Edward Scribner Ames

The Religion of Immanuel Kant

The influence of Kant on modern religious thinking is still very pronounced. In this address Professor Ames calls attention to Kants sharp distinction between knowledge and faith; his location of religion in the realm of values, particularly ethical values; and his appreciation of the importance of the symbolic interpretation of religious ideas.

Can Religion Be Taught

∗This article forms chapter 19 of Religion, Holt, 1929. It is reprinted in response to numerous requests. Separate reprints may be secured, price 15 cents each

Religion and Morality

EDWARD SCRIBNER AMES M t / -ORALITY may be defined as a type of conduct which is conscious of the ends it seeks in comparison with other competing ends. Deliberation and choice are involved. Morality is criticized, enlightened conduct. Ethics is the science of such conduct, and its function is to review all phases of moral behavior, inquiring into the conditions, motives, ends, and values of action. Morality will be considered in this way as the active, practical, enlightened form of human living, while ethics is the science concerned with the process of this enlightenment. In this sense ethics is a branch of philosophy, and morality is life as lived in the light of ethical criticism. Such criticism, of course, varies from one individual or country to another, both as to thoroughness and as to conclusions. But wherever customs have come to consciousness, are compared and evaluated, there ethics and morality emerge. They are, respectively, the theory and practice of rational iving. It is clear, therefore, that morality and religion both belong to practical life. But there are certain contrasts which should be noted. Religion is older than morality. Religion flourished in the stage of custom, and its ceremonials were elaborated by preliterate and savage men long before there was any systematic reflection upon the ends sought or the means employed to realize them. Moral philosophy arose in the days of the Sophists in Greece, and particularly in the mind of Socrates. Religion had already been developed in many forms, and its gods were ancient. Its forms pervaded the life of the people and surrounded the child in infancy and youth before the age of reason and self-criticism. The vast majority went to their graves without interest in, or knowledge of, such critical re-

Religion and the Psychical Life

AS human life becomes complex, it is specialized into Many social organizations and activities. The homogeneity of primitive society differentiates into numberless classes, parties, associations, and alliances. Law, art, science, and religion, in the early stages of society, are scarcely distinguishable from each other. In advanced civilizations they often appear separate and sometimes antagonistic. Not only do they seem to diverge from each other, but they tend to lose connection with the stream of concrete activity which produced them. Each specialized interest in turn develops parties and schools of thought within itself which threaten its unity. Obviously this is true of religion, and the case is not greatly different in law, art, and science. Such parties and their doctrines develop around partial, special interests, and finally become remote, abstract, and rent by internal conflict. Some Protestant sects have as their distinguishing mark a doctrine of the ordinances or the observance of a certain day of worship! It is possible, however, to put these varying developments within their proper genetic perspective, where their divergence may be understood and their ultimate source in vital processes

Our Machine Age

∗An address delivered at the Second Annual Summer Conference on Citizenship of the University of Louisville, June 15, 16, 1931.

Religion and Art

man did not divide and specialize his activities as do modern men. Nor did he have words to express the various interests which are now characterized as religion, business, and art. It is a striking fact that in the Bible and other sacred texts the term religion scarcely appears, although it is the dominant interest. Ceremonials of celebration of great events in the history of a people and of their recurrent experience with the procession of the seasons are the conspicuous facts of religion. In these ceremonials many forms of activity are blended which under later and more highly individualized functions develop into artistic expression. All of the arts are potentially within the ceremonial. The ceremonial ground, located in some secluded spot secure from observation by forbidden eyes, is the forerunner of the inclosed, protected space of architecture. The dress and ornamentation of the participants, worked out in a wealth of symbolism, are prophetic of the garb and insignia of priests and clergymen. The cult-lore, recited or chanted, becomes the sacred literature refined into poetry and the forms of elevated speech. Flaming torches change into chaste and delicate candles and the sweet incense of the altar. The rhythmic beat of drums and tomtoms grows into the strains of organ music. Mimetic dances evolve into solemn processionals and into postures of reverence and petition. Encompassing clouds of witnesses are symbolized by ancestral tablets, statues and pictures of saints and deities. The whole intricate scene, originally acted out in great detail is sublimated into a wealth of symbolism and imaginative dramatization.

The Definition of Religion: A Symposium (Concluded)

possibilities. Furthermore, the forms which religion has taken have been remarkably diversified, even to the extent of being mutually opposed at certain points. Thus religion with some persons has been predominantly practical, and with others it has been predominantly mystical. It has emphasized the individual, and it has also emphasized the social group. When dealing largely with the individual, it has advocated self-development and also self-repression. It has been emphatically ethical and also subordinately ethical. In one formulation re-