Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 54:216 (Oct 1897)
Article: Social Evolution And The Churches
Author: Henry Davies

BSac 54:216 (Oct 1897) p. 714

Social Evolution And The Churches

Rev. Henry Davies

I. There is nothing more assuring to our modern institutional religious life than the fact that we are hearing less and less from that class of critics whose special, pet aversion is an ecclesiastic or an ecclesiastical institution. To the scientific world the death of Tyndall and Huxley was sincerely lamented; and as true friends of science the religious leaders of the times looked not without sorrow on their demise. But it is equally true that there is no one to take up the task of prejudicial criticism which these and similar men have carried on for so long a time. The fact is, that to the vast majority of people religion is a serious affair; one which is somehow or other to play a dominant part in those developments which the times seem to be pointing out as the next step in the progress of the species. This fact is shown in the large number of laymen who write on the subject; in the equally large number of extra-ecclesiastical organizations which owe their initiation to men who cannot bear the idea of a religionless society, but who are equally averse to the creeds of the churches; and lastly in the practical way in which the phenomena of traditional church life form the topic of serious investigation on the part of interested outsiders. All that is done by these persons is not wise or charitable; yet we must acknowledge that this change of attitude towards the subjects involved in our religious life is a significant sign of the times and also one altogether welcomed.

BSac 54:216 (Oct 1897) p. 715

It is with the view of winning more serious respect still to these much-maligned and often-misunderstood traditional churches, that this article was written. The writer feels that if the process of change which is obtaining in all other departments of social life were seen in relation to our churches; if those who turn against these churches as fossilized, unyielding institutions, incapable of making the necessary adjustments to our changed conditions; if we could see that this process is actually deeply affecting these churches,—we would not be so ready to turn away from these bodies, which have given life, literature, and law to our Western civilization. It is the belief of the writer, that if the change referred to could be considered in the light of those laws of scientific evolution which have been so influential in modifying other departments of our social organism, we should find a rapid reversal of judgment with reference to the place and influence of the church in our social evolution. One of the principal ways to do this is to show how that process is daily affecting these organizations; and with this theme this article will be mainly occupied.

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