The Limits of Religious Thought Examined in Eight Lectures, Preached Before the University of Oxford, in the Year M.DCCC.LVIII. on the Foundation of J

by Henry Longueville Mansel

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.1858 ... N O T E S. LECTURE II. Note 1. p. 36. ' U NLESS we have independent means of knowing that God knows the truth, and is disposed to tell it to us, his word (if we be ever so certain that it is really his word) might as well not have been spoken. But if we know, independently of the Bible, that God knows the truth, and is disposed to tell it to us, obviously we know a great deal more also. We know not only the existence of God, but much con cerning his character. For, only by discerning that he has Virtues similar in kind to human Virtues, do we know of his truthfulness and his goodness. Without this a priori belief, a book-revelation is a useless impertinence." F. W. Newman, The Soul, p. 58. With this a priori belief, it is obvious that a book-revelation is, as far as our independent knowledge extends, still more impertinent; for it merely tells us what we knew before. See an able criticism of this theory in the Eclipse of Faith, p. 73 sqq. Note 2. p. 39. " Da uns ferner das, was ein grosser Theil der Philosophen vor uns fur die Vernunft ausgegeben haben, noch unter die Sphare des Verstandes fallt, so werden wir fur die hochste Erkenntnissart eine von jenen unerreichte Stelle haben, und sie als diejenige bestimmen, durch welche Endliches und Unendliches im Ewigen, nicht aber das Evvige im Endlichen oder Unendlichen erblickt wird." Schelling, Bruno, p.163, (compare p. 69.) " Es giebt aber noch andere Spharen, die beobachtct werden konnen, nicht bloss diese, deren Inhalt nur Endliches gegen Endliches ist, sondern solche, wo das Gottliche als an und fur sich seyendes im Bewusstseyn ist." Hegel, Philosophic der Religion, (Werke, XI. p. 196). In like manner, Mr. Newman speaks of the Soul as " the organ of specific information to us" respecting things spiritual8; a...

112 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Henry Longueville Mansel (1820 – 1871) was an English philosopher and ecclesiastic. The philosophy of Mansel, like that of William Hamilton, was mainly due to Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and Thomas Reid. Like Hamilton, Mansel maintained the purely formal character of logic, the duality of consciousness as testifying to both self and the external world, and the limitation of knowledge to the finite and "conditioned."