacred literature—Sacrifice—Practical life—Philosophy—Transmigration—Later developments
[CHAPTER XX]
INDIA
III. Buddhism
The literature—Was there a personal founder?—The story of the founder—Is Buddhism a revolt against Brahmanism?—The Buddha—The doctrine—Buddhist morality—Nirvana—No gods—The order—Buddhism made popular—Conclusion—Buddhism is not a complete religion
[CHAPTER XXI]
PERSIA
Sources—The contents of the Zend-Avesta are composite—Zoroaster—Primitive religion of Iran—The call of Zarathustra—The doctrine—Its inconsistencies—Man is called to judge between the gods—This religion is essentially intolerant—Growth of Mazdeism—Organisation of the heavenly beings—The attributes of Ahura—Ancient testimonies to the Persian religion—The Vendidad: laws of purity—How this doctrine entered Mazdeism—Influence of Mazdeism on Judaism and in other directions
PART V
UNIVERSAL RELIGION
[CHAPTER XXII]
CHRISTIANITY
State of Jewish religion at the Christian era—The teaching of Jesus—His person and work—Universalism of Christianity—The Apostle Paul—What Christianity received from Judaism—And from the Greek world—The different religions of Christian nations and the common Christianity
[CHAPTER XXIII]
CONCLUSION
Tribal, national, and individual religion—This the central development—Has to be studied in nations—Periods of general advance in religion—Conditions of religious progress