Philosophy and Christianity; an introduction to the works of Schopenhauer

by David Irvine

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 ... rational critics should avoid attacking, on the same lines as Theism is attacked, what their clients, the wide public of the future, lay to heart. It is not the business of the Rationalist to create a bogus sympathy for the clergy who are out-and-out Theists. The object of true philosophy is to take the altruistic breeze out of the sails of theology. There can be no question that, at present, a F trumped-up sympathy for the theologians is created by the fact of the Rationalist not discriminating between the essence of Christianity and the essence of Theism. On superficial, historical lines let theological Christianity continue to be attacked; but, so far as the application of Schopenhauer's criticism goes, the watchword for the future should be, Treat Christianity philosophically. In any case, think philosophically, and then something strange will occur in the attitude of the theologian. Let Huxley's case be quoted to show how lamentably we have fallen behind in discrimination. In his essay on The Origin of Species Huxley "It is true that, if philosophers have suffered, their cause has been amply avenged. Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules; and history records that, whenever science and orthodoxy have been fairly opposed, the latter has been forced to retire from the lists, bleeding and crushed if not annihilated, scotched if not slain. But orthodoxy is the Bourbon of the world of thought." Now this, philosophy answers as has not yet been avenged; the theologian's is the healthiest and liveliest graveyard or hospital ever seen; orthodoxy is not the Bourbon, but the Wettin, or, at least, the Navarre Bourbon of the world of thought. Its religio...

44 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2012