Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/18

 CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIV PAGE

THE MODERN MIND 338

Two general factors of the environment the natural and the human. Under primitive conditions the natural factors were dominant. Men lived in the midst of mys terious, uncontrolled nature. Human groups were small, with little communication, and with simple organization. The world was filled with non-human spirits. Natural phenomena given a religious interpretation. Under mod ern conditions best represented by city life the human and humanly controlled factors of environment domi nate man s consciousness. Men have little contact with original nature. Dangers, diseases, success and failure originate largely in social conditions. Modern man s familiarity with machinery. Human contacts and the social organization preoccupy attention. The great de velopment of science. Modern man can not tolerate lone liness. Aesthetic interest in nature develops. Life ad justs itself to the rhythms of social life rather than the rhythms of nature. Strenuousness of life increases. The passion for achievement grows. Interest in future life de clines. Scientific answers to all questions desired. The universe of natural phenomena depersonalized. Confusion as to the relation of God to the natural world. Re ligious interpretation of life declining. The social struggle acute, and colours all thinking. Emphasis on the ethical aspect of life and religion. Christianity born in an age not unlike this, and corrupted as the world reverted to primitive conditions. Present conditions, on the whole, favourable to the revival of original Christianity.

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