Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/563

 REVIEWS 549

use of Scripture is a fair one, and the exegesis shows a deep desire to discover and apply the real meaning of the many passages to which allusion is made.

The general direction of the book is indicated in a carefully writ- ten introduction, beginning with a proper definition of the term " Chris- tian sociology." Our author proceeds to show that there is a real ground for the application of it to the sociology of Christ, and in so doing calls our attention to the spirit as well as words of Jesus. We could wish that a little more emphasis had been placed upon the nature of Jesus, viewed in its entirety, and we would prefer that his teachings should not have been alluded to in such a way as to suggest that they are of greater authority than the words of the apostles. It is, indeed, true that Professor Mathews claims to waive the question of the inspi- ration of the apostolic writers, yet at the same time one cannot but consider that his discussion would have been stronger if the compari- son had not been suggested. Proceeding, then, to the contents proper, we have a chapter on man, then on society, on the state, on wealth, on social life, the forces of human progress, and the process of social regeneration. In the chapter on man he discusses the physi- cal and psychical, the object being to develop the idea of man's unity and to show the basis of his relations to God and to his fellow, with the logical conclusion that the normal and righteous development of a man is social, on the one side reaching out into sonshipwith God and fellow, ship with man, and on the other side conditioned upon his relations in this life. Having laid such a foundation, the consideration of the question of society and the discussion as to the term kingdom of God naturally follow. Our author states that by the kingdom of God Jesus meant " an ideal social order in which the relation of men to God is that of sons, and to each other that of brothers." It is necessary at this point for him to enter into the extent of the kingdom in point of time and to the idea of the church, and we must say that, on the whole, we have the most satisfactory statement of this vexed term that we have ever yet met. If anyone is disturbed by what he has to say about the church at this point, let him wait until the last chapter. The chapter which next follows is a superb presentation of the conception of the family, in which the subjects of marriage and divorce are handled with a thoroughness rarely met. His discussion of the state is not quite so clear, and there is a trace of the sensational in the question," Was Jesus then an anarchist ?" but the answer is so satisfactory and touches at so