Hence the object of
such comparisons is to trace the course of analogous developments and
the interaction of influence and so to increase the knowledge of
religion in general or of our own religion in particular.
A world-religion, such as Christianity, is a highly complex structure
and the evolution of such a system of belief is best understood by
examining a religion to which we have not been bound by a thousand
ties from the earliest days of our lives. If we take an alien religion
as our subject of investigation, we shall not shrink from the
consequences of the historical method: whereas, when we criticise
Christianity, we are often unable to see the falsity of the
pre-suppositions which we necessarily bring to the task of inquiry:
our minds follow the doctrines of Christianity, even as our bodies
perform their functions--in complete unconsciousness. At the same time
we possess a very considerable knowledge of the development of
Christianity, and this we owe largely to the help of analogy.
Especially instructive is the comparison between Christianity and
Buddhism. No less interesting are the discoveries to be attained by an
inquiry into the development of Muhammedanism: here we can see the
growth of tradition proceeding in the full light of historical
criticism. We see the plain man, Muhammed, expressly declaring in the
Qoran that he cannot perform miracles, yet gradually becoming a
miracle worker and indeed the greatest of his class: he professes to
be nothing more than a mortal man: he becomes the chief mediator
between man and God.
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