Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/836

 RELIGION

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RELIGIOUS

gion is the crown ami compietion of tlie several dis- cipiines already mentioned. It carries the inquiring mind beyond the sphere of natural causation to the recognition of the great personal First Cause and Source of all things, and shows that only in the recog- nition of Goil is a satisfactory interpretation of the universe attainable. It is the science which examines the value of religion, and investigates with careful scrutiny the grounds of theistic belief. In its method of procedure and choice of arguments, it shows con- siderable variation, due in large measure to the differ- ent theories of knowledge that obtain in the world of philosophers. Since Kant's criticism of the Scholastic arguments for the existence of God, there has been a strong tendency in many schools to neglect the cosmo- logical and teleological arguments, and to see the evidence of Divine wisdom and goodness rather in the human mind than in external nature. A reaction is now setting in. Some of the leading exponents of biological science now recognize that evolution, as an adequate explanation of the variety of organic life, is necessarily teleological, and do not hesitate to de- clare that the universe is the manifestation of a crea- tive, controlling mind.

Besides the Latin works of St. Thomas, Suarez, Lcgo. Mazzeluv, etc., the foUowing authors may be consulted: van dex Ghei'n, La Rdigion, son origine et sa difinition (Paris, 1S91); Hettinger, Natural Rdigion (New York, 1893); Jastrow, The Study of Rdigion (New York, 1902); Bowne, The Essence of Religion (Boston, 1910) ; Lilly, The Great Enigma (New York, 1892) ; Lang, The Making of Religion (New York, 1898) ; Idem. Myth. Ritual and Religion (London. 1899) ; Mill, Three Essays on Religion (London, 1874); Kellogg, The Genesis and Growth of Religion (New Y'ork, 1892); Martineau, A Study of Religion (2 vols., London, 1888); Brinton, The Religious Sentiment (New Y'ork, 1876) ; de Brogue, Problkmes et conclusions de Vhistoire des religions (Paris, 1886): Vernes, Hist, des religions, son esprit, sa mithode, et ses divisions (Paris, 1887) : Jordan, Comparative Religion; its Genesis and Growth (New York, 1905) : Foucart, La mSthode comparative dans Vhistoire des religions (Paris, 1909) ; James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (London, 1903): Pratt, The Psychology of Religious Belief (New York, 1907); Ames, The Psychology of Religious Experience (Boston, 1910); WuNDT, Volkcrpsychologie (Leipzig, 1904-07); Cairo, Introduc- tion to the Philosophy of Religion (Glasgow, 1901): Caldecott, The Philosophy of Rdigion in England and America (New York, 1901): Ladd. The Philosophy of Rdigion (New York, 1905); Pfleiderer, The Philosophy and Development of Religion (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1894) ; Eucken, Christianity and the New Idealism (New York, 1909). See also bibliographies to Priesthood and Sacrifice.

Charles F. Aiken.

Religion, Virtue of. — Of the three proposed derivations of the word "religion", that suggested by Lactantius and endorsed by St. Augustine seems per- haps to accord better with the idea than the others. He says it comes from rcUgare, to bind. Thus it %vould mean the bond uniting man to God. The notion of it commonly accepted among theologians is that which is found in St. Thomas's "Summa Theologica", II-II, Q. Ixxxi. According to him it is a virtue whose i:)urpose is to render God the worship due to Him as the source of all being and the principle of all govern- ment of tilings. There can be no doubt that it is a distinct virtue, not merely a phase of another. It is differentiated from others by its object, which is to offer to Almighty C!od the homage demanded by His entirely singular excellence. In a loose construction it may be considered a general virtue in so far as it prescribes the acts of other virtues or requires them for the performance of its o\\^l functions. It is not a theological virtue, because its immediate object is not God, but rather the reverence to be paid to Him. Its practice is indeed often associated with the virtues of faith and charity. Still the concordant judgment of theologians puts it among the moral virtues, as a part of the cardinal virtue justice, since by it we give God what is due to Him. St. Thomas teaches that it ranks first among moral virtues, k religious attitude towards God is essentially the product of our recog- nition, not only of His sovereign majesty, but also of our absolute dependence on Him. Thus, as Father Rickaby says. He is not merely "the Great Stranger",

our behaviour towartls whom must be invested with awe and admiration; He is besides our Creator and Master and, in vu-tue of our supernatural fihation in the present order of things, our Father. Hence we are bound to cherish habitually towards Him sentiments of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, loyalty, and love. Such a demeanom' of soul is inexorably required by the very law of our being. We must not, however, rest satisfied because perchance our interior bearing is fau'ly in conformity with this standard. We are not simply spu-its. Our comjiosite nature needs to ex-presg itself by outward acts in which the body as well as tha soul shall have a part — this not only to spur on our inner feelings, but also because God owns us body and soul, and it is right that both should show their fealty to Him. This is the justification of external religion. Of course God does not need our worship, whether interior or exterior, and it is puerile to impugn it on that score. We cannot by our homage add any- thing to His glory, unless it be the extrinsic increment of the theologians of which account need not be taken here. It is not because it is strictly speaking of use to Him that we render it, but because He is infinitely worthy of it, and because it is of tremendous value to ourselves. The chief acts of this virtue are adora- tion, prayer, sacrifice, oblation, vows; the sins against it are neglect of prayer, blasijhemy, tempting God, sacrilege, perjury, simonj", idolatry, and super- stition.

RicK.\BT, Ethics and Natural Law (London. 1908) ; Mazzella, De religione et ecclesia (Rome, 1885): Schanz, .4 Christian Apology (New York, 1907); Summa theol. (Turin, 1885), loc. cit.

Joseph F. Delant.

Religions, Statistics of. See Statistics, Reli- gious.

Religous Congregations. See Religious Life.

Religious Life. — I. General View and Evan- gelical Idea of the Religious Life. — A. General View. — We all have within us that vague and general idea of the religious life which enables us to recognize it when it is described as a hfe directed to personal perfection, or a life seeking union with God. Under this twofold aspect it is met ■s\ith in all ages and places: every soul possesses an inclination to good, and an inclination towards God. There are everywhere souls that willingly follow these incUnations, and con- sequently religious souls. Sometimes they attach more importance to the tendency to self-perfection, sometimes to the tendency towards God; in other words, to the ascetic tendency or the mystical ten- dency; but since God is the end of man, the two ten- dencies are so similar as to be practically one. If the Creator has put into our souls the principle of religious life, we must ex-pect not only to find it, more and less intense, in every religion, but also to see it reveal itself in similar ways. We should not be surprised if outside the true Church there should be persons de- voted to contemplation, solitude, and sacrifice; but we are not obUged to conclude that our Christian practices are necessarilj' deri\ed from theirs, since the instincts of human nature sufficiently account for the resemblance. Such an explanation would not explain ihe origin of these practices: if we are in- debted for the monasticism of Pachomius to the worshippers of Serapis, where did they find their inspiration? Xor would the explanation account for the results: whence comes it that nionachism has covered not only the East, and Asia, but also Africa, Europe, and the whole of the West?

in our days the historical derivation of certain usages is a thing of small importance; we may admit without hesitation any connexion which is proved. Out not one which is merely assumed. The Israelites may have borrowed from Egypt the practice of cir- cimicision, which was the sign of their covenant with