18 quotes
The Christian says that life is a good thing, but has been marred by sin; and suffers from the growing pains of youth.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
It is strange what an attraction the Christian Church still possesses even for men who scorn her claims.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
The test of a civilisation is in its characteristic culture and in the type of men and women who thrive best in it.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
Man is so made that he cannot be satisfied with less than the highest, and that he must be beaten down before he can be raised up.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
The Gospel is the freshest and most original thing in the world, while the tone of modern intellectualism, with all its culture, is at bottom commonplace and middle aged.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
The whole movement of the Christian Church may be a delusion, and then we are all in the dark, except that the darkness has been made visible by the pathetic splendour of Christianity.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
Christ does not reveal Himself to those who are satisfied. Why should He? They do not want Him.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
How far can the new wine of modern knowledge and changed ways of thought be poured into the old bottles of traditional religion?
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
The universe contemplated by religion is by no means self-contained or self-sufficient, it is dependent for its origin and maintenance, as we are for daily bread and future hopes, upon the power and good-will of a being or beings of which science has no knowledge.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
Our world is fonder of riches, perhaps, than ever it was, but I think that it is ceasing to believe in its idol. The danger is that it should cease to have any belief at all.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
Religion without a Church is not really possible, for not only is man a social animal, but religion is essentially social. And more and more is the comparative study of religion making it clear that men are fundamentally religious.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
Apart from the Christian hope, we are in a state of chaos, only the more appalling that it seems to be hardly realised. The chaos is all the greater that it applies not only to fundamental doctrines, but to practical ideals.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
Perhaps not many now read Tancred. ... Yet that book is far more than mere romance. It is evidence of the dissatisfaction with modern civilisation ...
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
... art, like religion, appeals to the non-mechanical parts of our nature, to what in us is mystic and vital.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
Physical science is indeed valued, but mainly because it is hoped to increase the chances of money-making. Take the Western world through, and what unity can you find either in religion or thought or practical ideals except the desire for riches? I think I am not exaggerating.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
True, the Christian Church still lives on. But it is only a living power in small groups. Some of its apparent strength is due to its inherited wealth and to the general lack of education. All this, however, is but for the moment.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
The naturalistic theory of Christianity takes on different colours with the temperament of the speaker. From the hysterical contempt of Nietzsche, the hostility of writers like Mr. Dickinson and Mr. Sturt, we may pass through almost every stage of increasing admiration, with one great proviso, that Jesus is not to be worshipped as God.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)
... I do not conceive the scientific or mathematical temperament as in any way final. Large elements of life, the artistic, the social, the personal, it cannot handle, and when it tries to do so it is apt to come to grief, and this quite apart from religion.
Civilisation at the Cross Roads (1912)