Identifier: worldsparliament01barr (find matches)
Title: The World's Parliament of Religions : an illustrated and popular story of the World's First Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in connection with the Columbian exposition of 1893
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Barrows, John Henry, 1847-1902
Subjects: World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893 Religions
Publisher: Chicago : Parliament Pub. Co.
Contributing Library: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
in Holland, afterwards also in France and elsewhere ;now also in America. It has already a rich literature, even periodicals ofits own. Though at one time the brilliant talents of some writers threat-ened to bring it into fashion and to cause it to fall a prey to dilettanti — astate of things that is to be considered most fatal to any science, but espe-cially to one that is still in its infancy, this danger has fortunately beenwarded off, and it is once more pursuing the noiseless tenor of its way,profiting by the fell criticism of those who hate it. I shall not venture to write its history. The time for it has not yetcome. The rise of this new science, the comparative research of religions,is as yet too little a thing of the past to be surveyed from an impartia-standpoint. Moreover, the writer of this paper himself has been one of thelaborers in this field for more than thirty years past, and so he is, to someextent, a party in the conflict of opinions. His views would be apt to be
Text Appearing After Image:
588 PARLIAMENT PAPERS: FIFTH DAY. too subjective and could be justified only by an exhaustive criticism of thetheories with which he does not agree, a criticism which would be misplacedhere and the writing of which would require a longer time of preparationthan has now been allowed to him. A dry enumeration of the names ofthe principal writers and the titles of their works would be of little use, andwould prove very little attractive to you. Therefore let me only add somewords on the study of Comparative Theology. The first, the predominating question is, is this study possible ? Inother words : What man, however talented and learned he may be, is ableto command this immense field of inquirv, and what lifetime is long enoughfor the acquiring of an exhaustive knowledge of all religions ? It is noteven within the bounds of possibility that a man should master all thelanguages to study in the vernacular the religious records of all nations, notonly recognized sacred writings, but also th

Note About Images