Page:Philosophical Review Volume 2.djvu/16

2 medley of philosophy and religion, and for this very reason is neither of the two. It is not philosophy, for neither its motive nor its method is that of sober scientific investigation and explanation of given facts. Nor can we call it religion, for no religion is a system of concepts, least of all of arbitrarily conceived and combined concepts. Religion is not a creation of thought, not a product at all, for it is something living, which grows up only in the real life of mankind in its historical development. We must add, however, that this confusion of religion and philosophy took place not only in the Gnosticism of early Christian heresies, but partially under Gnostic influence pervaded largely the dogmatic theology of the Christian fathers, and stamped its Gnostic character on the traditional doctrines of the Church. The doctrines sanctioned by the Church and transmitted as divine revelation are for the most part identical with that medley of religion and philosophy which constituted the naive and dogmatic conceptions of the earliest philosophies of religion.

A second form of the Philosophy of Religion may be designated as the scholastic, because its classical representatives are found among the schoolmen of the middle ages. Scholasticism, however, did not terminate with the middle ages, but still wields an influence in the theological apologetics of the present time. It does not aim to create religion itself, but seeks to make the traditional religious teaching rational and acceptable. Its task is to demonstrate and defend religious dogma. The presupposition from which it proceeds is that the transmitted dogmas contain infallible, divinely revealed truth, to which man should readily and unquestioningly submit. The understanding, however, may and should endeavor to furnish a rational demonstration of what is to be received on authority. Credo ut intelligam is the watchword of this standpoint. The first requirement is faith in the transmitted dogma of the Church, grounded on the authority of the Church, which is ultimately to be regarded as the authority of God. But it is the function of philosophy as the obedient handmaiden of tradition to formulate its doctrines and to demonstrate their truth, or at