Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/23

RELIGION. naturalism the (li'itie? rule over tlic world, and are freed from the lieeessitv of representation. In the fcnnier elass are primitive religions and sueh advaneed ones as the (ireek. Roman. Teutonic, and I'l^'vplian, while in the second category come, among others, liiiddhism, .ludaism, and Mohammedanisn!. The linal stage i.s a monism where the absolute spirit is a unity which is the absolute source and being of the tmiverse. The chief weakness of the system is the tendency already noted to characterize religious only by salient features, without taking into account phases equally important though less obtrusive. A classification which combines the historical and philosophical points of viewwas prepared by Reville. Jlaking a broad division into polytheistic and monotheistic religions, iie included in the first category primitive nature religious, animism, and fetisliism. These were followed by national mythological religions, such as the Chinese. Egyptian, Babylonian, Teutonic, Celtic. Greek, and Roman. The fourth stage is characterized by the legal element, as seen in Brahmanism, and here he also reckoned the Chinese systems of Confucius and Lao Tse. The highest point of polytheism was reached in his ojiinion by Buddhism. The monotheistic religions, which compose his second main division, are Judaism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. Against this classification may be alleged that ( 1 ) there is no such shar]) dividing line between animism, fetishism, and mythology* as is here implied, and (2) the demarcation between polytheism and monotheism is evanescent. In the religions of Eg^'pt. Babylonia. India, and Greece, which were admittedly polytheistic, a monotheistic trend, especially among pliilosophers, was marked, and conversely, in religions essentially monotheistic, such as Zoroastrianism, there is a tendency toward reversion to or survival of polytheistic cults. The important step in advance in Reville's classification is his recognition of the importance of the legal factor. Tiele set up a scale of primitive, naturalistic, animistic, national, polytheistic, nomistie. and universal religions. This scheme later was somewhat modified by him, and he finally favored a division into nature religions and ethical religions. Still another classification was proposed by Jastrow. Its division is fourfold, into the religions of savages, of primitive culture, of advaneed culture, and those religions whose conscious ideal is the eoextensiveness of religion with life and complete harmony between the doctrines and the practices of religion. This classification, like the others, is unclear in the distinction lietween the first two divisions, while the third and fourth in like manner are somewhat arbitrary. It seems, however, superior on the whole to all its predecessors, despite the credit which the classifications of Tiele and Reville deserve. Adopting this system of .Jastrow's, then, with the modification of combining his first two divisions, the broad outlines of the principal forms of religion may be sketched, while the detailed treatment both of individual religions and of numerous special phases of comparative religion will be found under separate titles.

The REi.iriiox.s of Savages and of Primitive CuLTtiRE, The religion of the savage, connoting by this term man in the pre-eultnral stage, is almo.st impossible to determine. The difficulties alreadv enumerated oppose the solution of this problem. It is, moreover, a question whether pie-eultural man, uninllueiued by cultural races, however primitive, now e.isls. Only within comparatively recent times has the inleicommunieation of ideas between the less civilized races both of ancient and modern tijiies received due reeog nition. Even the most primitive religions known, such as the Australian, belong to tribes whieli have begun the cultural stage. We are reduced, therefore, for our knowledge of savage religions to deductions which may be made from more advanced cults, especially those of primitive IH'oples. This uncertainty is the more unfortunate, since it is here if anywhere, from a seien lific point of view, tiiat we are to seek the origin or origins of religion. The most that can be said of this most primitive stage seems to be that there was prol)ably an innate germ of religious thought, a vague jiersonifieation of the powers of nature, and the first lieginnings of a belief in ghosts.

Turning to the religions of primitive culture, we find a wide range of cults in all parts of the world, of most varied grades. Among the most important may be mentioned the I'olyncsinn and Australian, the diverse native religions of .lriea. the Finno-Tataric. many phases of Hindu religion, especially among the Dravidians. the ilongolian Shamanism, the ancient Teutonic religions, and the American religions, including those of Mexico and Peru. Th<' diversity of the primitive cults is evident, ranging from the rude religions of the Hottentots and lilackfellows to the elaborate m.vthologv' of Polynesia and the developed ritual and priesthood of Jlexieo. The religions of primitive culture, however, may all be characterized by at least four points in common: animism in belief, magic in practice, and in worship nature-worship and ancestor-worship. Of these the most primitive seems to be animism. This mav be defined as a belief which ascribes conscious life to every natural object which manifests vitality or force in any way. It is the theory evolved bv primitive man to account for the various natural phenomena by which he is surrounded. The ascrijition of life analogous to his own to trees, rivers, fire, and the like is not necessai-ilv religious in itself, but the transition from animism in theorv <<i animism in cult seems to involve a recognition of their superhuman powers. If a river is emlowed with life as is a man. it has power to benefit, as in irrigation, or to injure, as in flood, and it becomes necessary either to propitiate the river that it mav be bounteous in its waters, or to induce it to refrain from destructive floods. The primitive means of controlling the powers of nature is bv magic. If the desired results do not follow tiie performance of magic, the fault is not with the magic itself. Either wrong magic has been employed for the end in view, or there is a strong counter-magic at work, which must first be overcome if possible. For magic is, in its last anal.vsis. the science of primitive man, the cause, real or supposed, of a given result, which must, by its performance, jnoduce again the desired result, and this fact accounts for its early importance and its extreme tenacity.

Within the sphere of religion proper we have. as common to all religions of primitive culture, nature-worship and ancestor-worship, the developed forms of the beliefs in animism with magic and ghosts with niagie respectively. To Vol. XVII.—2.