A SKETCH OF PRIMITIVE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
AND PRACTICES, AND OF THE ORIGIN AND
CHARACTER OF THE GREAT SYSTEMS
BY ALLAN MENZIES, D.D.
PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.—ACTS xv. 18.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
597-599 FIFTH AVENUE
1917
FIRST EDITION April 1895
SECOND EDITION September 1895
Reprinted March 1897
Reprinted June 1900
Reprinted January 1902
Reprinted March 1903
Reprinted October 1905
THIRD EDITION January 1908
FOURTH EDITION September 1911
Reprinted June 1914
Reprinted October 1918
PREFACE
This book makes no pretence to be a guide to all the mythologies, or to all the religious practices which have prevailed in the world. It is intended to aid the student who desires to obtain a general idea of comparative religion, by exhibiting the subject as a connected and organic whole, and by indicating the leading points of view from which each of the great systems may best be understood. A certain amount of discussion is employed in order to bring clearly before the reader the great motives and ideas by which the various religions are inspired, and the movements of thought which they present. And the attempt is made to exhibit the great manifestations of human piety in their genealogical connection. The writer has ventured to deal with the religions of the Bible, each in its proper historical place, and trusts that he has not by doing so rendered any disservice either to Christian faith or to the science of religion. It is obvious that in a work claiming to be scientific, and appealing to men of every faith, all religions must be treated impartially, and that the same method must be applied to each of them.
In a field of study, every part of which is being illuminated almost every year by fresh discoveries, such a sketch as the present can be merely tentative, and must soon, in many of its parts, grow antiquated and be superseded. And where so much depends on the selection of some facts out of many which might have been employed, it will no doubt appear to readers who have some acquaintance with the subject, that here and there a better choice might have been made. The writer hopes that the great difficulty will not be overlooked with which he has had to contend, of compressing a vast subject into a compendious statement without allowing its life and interest to evaporate in the process.
For a fuller bibliography than is given in this volume the reader may consult the works of Dr. C. P. Tiele, and of Dr. Chantepie de la Saussaye. It will readily be believed that the writer of this volume has been indebted to many an author whom he has not named.
ST. ANDREWS, 1895.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD (REVISED) EDITION
Since this book first appeared twelve years ago it has been several times reprinted without change. Advantage has now been taken, however, of a call for a fresh issue, to introduce into it some alterations and additions, such as its stereotyped form allows. Some mistakes have been corrected, the names of recent books have been added to the bibliographies, and in some chapters, especially those dealing with the Semitic religions, considerable changes have been made. In going over the book for this purpose, I have seen very clearly that if it had been called for and written at this time instead of twelve years ago, some things which are in it need not have appeared, and additions might have been made which are not now possible. The last twelve years have made a great change in the study of religions; the prejudices with which it was regarded have almost passed away, powerful forces have been enlisted in its service, and admirable works have appeared dealing with various parts of the vast field. Yet I am glad to think that the attempt made in this book to furnish a simple introduction to a deeply important study, and especially to promote the understanding of the religions of the Bible by placing them in their connection with the religion of mankind at large, may still prove useful.
ST. ANDREWS, June 1907.
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
This book is now being reprinted in a somewhat larger type, and an opportunity is given, less restricted than the last, for making changes in it. It is impossible for me at present to re-write it; it appears substantially as it was. Some alterations and additions have been made in the earlier chapters, and the bibliographies have been brought more nearly up to date. I would take this opportunity of directing the attention of readers of this book to the published Proceedings of the Oxford Congress of the History of Religion, held in September 1908. They will there see how large this field of study has now grown, and what varied life and movement every part of it contains. I have given references only to the addresses of the Presidents of the Sections of the Congress, in which a fresh review will be found of recent progress in the study of each of the great religions.
ST. ANDREWS, July 1910.
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
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