the evolution of the idea of god- an inquiry into the origins of religion

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PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE

211

really departed from the concept of psychology as the science of inner

experience and of experience

per se

as somewhat more psychical than

ph ysica l. H is concep tion of psychical and phy sical is, therefo re, not

at all that of K tilpe , aud the latter, in attem pting to identify the

two, has made his otherwise clear statement of his position somewhat

equivocal .

WARNER FITE.

UNIVERSITY

OF

CHICAGO

The Evolution of the Idea of God: An Inquiry into the Origins

of Religion GRANT ALLEN.

New York, Henry Ho l t & Co .

1897.

Mr. Allen's attempt to reduce religion to a cult of the dead, and to

derive the idea of Go d from the w orsh ip of a venerated or dreaded an-

cestor is far from satisfactory. T h er e is throu gh ou t this laboriou s

inqu iry the atm osph ere of special pl ea din g; all m ann er of facts are

w hip pe d into line in orde r to certify a pa rticu lar theory w hich has evi-

dently controlled his method of investigation and predetermined its

results. T h e m ain thesis of this w ork is that the customs of disposing

of the dead among primitive peoples indicate the various stages of be-

lief in reference to the state and condition of the depa rted, and conse-

quent tendencies to revere and wo rship them . T he most prim itive

custom is the preserva tion of the corpse on high platform s in huts or

tents,

resulting in m um mification. A n advanced stage is tha t of

bu rial of the dea d, and a still high er is reached in crem ation . Co r-

resp on din g to these th ree stages the following ideas in reference

to the dead are en tert ain ed : In the first, they are thou gh t of as bo dily

living; in the second, death is regarded as only temporary, a resurrec-

tion of the body being confidently expected; in the third, the soul is re-

garded as distinct from the body, and maintaining a separate existence

after the body is w ho lly destroyed . In the highest stage, the spirit of

a brave and great chief, adm ired or feared in h is lifetime , com es to

be w orshipp ed after death. T his is the beginn ing of ancestor w orsh ip,

out of w hic h polytheism grad ually arose as the process of deification

of chiefs or king s developed . M r. A llen finds also tha t the w ors hip

of stones, stakes, trees, totems, sacred wells, etc., all came from early

association of these objects w ith the bu rial of the dea d. T h e sacred

stone was originally a headstone of the grave, or the pile of stones

throw n upo n the grave to imprison mo re effectually the interred bo dy.

H e gives similar explanations of the other objects of w ors hip . T h e

priest was an attendant at the grave of the dead; sacrifice was an



212 EVOLUTION OF THE IDEA OF GOD.

offering to appease the dreaded spirit of the dead, etc. Polytheism be-

ing therefore a sublimated worship of the dead, the rise of monotheism

is explained as the unique experience of the Hebrew race who came

to worship exclusively one of the Semitic deities, Jahweh, originally

an ancestral sacred stone. As regards the founder of Christianity, he

traces his origin to that of the corn-god of which Jesus is the survival.

Mr. Allen's argument may be criticised at many points. I have chosen

what seems to me to be the most crucial for brief mention:

1. His three forms of burial do not correspond to the three paral-

lel views concerning the dead, and consequent forms of worship.

All three stages exist among Australian savages, with corresponding

distinction in reference to belief or worship, as is cited by Mr. Andrew

Lang in the

Contemporary Review

for December. In many cases

also of body-preservation and body-burial, there is a distinction in the

savage mind between the body and the spirit. In reference to the

burial customs of the Peruvians and their beliefs concerning a future

life,

Dr. R^ville

1

says: There was not the least idea of a resurrection

of the body. If the corpse was preserved, especially in the case of

departed Incas, it was because the Peruvians believed that the soul

which had left it, still retained a marked predilection for its ancient

abode and liked to return to it from time to time; and also, because

they attributed magic virtues to the remains thus preserved.

2. Mr. Allen ignores the prevalence of Animism and nature-wor-

ship among primitive peoples. The worship of the dead was not the ex-

clusive form of worship, nor was it more widely practiced than the forms

of Animism, or of nature-worship. Mr. Allen insists that, when once

the idea of the sacredness of stones associated with burial got firmly

fixed in the savage mind, then a spirit would be regarded as also in-

dwelling in other stones resembling the sacred stones of burial. This

is pure conjecture on Mr. Allen's part, and even if admitted will not

account for the objects of nature generally in which spirits were sup-

posed to dwell and which could have had no possible association with

the dead. Nature-worship, and that on a very large scale, disproves

Mr. Allen's fundamental propositions, and yet his attention is so con-

centrated on the worship of the dead that all other forms of worship

are not noticed by him, or else purposely ignored.

In Dr. ReVille's examination of the early religions of Central

America, Mexico and Peru, he is led to this conclusion, which is

wholly at variance with Mr. Allen's position, namely, that it is the

phenomena of nature, regarded as animate and conscious, that make

Hibbert Lectures,' 1884, Albert R<5ville, p. 236.



PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE

2 3

and stimulate the religious sentiment and become the objects and

adoration

of

m a n .

l

3 .

Mr. A llen mistakes the Hebrew rel igion as a unique instance

of m onotheism. T he re w ere intim ations of monotheism among the

Greek philosophers, the profound conception of one God as in Pla to ,

and the rO

9UOV

the divine, of Anaxim ander . As W indelband re-

m a r k s : The transformation which the Greek myths had undergone ,

as well as the im port given them in cosmogonic fancy as in that given

in their ethical interpre tation, tended ev eryw here tow ard

a

monotheistic

cu lminat ion .

2

Dr.

ReV ille also instances A frican tribes hav ing

a

monotheistic belief. Indeed, M r. Grant A llen

has not

dealt w ith

the

question in a scientific spirit. The difficulties atte nd ing th e collection

of facts among savages, and the obscurities incident to their inte rpr e-

tation, should not be further complicated by a restricted point of view

and a biassed judg m ent. T he beginnings of religion must always be

enveloped in the darkness of immemorial ages, and a mere conjecture

cannot be m aintained w ith do gm atic insistence, especially in the case

of accredited facts which make against

it.

JOHN GRIER HIBBEN.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY.

RECENT BIOLOGY (I.).

1.

A71n ee biologique: Com ptes rendus annuels des travaux de

biologie generate YVES DELAGE. Premiere annee, 1895.

Paris ,

Reinwald . 1S97. Pp. x l v+ 7 3 2 .

2.

Essays G. J .

ROMANES.

Edi ted by C. L L . MORGAN. London

and New York , Longmans , Green & Co. 1897. Pp. 253 .

3 . Darwin and After Darwin III. Isolation and Physiological

Selection

G. J .

ROMANES. Edi ted

by

C . L L . MORGAN.

Chi-

cago, Open Court Pub. Co. 1897. Pp. v i i i+ 17S.

In this handsome volume

(1)

Professor Delage begins

the

annual

issue of a summary of biological progress; a work which was wel l

begun in the earlier volume on ' H ered ity, et c., ' noticed by Dr. Da-

venport in the November, 1897, issue of this

REVIEW.

In the Preface

to this volume we r e a d : ' ' To those who have read our volume on

' Heredity and the Great Problem s of Biology, ' this new annual will

not cause surprise. It is the natu ral sequel to tha t w ork . * • • The

earlier work may

be

considered

as a

first volume, serving

the

purpose

1

' Hibbert Lectures,' 1884, Albert Reville, p. 38.

A History

of

Philosophy,' W indelband, p. 34.

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